Argues that "The Dark Is Rising" illustrates clearly both what is genuinely fresh and enjoyable about Susan Cooper's fantasy writing, and what is feeble and even objectionable. (HOD)

Discusses several approaches that students have found helpful for analyzing "Jane Eyre," including point of view, comparison, character development, language, imagery and symbolism, and the novel's elements of autobiography. (HTH)

Argues that the novel should bear examination from four directions and that not only would each route illumine certain aspects of "The Catcher in the Rye" but also that each would suggest general principles applicable to all reading. (Author/RB)

Discusses the teaching of "Bleak House" to students who are daunted by its length and complexity. Provides suggestions on how to get beyond those complexities and allow students to understand the central concerns of the book. (SRT)

Questions the practice of teaching literature which presents a negative view of man as seen in "Animal Farm" and "Lord of the Flies" unless teachers are careful to provide a balanced view. (RB)

A teacher discusses an English class' response to Solzhenitsyn's novel "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and the controversial film, "Scum." (HOD)

Discusses three novels that have revived the author's interest in contemporary fiction. (HOD)

Argues that the study of "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" will provoke both agreement and disagreement in its premises and its particular judgments, but that the ensuing thought and discussion can constitute an education in novel reading. (HOD)

Presents a rationale for teaching "Catch-22" in the 1980s. (DF)

Outlines a procedure that increases students' understanding of an assigned novel as it encourages them to write poetry. Suggests that students create lists of about 10 words or phrases that they felt helped create a successful opening to the novel and build on these words to create tone poems. (MM)

Notes how important it is that any critical writing assignments should take into account the individual reading, and that the teacher's role is to steer discussion that stems from a class of individual readings. Explores some of the aspects of Jane Austen's novel "Emma" to which students readily respond. (HTH)

Defends Blume's works by presenting internal evidence displaying the honesty and lack of exaggeration that make her books popular with adolescents and unpopular with critics. (CRH)

Concludes that the inadequacy of many "popular" writers for children is too blatant to be ignored by English departments, who must therefore push forward their pupils' discrimination. (CRH)

Discusses some of the novels of Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925), pointing out that their "simplicity and directness, mythic grandeur, and lack of sentimentality" could make them popular classics for today's children. Urges teachers to introduce Haggard's books to their students. (GT)

Discusses the issue, raised by Solzhenitsyn's work and the film "Scum," of the relation of literature to the world it purports to depict. (CRH)