When I was in tenth grade, we read The Pearl, The Good Earth, A Separate Peace, Flowers for Algernon (short story) and several more that I can't quite remember. I know that our extended reading list (for kids who read really fast or who had already read the books) included 1984 and some other dystopian society books.
I do recall that every single book we read (with the exception of extra credit reading To Kill A Mockingbird) ended on the note of "everyone sucks, and they're all going to betray you for money/sex/power." I mean, one book I can't even remember the title of had a rodeo rider who had such a tormented past that he RODE THE RODEO HORSES TO DEATH. Repeatedly.
I came out of tenth grade so demoralized and traumatized that I was afraid to read books provided by the school anymore. (Admittedly, I was a sensitive child, having not been exposed to daily watchings of the news or newspapers and having not had TV to get the childhood acclimation to violence or shocking material.)
no subject
I do recall that every single book we read (with the exception of extra credit reading To Kill A Mockingbird) ended on the note of "everyone sucks, and they're all going to betray you for money/sex/power." I mean, one book I can't even remember the title of had a rodeo rider who had such a tormented past that he RODE THE RODEO HORSES TO DEATH. Repeatedly.
I came out of tenth grade so demoralized and traumatized that I was afraid to read books provided by the school anymore. (Admittedly, I was a sensitive child, having not been exposed to daily watchings of the news or newspapers and having not had TV to get the childhood acclimation to violence or shocking material.)