My Text Selections

Charlene


The three texts that I have selected are Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling (YA novel), The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (lower secondary Literature text) and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (not my usual read) by John Boyne.

To me, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling (YA novel) is like the Great Expectations of our time. I've always enjoyed reading as a child but I couldn't find any author that I particularly look up to after Roald Dahl, until J.K. Rowling came along. 

I remembered how I devoured her books when I chanced upon it in Secondary school, and how I waited eagerly for each of her new releases in subsequent years. I've never particularly enjoyed stories that had anything to do with magic and elves and wizards because they were just so unbelievable to me, but the Harry Potter series was so superbly written that it was as if the magical world of Harry Potter was real. That's why I felt so sad when Greg, Natalie and Siti told me that the students nowadays no longer read it and it's so passe now. We should definitely bring back the Harry Potter series and make it popular again. If Percy Jackson can be a Literature text, I believe that Harry Potter should be, and can be so much more. 

The Harry Potter series touches on themes of friendship and love, bravery and conformity, death and war, politics and history. While some literary critics have argued extensively about whether Harry Potter constitutes as a literary text, I find that the text is so rich and there are so many connections and symbolisms in the books and between the books that I am still discovering new findings upon rereading it. Studying the first book in the series also encourages the students to pick up the subsequent continuations for leisure reading, and this will not just benefit them in terms of sharpening their practical criticism skills, but also help in improving their English. This is especially so for the students that are weaker in English or those in schools that does not have a culture of reading.

The MOE text that I have picked is The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I did The Outsiders while I was in Secondary 2 and I found the book to be extremely engaging and intriguing. While the book is about a story set in 1965, I still see a lot of relevance in it. The Outsiders  is suitable as a lower secondary text because the language used is very accessible, yet it retains a lot of literary value that are worth exploring and discussing. There are also many interesting activities that can be used to study this book, such as hotseating.

The plot follows two rival groups, the Greasers and the Socs, who are divided by their socioeconomic statuses. While the Socs seemingly had it all, they too had a lot of struggles in their life. The students can relate well to this book because the characters are of a similar age and the struggles that they face are very real. Peer pressure is something that every teenager go through, and we always find ourselves conforming to trends and acts that we may not completely agree with just to fit in. The Outsiders captures a lot of these issues. The reading of this book can also be tied in with some CCE lessons to touch on themes of bullying and peer pressure.

The third book that is not my usual read is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (not my usual read) by John Boyne. I picked up this book because the Literature teachers in my ESE school were debating during the department meetings on whether this would be a good book to use for Literature classes.

The book is rich with symbolisms. For instance, just like how Dr Dennis Yeo mentioned in class, the fence is not just a fence, but reflective of a deeper omnipresent social divide. Told from the point of view of 9-year-old Bruno,  it tells of a holocaust story from a very different point of view. It can be used in contrast with supplementary books like The Diary of Anne Frank and Night by Elie Weasel to demonstrate the power of perspectives. The story unfolds in a fast-paced manner that is extremely easy to follow. Because of the historical background that it is set in, it can be arranged so that it is linked to the History lessons. While students learn about factual accounts in History, they can pick up stories of individual struggles from books of this genre, they can gain more insight into the everyday life and social and cultural struggles that went on during that dark period. I believe that it would be very enlightening and would highly value add to their curriculum for a more holistic understanding of both the reality and psychological effects that wars have.

Like the previous two books mentioned, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas also touches on similar themes of conformity, friendship , boundaries, childhood innocence and social divide. It has the potential to engage students in active discussions through relevant response and encourage critical thinking by reflecting on the complexity of humanity.

An interesting thing to note is that The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has various cover designs. Getting the students to see the significance behind the different cover designs may be a fun way to start the lesson.