I wrote a massive research paper in college about how Perspective Taking peaks between 13 and 17 and how it’s SO IMPORTANT for kids to read books in school that have characters with worldviews and experiences outside of their own. It helps kids develop empathy and acknowledge the value of other cultures.

I’m a high school teacher, so I often read books aloud to my students. The book I’ve read the most is The Secret Life of Bees, though The Great Gatsby will soon catch up to it and surpass it.

She’s the only author I’ve ever strongly considered getting a tattoo to honor. Her work changed me in a way I can’t explain. She’s so incredible and I hate that so much is lost.

John Keats. Died of tuberculosis in his 20’s and wrote so much about the dread of dying before he was able to write out everything he wanted to say.

And the fact that people STILL claim she wasn’t smart enough to write Frankenstein and that it was her husbands work. Ughh.

That book destroyed me. I can’t imagine living in that tortured mind.

Oh! I didn’t know she died. I’m so sorry to learn that.

Phew. My blood pressure was skyrocketing for a second there.

What hasn’t anyone said Eat Pray Love yet? That book is so gross. Privileged white woman goes on vacation. Blech.

Wondered how long I would have to scroll for this.

Beloved by Toni Morrison is on my never-again list. It haunted me.

Absolutely. I teach high school English and I disagree with so many of the books we’re expected to teach. It’s so hard for teens who have so little life experience to understand these books.

Perks didn’t cut deep enough for me as a home school kid, but I read it again later and now that I teach high school it hits hard.

The Awakening saved me from a bad marriage when I read it again at 27.

The one that I’m always sad about is The Great Gatsby. I teach it to my juniors but they just aren’t old enough to really “get it.” They haven’t had enough life experiences to understand the deeper themes.

Came here to say this. I LOATHE this book. Had to read it again in college and hated it again. I hope it fades away from our collective, societal memory and becomes a lost book

That book is the epitome of great idea/horrible execution.

The paragraph in The Great Gatsby where Gatsby is floating in the pool is just so incredible and moving. Every time I teach it to my juniors I tear up.