Accessing the Classics: Great Reads for Adults, Teens and English Language Learners

Citation

Scott, E. (2007), "Accessing the Classics: Great Reads for Adults, Teens and English Language Learners", Library Review, Vol. 56 No. 3, pp. 267-268. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530710736163

The substantial introduction to this book sets out clearly the rationale behind the author's work. Inspired with a love of reading and literature by her own father and concerned by the reported drop in literacy in the USA, she has put together a list of titles to tempt reluctant readers. The titles chosen aim to give familiarity with what was once a common base of literature such as fables, legends and the literature that “well‐educated” people used to be expected to know. The stated object is to provide “reading support for the under prepared teen or adult … offer[ing] high interest, easy to comprehend books”. Rosow has clear criteria for inclusion: titles must be authentic literature, classics that have stood the test of time and “good reads”. She has also looked for examples that are models of good writing and promote cultural literacy. The emphasis is on novels but some plays, poetry, short stories and non‐fiction are also included.

The recommended books are divided into five sections: myths and legends of Ancient Civilizations; the Middle Ages; Renaissance Literature; the Romantic Movement and the Victorian Age and Modernism. Within each section books are grouped into “collections”, one for each author (or, in the first section, mythology). Each collection is introduced with a brief biography followed by an annotated list of books, sometimes several editions of one title, commenting on the story, its themes and on the particular edition recommended. No age ratings are given but there are warnings in the annotations of extreme language or content.

Rather than assign traditional reading levels, the annotations use “reading categories” which are indicated by icons in the margins: Start here!; Next Read; Support Here (more challenging reads but ones which have e.g. short sections, large print, illustrations or audio versions to help comprehension) and Challenging Read (it is suggested that these may be read to the teen/adult). Additionally there are some annotation icons for illustrated; big print; author pick; student favourite and affordable book (defined as less that US$9.99). There are also many “related reads” and a range of tips. A helpful author/title index and a subject index are provided.

Although an American book, the range of authors and titles covered is very wide ranging: the Middle Ages for instance includes King Arthur, Beowulf, Cervantes, Omar Khayyam and the Pied Piper. The final section, Modernism, is the only one where there seems to be a bias and, even so, it includes Forster, Kafka and Pablo Neruda.

This book suffers from the problem common to any annotated bibliography when specific editions are recommended – many of the recommended titles will quickly go out of print and become unavailable. It is noticeable that although this book is published in 2006, many of the editions recommended were published in the 1990s. However this is a useful distillation of classics, the information about the authors, the stories and their reasons for inclusion are still useful and there are many interesting comments and suggestions.