Reading is the one activity students do more than anything else in school. Students have to read questions on their exams, study textbooks, look over and take notes, and read assigned literature.
Throughout our time in school, my peers and I have been assigned several books by our teachers, so I asked Salem seniors one simple question: what was your favorite and least favorite book you read for school?
Responses:
Jovann Sagayno
“My favorite book in school was Unwind [by Neil Shusterman] because it felt like we weren’t supposed to read it at that age. Like, our teacher warned us there was some stuff in it, but then I read it and I was shocked. My least favorite was Fahrenheit 451 [by Ray Bradbury], it was unbelievably boring.”
Lazaro Virata
“American Born Chinese [by Gene Luen Wang] was the worst book I read because it was very racist and it made me uncomfortable. I liked The Joy Luck Club [by Amy Tan] because it talked about parent-child relationships in Asian households, also because I am Asian.”
Keven Mazuera-Caro
“My favorite was Of Mice and Men [by John Steinbeck] because it was a nice treat after the English SOLs in junior year. I really liked the ending as well.”
Nassir Foster
“Kite Runner [by Khaled Hosseini] was actually pretty good; of all the things we read, that one was actually interesting. If I had to pick the worst one, it would be Frankenstein [by Mary Shelly]. That book was so boring; I stopped reading after like five pages and left it in my backpack for the rest of the time we were supposed to read it.”
Jacinto Hunter
“I loved Anthem a lot because Ayn Rand (the author) clearly had a lot of very strong opinions and I could really feel her ideals jump out at me from the pages as I read it. I despised Fahrenheit 451.”
