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Lit Up: One Reporter. Three Schools. Twenty-four Books That Can Change Lives.

by David Denby

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18323147,740 (3.91)8
"It's no secret that millions of American teenagers, caught up in social media, television, movies, and games, don't read seriously-they associate sustained reading with duty or work, not with pleasure. This indifference has become a grievous loss to our standing as a great nation--and a personal loss, too, for millions of teenagers who may turn into adults with limited understanding of themselves and the world. Can teenagers be turned on to serious reading? What kind of teachers can do it, and what books? To find out, Denby sat in on a tenth-grade English class in a demanding New York public school for an entire academic year, and made frequent visits to a troubled inner-city public school in New Haven and to a respected public school in Westchester County. He read all the stories, poems, plays, and novels that the kids were reading, and creates an impassioned portrait of charismatic teachers at work, classroom dramas large and small, and fresh and inspiring encounters with the books themselves, including The Scarlet Letter, Brave New World, 1984, Slaughterhouse-Five, Notes From Underground, Long Way Gone and many more. Lit Up is a dramatic narrative that traces awkward and baffled beginnings but also exciting breakthroughs and the emergence of pleasure in reading. In a sea of bad news about education and the fate of the book, Denby reaffirms the power of great teachers and the importance and inspiration of great books"--… (more)
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» See also 8 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 23 (next | show all)
Can't wait to learn what all my English teacher friends think of this. ( )
  pollycallahan | Jul 1, 2023 |
As a first-year teacher of English, I found myself taking notes and gleaning ideas left and right. I disagreed with some of Denby's ideas about the literature and with some of his comments (though I'm with him on Shakespeare!), and I don't expect to take a strategy similar to the ones in the book. But the "tactical" ideas ... well worth a read! ( )
  Synopsis2486 | May 15, 2023 |
I remember enjoying David Denby's Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World, his narrative of returning to Columbia at 48 years old to participate in the core humanities course. It meant rereading Homer and Sapho and Woolf and reflecting on the past and present views.

Lit Up took a somewhat different approach. Denby inserted himself into three different high English classrooms to see not just what the students were reading but how they were doing it, how their teachers were combatting distractions to help them connect with classics and develop with their own preferences as readers. In the end, it was really the story of the teachers. These teachers are committed to their craft and their students. The featured teacher reads everything the students write from journal entries to sticky notes. The other teachers work equally as hard to connect with each student as reader and learner.

Denby helps get us past the "kids don't read anymore" stereotype. These teachers take the time to engage their students in reading that gets beyond the spark notes interpretations so readily available on the web. We meet a few students from each class and see them grow and change because of the work of each teacher. But they also learn how to approach challenging literature and see how it can speak to contemporary lives. The guidance of a passionate reader and teacher helps. ( )
  witchyrichy | Feb 8, 2020 |
The author starts expressing his belief that reading, particularly reading literature is the foundation of self understanding and critical thinking. He clarifies the challenges faced by individual teenagers. Next be illustrates their intellectual and emotional growth during their communal reading exercise.
The hypothesis is that the teenagers would both learn to enjoy literature and be changed by it. The conclusion is that exposure to literature by an enthusiastic teacher works. ( )
  waldhaus1 | Sep 8, 2019 |
David Denby loves literature. I disagreed with his definition of literature, but his love for books in every page kept me enthralled and interested, even while his opinions about teen readers made me want to start a heated argument.

As he travels among three different high schools, observing and commenting on their reading classes, Denby laments the lack of teenage readers. He doesn't count Harry Potter or Twilight or The Hunger Games, only classics and literary novels. His narrow view of literature definitely casts his criticism of teens in doubt: I'd argue that teens are reading more than ever now. The book's focus on teaching styles and classrooms, though, remains fascinating.

Disclaimer: this is really just the story of ONE classroom. Denby admits in the introduction that his main visits were to Beacon High School. The other two schools receive supplementary chapters -- a little disappointing, since I enjoyed some of those class descriptions more, but Beacon High School's classroom still intrigued me.

Walking with Denby through three different literature classrooms reminded me of all of the books I've loved and all of the teachers who have helped me love them. It riled me up and made me think. For me, that made it an enjoyable read. ( )
  ElizabethBernhardt | Sep 21, 2018 |
Showing 1-5 of 23 (next | show all)
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"It's no secret that millions of American teenagers, caught up in social media, television, movies, and games, don't read seriously-they associate sustained reading with duty or work, not with pleasure. This indifference has become a grievous loss to our standing as a great nation--and a personal loss, too, for millions of teenagers who may turn into adults with limited understanding of themselves and the world. Can teenagers be turned on to serious reading? What kind of teachers can do it, and what books? To find out, Denby sat in on a tenth-grade English class in a demanding New York public school for an entire academic year, and made frequent visits to a troubled inner-city public school in New Haven and to a respected public school in Westchester County. He read all the stories, poems, plays, and novels that the kids were reading, and creates an impassioned portrait of charismatic teachers at work, classroom dramas large and small, and fresh and inspiring encounters with the books themselves, including The Scarlet Letter, Brave New World, 1984, Slaughterhouse-Five, Notes From Underground, Long Way Gone and many more. Lit Up is a dramatic narrative that traces awkward and baffled beginnings but also exciting breakthroughs and the emergence of pleasure in reading. In a sea of bad news about education and the fate of the book, Denby reaffirms the power of great teachers and the importance and inspiration of great books"--

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