American schools have debated the merits of a national canon since the inception of English as a subject a century ago. In earlier years, the mission of the language arts was much more elitist and hierarchical. English was a subject that taught the great works, so that aspiring students could be familiar with the standard pantheon of authors and socialized into educated society. Colleges knew what to expect from a liberally educated pupil and prescribed a canon that helped unify American English classes for years. In this article, the author contends that when teachers reject the academic despotism of standardized booklists, when they offer pupils a meaningful place in the literature class, there is a concomitant ebullience felt by students who are accustomed to being indoctrinated rather than empowered. For years, literature has been treated as canonical, as analogous to a set of holy books that would save students from ignorance and illiteracy. In truth, the author believes teachers only save them when they allow power and information to be shared--when they replace "official knowledge" with student-selected classics that are part of a dynamic reader-response scenario.