These are the books Memphis-area high school students are reading. Educators explain why

In an increasingly polarized society, classrooms have become political fodder for lawmakers, and students’ reading assignments have at times grown contentious.

In the 2022-23 academic year, the nonprofit PEN America recorded 3,362 instances of book bans in public school classrooms and libraries in the U.S., a 33% increase from the 2021-22 academic year. In 2021, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill into law that restricted discussions about racism, white privilege, and unconscious bias in the state’s public schools, according to Chalkbeat Tennessee, while a 2022 law gave the state authority to overrule local school boards and remove certain materials from school libraries.

In August, an eighth-grade teacher in DeSoto County Schools enraged parents and was removed from her position when she assigned a passage from Sherman Alexie’s novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” that was focused on masturbation.

Amid this backdrop, The Commercial Appeal reached out to leaders in local public school districts, private schools, and charter schools, and asked them what books their high schoolers were reading, why they chose them, and how they avoided the sort of controversy that’s been seen throughout much of the nation.

Here’s what they said.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools

The word that came up time and again in an interview with the creators of Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ reading curriculum was “guidelines” ― specifically, guidelines set forth by the State.

When it comes to textbooks, the state approves a list of approved curricular resources, and the district creates an adoption committee ― generally composed of teachers, principals, and other MSCS leaders ― which uses the state’s list to select its textbooks for students.

For high schoolers, MSCS uses the myPerspectives language arts curriculum; and the district has a focus, said executive director of reading and curriculum instruction Amy Maples, on “equity and engagement.” Teachers can also select books outside of this curriculum for students, but not without approval.

They must adhere to the district’s Policy 5021, which is aligned with the state’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022. Essentially, this means a teacher who wants to add additional books or texts to their classroom has to go before their school’s book and material selection committee, which is generally comprised of its librarian and other school leaders.

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And this committee determines whether the book or writing in question follows state guidelines.

Maples and other curriculum leaders believe the district’s efforts to ensure its teachers follow the state’s expectations could be helping it avoid the controversy that’s been seen in other places. But if parents, guardians, students, or employees do have concerns about books in school classrooms or school libraries, they can share them with the school’s administration, which usually is able to resolve the complaint informally. They can also submit concerns formally, and if those concerns can’t be addressed at the school level, the district can get involved.

Maples, however, maintained that this hasn’t been necessary.

“We adhere to all state and local guidelines, and that, I think is what has kept us in the space that we're currently in,” said Joyce Harrison, the ELA manager in the department of curriculum and instruction. “Yes, it is sometimes tedious, ensuring that when we're developing curriculum and reviewing curriculum materials to make sure we are adhering to those guidelines, but it is a part of our job. So, we are happy to do it.”

Curriculum planners said they put their feelings aside and abide by regulations.

“We maintain alignment to the state expectations. And… we adopted those policies locally as well," Maples said.

There are teachers in the district coming up with creative ways to teach the books and texts assigned to students, something I can attest to as a former MSCS student. For example, my senior year at White Station High School, we got to film and act out scenes from Hamlet and stories from The Canterbury Tales - which, for me, made Shakespeare and Chaucer a lot more exciting.

Here’s some of the texts and books being read by MSCS High Schoolers in the 2023-2024 academic year:

9^th grade

• "The Fall of the House of Usher," by Edgar Allan Poe

• "The Odyssey," by Homer

• Letter from a Birmingham Jail, by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

10^th grade

• "Oedipus the King," by Sophocles

• The inaugural address of John F. Kennedy

• The Nobel Prize acceptance speech of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

11^th grade

• "Civil Disobedience," by Henry David Thoreau

• Passages from "Nature," by Ralph Waldo Emerson

• "Ain’t I a Woman?," by Sojourner Truth

• "Birches," by Robert Frost

• Passages from "Dust Tracks on a Road," by Zora Neale Hurston

• "The Crucible," by Arthur Miller

• "Everyday Use," by Alice Walker

• Passages from "Life on the Mississippi," by Mark Twain

12^th grade

• "Beowulf," translated by Burton Raffel

• "The Canterbury Tales," by Jeffrey Chaucer

• "Macbeth," by William Shakespeare

• Passages from "Gulliver’s Travels," by Jonathan Swift

• "Ode to a Nightingale," by John Keats

• Passages from "The Divine Comedy: Inferno," by Dante Alighieri

• Passages from "Frankenstein," by Mary Shelley

• Passages from "Mrs. Dalloway," by Virginia Woolf

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St. Mary’s Episcopal School

St. Mary’s was established in 1847, and according to Shari Ray, its U.S. English teacher and department chair, the school had a “very, very, very traditional curriculum for a very long time.” In some ways, the books and texts assigned to students were “one-voiced.”

Over the years, however, the school’s selection of books has evolved, and now, its reading curriculum incorporates a more diverse array of voices. For example, high school students still read traditional classroom works like Homer’s "The Odyssey" and "The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus" by Christopher Marlowe. But they also read "The Bluest Eye," the 1970 debut novel of Toni Morrison, which has been banned by some school districts and was named the third most challenged book of 2022 by the American Library Association.

“That kind of movement is often slow,” Ray said of the curriculum. “It's not always painless. But here we are. … We're not loaded down with ultra-controversial topics or titles, but it is a diversity of voices, which is good.”

On occasion, curriculum adjustments have led to questions from parents. As Ray put it, “Any time there is a change, and people are paying attention, people want to know why.” It’s rare that a parent is actually upset. But if one is, Ray will invite them over to explain why a text was added or removed, and this usually resolves the issue.

“How do we avoid controversy? I don't know. I think it's in part by the communication that we have with parents,” Ray said. “They know what we're reading. We're willing to meet with them and answer their questions.”

The effort to keep parents informed, however, is trivial if students aren’t engaged, and St. Mary’s looks to ensure they’re wholeheartedly invested in their assignments.

Teachers tend to place an emphasis on discussion and writing over lectures. Sometimes, students will re-read stories years later, when their understanding of literature and the world has changed. They initially read Shirley Jackson’s chilling tale, “The Lottery,” as eighth graders, then again as seniors. Eleventh and 12th-grade English classes are treated similarly to college-level electives, with students able to pick from a variety of semester-long courses, including Monsters, Marginalized Voices, Women’s Studies, and Faith and Doubt in Literature.

“What we like about this, is that girls can then… look and say, ‘What am I really interested in?’” Ray said. “The girls have a lot of choice in what they read.”

Crosstown High School

If Lauren Mueller had to pick three words to sum up the mindset behind charter school Crosstown High’s reading curriculum, they would be rigor, diversity, and choice.

Rigor is important. Books and texts are expected to be accessible but challenging, and vary in scope.

“Students are practicing a variety of reading skills in different ways, and with different texts,” said Mueller, the chair of the English department and a teacher at Crosstown.

For example, in the fall, her students read a book called Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, and it was paired with nonfiction excerpts ― like interviews and news articles.

An emphasis on diversity is also key. The students at Crosstown High come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and the school wants them to be provided with both texts that they identify with and texts that they don’t. Mueller described it as a “windows and mirrors” concept.

“We want every student to have a text that they can see themselves in, like the idea of a mirror… You can find yourself in it somewhere, or [find] something that’s culturally similar to you,” she said. “There’s also a text where you’re seeing through a window. You’re looking at something else, something new… something that surrounds you, but you don’t actually have that lived experience.”

And then there’s choice. Crosstown High leaders want students to have a say in one they’re reading.

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“Obviously, there’s things that, universally, kids are going to read,” Mueller said. “We’re trying to build in that love of reading and love of learning, where there’s multiple options.”

As a charter school, it does use the state’s standards to guide curriculum planning. But so long as its teachers are reaching those standards, they can assign whatever texts they want. As Mueller put it, “we have a ton of creativity, flexibility, and fluidity when it comes to that.”

And this, she continued, is a “huge gift,” which allows Crosstown High to tailor instruction and engage in interdisciplinary work. In the fall, its 10^th grade English, history, and biology teachers were working together on a nature-centric project.

“They're applying what they're reading in English, to what they're actually doing in science, which is really cool,” Mueller said.

Crosstown also has avoided the type of controversy that’s been connected to reading assignments at other schools. Mueller credited this, in part, to students’ parents, who she believes understand the school’s style of teaching and mission from the beginning.

“I think we have a demographic of parents and families that are understanding,” Mueller said. “It is implicit that your student will be learning, thinking, talking to people about a diversity of experiences.”

Here’s a partial list of what Crosstown High students are reading in the 2023-24 academic year:

• "Homegoing," by Yaa Gyasi

• "A Separate Peace," by John Knowles

• Excerpts from "400 Souls," edited by Ibram X Kendi

• "Romeo and Juliet," by William Shakespeare

• selected poems from Clint Smith

• "Macbeth," by William Shakespeare

• "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe," by Benjamin Saenz

Briarcrest Christian School

When Briarcrest Christian School staffers select a book or text to students, they try to do it using a biblical worldview.

“We have a biblical basis for the study of literature,” said Clayton Williams, Briarcrest’s curriculum coordinator. “Every single book that we read in, inside and outside of class… there's justification for why we chose it, as well as the biblical impacts that we will have through that.”

That’s not to say a biblical worldview is the only thing on employees’ minds at Briarcrest. They also want to ensure students are being adequately prepared for college. The school’s leaders think about what skills they want their graduates to have, and this informs the assignments given to students across grade levels.

In English courses, it’s meant a lot of reading and writing.

“It’s kind of a twofold effort in our English classes in the high school,” Williams said. “Fiction, nonfiction texts, classic texts, poetry, drama, they're going to be exposed to all of that, but they're also going to do a lot of writing. Research is a heavy part of what our students are exposed to at the high school level.”

Briarcrest also hasn’t ruffled the feathers of parents with its reading selections; Williams couldn’t think of any significant instances where families had been upset. And parents have remained content, he believes, in part because of the school’s emphasis on communication.

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“We unapologetically communicate what we're doing to parents. We're not hiding anything,” Williams said. “We're going to stand on biblical truth, and our parents know that.”

Here’s a list of books Briarcrest students are reading in the 2023-24 academic year:

9th Grade

• "Cold Sassy Tree," by Olive Ann Burns

• "The Count of Monte Cristo," by Alexandre Dumas

• "The Great Divorce," by C. S. Lewis

• "Jane Eyre," by Charlotte Bronte

• "Murder on the Orient Express," by Agatha Christie

• "Mythology," by Edith Hamilton

• "The Outsiders," by S. E. Hinton

• "The Scarlet Pimpernel," by Emma Orczy

• "Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness," by Eric Metaxas

• "The Time Machine," by H. G. Wells

• "The Tempest," by William Shakespeare

10th Grade

• "Cry, the Beloved Country," by Alan Paton

• "The Lord of the Flies," by William Golding

• "Night," by Elie Wiesel

• "The Nightingale," by Kristin Hannah

• "Oedipus," by Sophocles

• "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck

• "Screwtape Letters," by C. S. Lewis

• "A Separate Peace," by John Knowles

• "Silas Marner," by George Eliot

• "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," by Robert Louis Stevenson

• "The Sword in the Stone," by T.H. White

• "The Turn of the Screw," by Henry James

• "Wuthering Heights," by Emily Bronte

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11th Grade

• "Anthem," by Ayn Rand

• "As I Lay Dying," by William Faulkner

• "The Crucible," by Arthur Miller

• "Fahrenheit 451," by Ray Bradbury

• "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald

• "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," by Rebecca Skloot

• "Outliers: The Story of Success," by Malcolm Gladwell

• "Selected Short Stories," by Flannery O’Connor

• "The Scarlet Letter," by Nathaniel Hawthorne

• "A Severe Mercy," by Sheldon Vanauken

• "To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee

• "Twelve Angry Men," by Reginald Rose

12th Grade

• "Complete Guide to Money: The Handbook of Financial Peace University," by Dave Ramsey

• "Edgar Huntly," by Charles Brockden Brown

• "Frankenstein," by Mary Shelley

• "Happy, Happy, Happy," by Phil Robertson

• "Hard Times," by Charles Dickens

• "Heart of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad

• "Macbeth," by William Shakespeare

• "Murder in the Cathedral," by T. S. Eliot

• "Othello," by William Shakespeare

• "Out of the Silent Planet," by C.S. Lewis

• "Pilgrim’s Progress," by John Bunyan

• "Same Kind of Different as Me," by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent

• "The Taming of the Shrew," by William Shakespeare

• "Things Fall Apart," by Chinua Achebe

Lakeland School System

The Lakeland School System also uses the myPerspectives Language Arts Curriculum, which was selected from the state-approved list. And it supplements this with a variety of novels that are selected by a committee of teachers, then approved by an administrative team and the district’s board of education.

Lakeland’s teachers also try to ensure that the books are going to get students excited about reading, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on learning. As instructional supervisor Kerri Eldridge said, “We’ve just seen a difference in motivation and how to get kids to get bought into the process.”

“They know that since COVID… that's the most important thing they have to do,” she explained. “I think that's why they've been advocating for these titles… “Because they know that while that textbook is fantastic, they've got to bring in meaningful titles that are going to get their interest.”

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For example, 10^th graders read "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. But they also read the horror novel "Stalking Jack the Ripper" by Kerri Maniscalco.

“If I were in 10^th grade and reading about Jack the Ripper,” Eldridge said, “I might have been super excited about it.”

And as it looks to engage students, Lakeland appears to have avoided frustrating parents on a large scale.

“I honestly believe that, because we have so much transparency, with what titles that we're looking at, and because our teachers are so intentional about the reason they're choosing those titles, I don't see there's been a whole lot of backlash,” she said.

Here’s what Lakeland high school students have been reading this year (the district has a ninth and 10th-grade class at Lakeland Preparatory School and is adding a grade each year):

9th Grade

• "Lord of the Flies," by William Golding

• "Night," by Elie Wiesel

• "A Separate Peace," by John Knowles

• "Frankenstein," by Mary Shelley

• "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," by Robert Louis Stevenson

• "Childhood’s End," by Arthur C. Clark

• "Ready Player One," by Ernest Cline

• "The Fault in Our Stars," by John Green

• "The Parable of the Sower," by Octavia Butler

• "Animal Farm," by George Orwell

• "Paradise Lost," by John Milton

• "Paradise Regained," by John Milton

• "Mixed: A Colorful Story," by Arree Chung

• "Romeo and Juliet," by William Shakespeare

10^th Grade

• "Fahrenheit 451," by Ray Bradbury

• "Invisible Man," by Ralph Ellison

• "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck

• "A Raisin in the Sun," by Lorraine Hansbury

• "Julius Caesar," by William Shakespeare

• "Book of Myths," by Jean Lang

• "The Haunting of Hill House," by Shirley Jackson

• "The Alchemist," by Paul Coelho

• "Things Fall Apart," by Chinua Achebe

• "The Count of Monte Cristo," by Alexandre Dumas

• "All The Light We Cannot See," by Anthony Doerr

• "The Hobbit," by J.R.R. Tolkien

• "Something Wicked This Way Comes," by Ray Bradbury

• "Great Expectations," by Charles Dickens

• "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," by Agatha Christie

• "Death on the Nile," by Agatha Christie

• "Stalking Jack the Ripper," by Kerri Maniscalco

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: As controversial book bans expand, here's what Memphis students read