Comments on: Top 5 School Books That Set Us Up For A Lifetime Of Depression

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:39:28 +0000

Hi there. Interesting topic. As I read through your list and the others who commented before me, I have my own list.

Someone above mentioned Robert Cormier. I Am the Cheese. That book will knock you on your ass.

As for books that school assigned to me, I must say Brave New World and Angela’s Ashes take the cake.

By: tasha

tasha — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:04:28 +0000

Try reading “The Scarlet Letter” in 7th grade. I didn’t understand a word, my mother had to explain it, and I think 12 was waaaay too young to be subjected to Hawthorne or Hester.

By: Connor

Connor — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:38:12 +0000

Wow, I read all of these, with the exception of the wave, in or before 4th grade on my own and I loved them. I guess being beaten into submission in the way of monotonous classroom assignments and meaningless lectures over material “to make sure we understand” really has a way of putting a damper on your books.

By: OmegaZen

OmegaZen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:41:12 +0000

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.

By: me

me — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:56:37 +0000

do you know what grade school is?

By: disturbia

disturbia — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:53:17 +0000

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

By: ella

ella — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:52:27 +0000

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.

By: Kellyg

Kellyg — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:01:46 +0000

I think these books are emotionally safe enough for high school. But c’mon…eight years old or eleven? Not cool.

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:40:05 +0000

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

By: grey

grey — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:37:00 +0000

Arthur C. Clarks “Childhood’s End” is in my opinion the most depressing book ever created. Followed closly by Vonneguts “Cat’s Cradle”.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:38:45 +0000

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.

By: Gentlesteel

Gentlesteel — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:40:38 +0000

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.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:01:48 +0000

The Death Of A Salesman

By: Madi

Madi — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:50:46 +0000

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.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:28:15 +0000

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.

By: Lorenzo

Lorenzo — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:43:46 +0000

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.

By: charles

charles — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:56:32 +0000

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.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:48:32 +0000

What? No Old Yeller?!

By: for sure

for sure — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:04:13 +0000

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

By: someDude

someDude — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:30:29 +0000

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

By: Art

Art — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:24:32 +0000

I’m with you all the way … lets leave kids the chance to be kids. BTW, you forgot The Lord of the Flies!

By: Dom

Dom — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:26:13 +0000

@ 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.

By: Ash

Ash — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:09:04 +0000

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.

By: Mk

Mk — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:01:09 +0000

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.

By: Dom

Dom — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:42:00 +0000

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