Middle School Reading

@glgcpa (143)
United States
July 20, 2007 11:02am CST
My daughter's 4th grade teacher read this book to them as a class, they discussed it as a class, did class group projects on it and went and saw the movie. Now, two years later, she has been asked to read the book again, herself, before school starts next year, as her class will be discussing it. She is sick of the book and didn't want to read it, so I forced her to read it out loud to me, such that I could make sure she read it again. I had never read this book before myself. Although I enjoyed the book, I am wondering why teachers like to assign this book, since there are such strong religious parallels? Are they trying to find other parallels?
1 response
wayz12
@wayz12 (2059)
• United States
20 Jul 07
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the second book in the series The Chronicles of Narnia has always been a popular literary read. It has been recommended by most teachers and librarians, and most English majors in college are expected to have read it. True, if you look at it carefully, and you have a Christian background, it is easy to see some religious parallels in the story. However, beyond that, there are more classic themes in the story that will appeal to anybody, both young and old. The classic battle between good and evil, the lessons of sacrifice, the pain of betrayal, the power of love, the strenght of friendship and the bonds of brotherhood, these are just a few lessons that can be learned from this deceptively simple book. I'm sure if you can present some of these themes to your child, she might have a different view of the book. Plus, you can let her watch the latest movie version of it, that was pretty well made. Enjoy reading.
glgcpa
@glgcpa (143)
• United States
25 Jul 07
I agree with what you are saying and I agree it's a good book to read, but as I'm sure you know, better than I, there are many books that children can read, which will teach them the same lessons (good vs. evil, sacrifice, betrayal, etc.). So my question remains, why does the school system allow the 6th grade teachers (yes, same school) to have the children read the same exact book that they read in 4th grade? Wouldn't a child (or anyone for that matter), learn more or better these same lessons if they read it from various different authors? I think so.