Top 5 School Books That Set Us Up For A Lifetime Of Depression
Let’s be honest. Grade school literature is – for the most part – a harrowing group of books designed to scrub away your childhood innocence and replace it with a bleak hopelessness that you’re not supposed to get until you’re AT LEAST in your 20’s. I’m not saying these books are in any way bad – in fact I think they’re brilliant – but how about letting the kids discover them on their own, not grading them on reading about how bleak life can be. I just think its a little weird. Whatever. That being said, here’s the list.
5. The Wave
In 7th grade our English teacher made us read The Wave. It’s a charming true story about a teacher in a California high school that starts a Nazi-esque club that goes way, way out of control. It was supposed to teach us about “non conforming” or something like that. Teaching kids about Fascism is a lot like lighting a cigarette in a meth lab. Pretty soon a couple kids took it way too seriously and beat on one of the smaller kids for “conforming”. Grade school was tough enough without the teacher enforcing martial law. Kinda makes the monkey bars seem like some sort of Orwellian tragedy about class struggle.
4. Bridge To Terebithia
This was the biggest bum out in the entire world. Jesus. I’m suprised I didn’t keep a flask in my locker just to get through the day. So this kids friend dies trying to get to their imaginary place. How fucking sad is that? Jesus. Why don’t you just hit a puppy with a hammer while you’re at it? Make it a flip book of the puppy being hit with a hammer and then try to grade me through the tears. Goodbye childhood, hello drinking. Woof. That was a tough read.
It’s one thing when you read these books on your own but the thing is – being GRADED on books that scar you for life – at that age – is a lot like a Rorschach test being conducted using human blood to a classroom of fresh faced 12 year olds who so far have cakewalked through life and don’t have a care in the world. And then they read about kids dying and the loss of innocence and then people wonder why so many kids in high school smoke pot. To get things like the image of that girl in Bridge To Terebithia dying out of their heads.
3. The Giver
Oh so now we’re supposed to believe that we’re “free” because our destinies aren’t predetermined? Thanks, California Public School System. I’ll get back to eating my tater tots as soon as you outline the dystopian future we all face later in life. How about you ruin baby laughter and smiles while you’re at it. I’ll be over here spiking my carton of orange juice with vodka, thinking about how bleak the future is, while you remind me about “destiny” and “choices”. I just want to eat my Otter Pop in peace, ok? Jeez.
And what happens in the end? He meets an old man and runs away? That already sends mixed messages to the kids. I’m kidding. Wakka wakka.
Let’s all go to Brian’s house and jump on the trampoline and think about how what we’re going to do with the rest of our lives. We should be skateboarding and listening to The Misfits. You’ve got until your out of college to figure out what the fuck you’re going to do with your life. Having that heavy moral sandwich being shoved down your throat about “decisions being made for the rest of your life” that early on kinda fucks with your head when you’re still having your Mom buy your clothes for you.
2. The Diary Of Anne Frank
Hey kids lets gather ’round and read about the Holocaust! Yes, the Holocaust sucked! Yes, that’s a gigantic understatement! Don’t send us hate mail… I’m merely talking about reading this book and being graded on your thought and opinions on possibly one of the bleakest stories imaginable. Couldn’t we just reread Where The Sidewalk ends until we’re at least 16? The Diary Of Anne Frank should come with a cigarette and a shot of bourbon and a warning on the front saying “This Will Bum You Out So Much Your 12 Year Old Brain Will Explode”. It’s a great book, and a classic, but Jesus, what a bum out that early on. Don’t send hate mail for me dissparaging this (beautiful and amazing) book, but in my humble opinion this is one that kids could learn a lot from reading on their own, at their own pace, not for a grade.
1. Catcher In The Rye
This book single handedly separated the wheat from the chaff in grade school. If you “got it”, you were destined for a life of “deep thoughts” because “Saligner really got to me, man”. If you didn’t “get it”, you simply regurgitated the vaguely emo story back into your book report and forgot about it after football practice. Hell, if you didn’t “get” Catcher In The Rye, you’re probably a lot better off in your world of “enjoying life” and “thinking about others”. Catcher In The Rye highlighted teenage angst so well that it made the rest of my teenage years seem like a rip off. And yeah, everything is beautiful, the carosel ride passage is among the most well written passages in literature, but when you’re 13 the best thing for you is going outside to skateboard and jump on trampolines and what not – not read about beautiful melancholia that’s so close to your already angsty teenhood that you feel like a phony just SAYING the title of the book. This book should come in a package deal with a DVD of “Wild Things” and a skateboard, just to round it out.
(Photo by Amanda M Hatfield on Flickr)
Grade school reads? Damn, that’s harsh. I remember “The Giver” in middle school tho. Tragic shit. Had to move on to some lighter fair (i.e. TLOTR / Dave Barry books) after that one.
Salinger in high school was good, I thought.
The Wave instilled fear in me during middle school. UGH. The study guide questions about that book were the worst.
I can honestly say I’ve never read any of those books, but now I have to wonder if this is a bad thing. Hmm.
I got stuff like The Golden Compass for junior high book reports. Thank You Canada, eh!
But not really, I guess. That book was quite disturbing, I suppose I didn’t realize it at the time (I was proud of being a big reader, Stephen King and the like by fifth grade) because of the issues it dealt with. I have however gone on to not only tell people about that entire series, but to even buy full sets for people just to make them read it.
I’m thirteen and have read — or am reading — all of these books. What’s weird is that in my school, we read stuff like 1984 and Brave New World and the Giver, and Lord of the Flies — all of these are banned in a lot of places.
I freaking love my school.
[P.S. I read The Giver when I was 9-10. The part about the baby twin made me cry. Yet, I still read and re-read this book. It's grown on me, especially since my fifth grade teacher made us stop reading it. : )]
I read somewhere that Mark Chapman was carrying a copy of Catcher in the Rye when he shot John Lennon.
Leona — Not only was Mark Chapman carrying Catcher in the Rye when he shot Lennon, but earlier that day he got him to sign it.
And J.D., Lord of the Flies and the Giver are sort of more standard fair in schools these days. Yes, all three have been banned variously, but they are all widely read schools. This isn’t to rain on your parade, they should be read, they’re all great books and I’m thankful my school had me read the latter three and disappointed we didn’t read 1984 in class. Keep up the reading, you’re doing well for a 13 year old.
That should read “they are all widely read in schools”. Oops.
I adored The Bridge to Terebithia and The Giver when I was in grade school, and I like to think I’m a fairly well-adjusted person now. How does the author handle watching the news if he can’t get through The Giver?
Awesome article. Really good writing… Makes me want to re-read Catcher in the Rye though. Masochistic?? Probably. Whatever. Keep up the good work.
Id have to agree. I wonder now how some of the stories and books we read in school did affect me (and others). The grapes of wrath, catch 22, the outsiders, catcher, anne frank. No wonder I was an awkward youth.
Your commentary was funny as hell!
The things we read in grade school help shape us, teach us how to be human, show us who we are.
There is nothing wrong with emotional stories like these. It is better to have these making the backgrounds of our worlds, then books like Twilight (which, I will admit, is a great casual read. It just shouldn’t be the only type of book you read.)
I see the picture in the header is of a page from Watership Down- now there is a fantastic, life-changing book.
And I have read all but The Wave. The Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorites. Some of the stuff on tv is way more depressing to me.
What the heck school did you go to? If I had read that kind of stuff in school I would have been far more into education then…that’s an awesome reading list.
glad i’m not the only one that loved those books.
but I read those voluntarily mostly before and one during 7th grade.
never read ‘Bridge to Terebithia’ or ‘The Wave’ though.
i actually read most of these books in high school- but i loved them. Especially The Giver, and its companion book, Finding Blue. We must have read those books about 5 or 6 times in grade school-mostly during coloring time….probably explains some of stuff.
Um…wheres “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”? We read it in the 8th grade, it made several people fairly uncomfortable and a few girls break down in class as we read the rape scene. Then we read it two more times in high school…they really forced it down our throats then….
Sir, you’re talking to the queen of depressing kids’ books. I’ve read all of these and was duly traumatized by each, but there are some titles I feel should be added… howz about Dear Mr. Henshaw (diary of lonely weird kid estranged from his dad), Charlotte’s Web (duh), Shebanu (more of a middle school book), and above all my PERSONAL favorite: The Devil’s Arithmetic (girl is sent back in time to the Holocaust, goes to concentration camp, suffers – book ends when she’s sent to the gas chambers).
Oh, and let us never forget Katherine Paterson… who, along with Bridge to Terebithia, wrote such other gems as The Great Gilly Hopkins and Lyddie; and then there’s There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom (Sachar), and pretty much anything by Robert Cormier, and definitely anything by Chris Crutcher.
And, I don’t know if this counts as a kid’s book, but A Day No Pigs Would Die has made me cry harder than any other book to date.
Let the good times roll…
Johnny Got His Gun, by far the most depressing book i ever read in grade school. My teacher thought it was funny that he had all the war supporting republicans read this book, because they never looked at war the same way since. I was already anti-war when we read this, but having to do a in depth book report on it, just made me realize how horrible it all really is… every single person should read this book, but then again, everyone shouldn’t… its a paradox, but oh well…
I never liked Catcher In The Rye. But I still Love The Giver
if you honestly believe my hypothetical 13 year old child should be watching Wild Things instead of reading Catcher in the Rye, then my respect for you is nil.
I read all of those books and I’m 14! Is that bad….
What the fuck is up with you and skateboards man? Seriously annoying paragraph about Salinger.
While i did read all of these books in grade/middle school the most traumatizing book that I read in grade school was Where the Red Fern Grows. If i read it today I would probably cry my eyes out for 3 days.
I’ve never actually read The Wave, but I did meet Todd Strasser on one occasion. He seemed like the type who loved writing, but definitely viewed his writing as a job.
How sad was Ethan Frome? anyone else read that?
I had to read Of Mice And Men… :(
I agree with you completely. You should add ‘On My Honor’ by Marion Dane Bauer. Its about two best friends and one of their dads says not to go swimming in the river. They go swimming in the river and one of them drowns. The End. 96 pages of depressing writing.
hahaha… perfect post.
When i was in high school about a million years ago, i used to joke that the administration was trying to even off the teen demographics by inducing suicides… in the form of the books they shoved down our throats (and yes, all at top-speed deadline competition with utterly subjective grading)… ie. Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath, fer cryin’ out loud), Glass Menagerie, and I Never Promised You A Rose Garden. Choose one, each served with some tasty razorblades.
Good list. But how about “All Quiet On The Western Front”? I’m 39 years old and STILL recovering from that one. Probably never will fully recover! Granted, it was junior year in high school and I think it should be read, and kids should grow up with a sense of reality…but dealing with friends dying in the mud, disease and rampant slaughter of World War 1 trench warfare was a WEE bit heavy, not to mention the total loss of innocence and the fact that the reader is usually relieved that the protagonist dies at the end…just because that’s the best thing for him. Whew.
The only depressing thing about Catcher in the Rye was how many people thought that book was the end all be all of literature. *lol* I never was a big fan. I always thought it was overrated.
The books that depressed me that we had to read in school would have been Lord of the Flies (depressing study in human nature, and painfully hard to read) and The Outsiders (*lol* even though that book was awesome, still sad.)
Most of the other books up there are actually pretty cool. I enjoyed them, but they certainly WERE depressing haha. Great list
We had to read Where the Red Fern Grows in 6th grade. Maybe not quite the level of agony of a lot of these books, but much more relatable to an 11 year old who has probably already buried a pet or two in their time. Ugh.
You forgot about anything and everything by John Steinbeck. I remember 8th grade advanced English being littered with Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Winter of Our Discontent. While it did give me a love of his writing, those are some depressing novels! I did enjoy reading your article, thanks.
@ MK: I remember reading “Where the Red Fern Grows” then watching the movie, as if the book wasn’t enough to scar us for life *lol*.
@ Ash: I also remember Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. They’re both depressing, but my dad was a big book fiend before he lost his eyesight, and those two were some of his favorites, so I was scarred by those ones long before we had to read them in any classes. Great writing, compelling storylines, but heart wrenching.
This was a great freakin’ article though, full of books I haven’t read yet.
I’m with you all the way … lets leave kids the chance to be kids. BTW, you forgot The Lord of the Flies!
Just to comment, the author of Bridge to Terabithia based that book on when her child’s best friend died after being struck by lightning at age 8, just to scar your life a little more
Ok, i’m like 17 now…and all those books are old news right? WRONG! jesus christ! ok first of all, i read The Wave on my own accord cause I love to learn about cultural clash and government and that stuff that bores the rest of the world to death. Bridge to Terabithia made me hate reading for a while…it made me so freaking sad! The Giver hit me deep in the heart, I remember crying at the end…Anne Frank got me into history in a big way…I read Anne Frank before I knew anything about WWII or Nazi’s, but that book made me fall in love with history. The Catcher in the Rye never really made sense to me, I couldn’t relate to Holden well enough to understand his craziness. All in all I love to read these kind of books, that really effect you emotions, and if you don’t see how they effect the rest of us, its because you didn’t understand them, you weren’t insightful enough to see the tragedy, the horror and the misguided hate. anyway take it easy, I had to get my 2 cents in haha
What? No Old Yeller?!
I got shot in the 7th grade so I got out of reading Catcher in the rye. I cant believe Moby Dick, Tale of two cities and Oliver Twist didn’t make the list.All I remember about Anne Frank was wondering how horny she must have been being holed up and all.
How about anything by Hermann Hesse? Don’t think, just be, and life will be grand and mystical. In the meantime, don’t waste your adolescence on pablum, as there will be plenty of time for that in college, and you get to pay for the privilege.
Don’t forget “The Pearl” in which a poor farmer finds the ‘pearl of the world’ to put his kid through school only to accidently shoot him later trying to fend off people trying to get his pearl. Then at the end he throws away the pearl anyway. What a joy.
We read Tom Sawyer in 7th grade along with random other short stories including something with golden oranges. Who knows. It wasn’t till high school that I was exposed to 1984, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Red Badge of Courage, Catch-22, The Scarlet Letter, Brave New World, The Handmaiden’s Tale, Tale of Two Cities and the like. I loved Lord of the Flies, 1984 and B.N.W. Oh, as well as Heart of Darkness and Catcher in the Rye. I wasn’t really scarred by those books. It was freaking Oedipus Rex in tenth grade. What a horrible book to start the school with. Ick. Good play but it is just…. creepy to a 15 year old.
The Death Of A Salesman
Our school didn’t make us read these, but I have read most of them. Depressing yes, but it is easier to cry over someone else’s pet and family dying before you have to deal with one of your own, so it is appropriate I think to prepare children/young adults to deal with all emotions, not just the good ones. Some of the hardest books for me to read were: A Child Called It, My Name is Stephen, Sybil, When Rabbit Howls, but I doubt if any of these are required reading anywhere. We did have to read Oliver Twist though, it wasn’t full of good cheer either ;) They made us watch “The Hiding Place”, that was horrible, that scarred me.
I had to read Nectar in a Sieve. If you haven’t read it, don’t, because any message it tries to portray is lost in pages of death. The story is set in India and I can sum everything up in about ten words:
Marriage-Death-Death-Death-Happy-Death-Death-Death-Prostitution-Death.
Arthur C. Clarks “Childhood’s End” is in my opinion the most depressing book ever created. Followed closly by Vonneguts “Cat’s Cradle”.
I had to read The Things They Carried and All Quiet on the Western Front and The Outsiders along with Fahrenheit 451. The Things They Carried still freaks me out, I like the book but it freaked me out
I think these books are emotionally safe enough for high school. But c’mon…eight years old or eleven? Not cool.
Bridge to Terebethia was one of my favorite books in about 3rd and 4th grade. I still like to read it sometimes. I read Anne Frank in 7th grade. and most of the others (save the Wave and Catcher in the Rye) my eight grade maybe freshman year of high-school.
I have never read the wave but i looks very interesting. Catcher in the Rye however, i can’t stand. i hate the character and how every one tends to call themselves ” a modern Holden Cauffelid” I told my 25-year-old history teacher last year that I thought Holden’s character was whiny and arrogant. He agreed with me.
I don’t know if you ever heard about Hector Malot’s Nobody’s Boy (Sans Famille).I had to read that book when I was 10 years old thanks to my stupid teacher’s idea that it will help us understand life better.Right! It kind of messed me up good.Try to find it and read it,its amazing.But not for 10 years old kids!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans_Famille
do you know what grade school is?
I’ve never read The Wave, but I read all of the other books either in middle or high school. I loved The Giver, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Bridge to Terabithia (Bridge and The Giver, I own personally). However, The Catcher in the Rye, I believe, was such a waste of my time. I also don’t appreciate how my Theatre teacher led me to believe that I am now on the FBI hot-list for buying the stupid book since president-assassins have been known to have bought and read it.