Lorena Carrington was mourning the list of readings for high school English literature classes in 2020.
Next year our teens will be studying Hamlet (whatever), Animal Farm (sigh), 12 Angry Men (ugh)… Cate Kennedy’s Dark Roots (thank god) & #LoveOzYA Begin End Begin (hallelujah!). Twitter, help me come up with a better list than the one below, via @ConversationEDU https://t.co/wO8ReQHEUz pic.twitter.com/lyz9p2BLaH
— Lorena Carrington (@Lorena_C) November 24, 2019
Clare Fallon talks about how reading only dead white guys is a mistake that impoverishes us. While also recounting how tabloids whip up white supremacist hysteria with their excuse for journalism.
A New Literature List in Xcel with a reading for teachers
So I compiled a list of recommendations, mostly works by women and all of which deal with important social issues. This list is fully visible in the below table. However, this link takes you to an Xcel spreadsheet, which includes links to reviews as well as DMZ author interviews, panels and book launches.
LlLIf you’re a teacher considering what to study next year, I highly recommend reading Patricia Dunn’s Disabling Characters, which does an expose of the mostly poor quality texts and even poorer teaching focus on disability in classrooms. If you consider yourself a feminist or a feminist ally, please read this book. It’s short, easy to read, and gets to the point quickly. I recommend also reading my review of the book, which points out a few flaws to take into account when planning your classes.
Literature
| 10,000 doors of January | Harrow, Alix E | fantasy | YA | race |
| A Lifetime of Impossible Days | Bird, Tabitha | fantasy | adult | child sexual abuse, mental health, recovery |
| Bee and the Orange Tree | Ashley, Melissa | historical fiction | adult | gender politics |
| Black Glass | Mundell, Meg | dystopian | YA | homelessness, marketing |
| Bone Sparrow | Fraillon, Zana | literary fantasy | YA | refugees, poverty |
| Bruny | Rose, Heather | thriller | adult | politics |
| Chimes, The | Smaill, Anna | dystopian | YA | social structure, disability |
| Clancy of the Overflow | French, Jackie | historical fiction | YA | gender politics |
| Cloudwish | Wood, Fiona | contemporary | YA | minority representation |
| Courier’s New Bicycle | Westwood, Kim | dystopian | adult | queer rep in oppressive society |
| Dark Matter | Paver, Michelle | horror | adult | isolation, mental health |
| Daughter of Smoke and Bone | Tayor, Laini | fantasy | YA | new Romeo and Juliet |
| Disreputable history of Frankie Landau-Banks | Lockhart, E | contemporary | YA | feminism |
| Dragonfly Song | Orr, Wendy | historical fiction | YA | disability |
| Dreamers Pool | Marillier, Juliet | fantasy | adult & YA | gender politics; PTSD |
| Earth Girl | Edwards, Janet | spec fic | YA | disability |
| Ember in the Ashes | Tahir, Sabaa | fantasy | YA | disability, race |
| Emergency Contact | Choi, Mary H K | contemporary | YA | romance, race |
| Fire Sermon | Haig, Francesca | fantasy | YA | disability, discrimination, social control |
| First Third | Kostakis, Will | contemporary | YA | race |
| Foreign Soil | Beneba-Clarke, Maxine | contemporary | adult | race |
| Frankie | Plozza, Shivaun | contemporary | YA | poverty |
| Friday Brown | Wakefield, Vikki | contemporary | YA | poverty |
| Gracefully Grayson | Polonsky, Ami | contemporary | children/YA | trans |
| Guardian Angel’s Journal | Jess-Cooke, Carolyn | fantasy | adult | domestic abuse, recovery |
| Handmaid’s Tale | Atwood, Margaret | dystopian | adult | gender politics |
| Heir of Night | Lowe, Helen | fantasy | female lead, social issues | |
| I Am Change | Zail, Suzy | contemporary | YA | gender politics |
| In Love With George Eliot | O’Shaughnessy, Kathy | historical fiction | adult | gender politics |
| Looking for Alibrandi | Marchetta, Melina | contemporary | YA | coming of age, race |
| Machine Man | Barry, Max | spec fic | adult | disability |
| Mortal Fire | Knox, Elizabeth | fantasy | YA | |
| Natural Way of things | Wood, Charlotte | dystopian | adult | gender politics |
| Ninth House | Bardugo, Leigh | fantasy | YA | gender politics |
| Peeling the Onion | Orr, Wendy | contemporary | YA | disability |
| Pure | Baggott, Juliet | dystopian | YA | symbolism |
| Razorhurst | Larbalestier, Justine | historical fiction | YA | poverty |
| Remind Me How This Ends | Tozer, Gabrielle | contemporary | YA | trauma recovery |
| Sidekicks by | Kostakis, Will | contemporary | YA | race, queer |
| Starless Sea | Morgenstern, Erin | fantasy | YA | |
| Stravinsky’s Lunch | Modjeska, Druscilla | nonfiction | adult | gender politics |
| Tall Man | Hooper, Chloe | Contemporary | adult | racism |
| The Ones That Disappeared | Fraillon, Zana | literary fantasy | YA | refugees, child slavery, poverty |
| The Stars of Oktober Bend | Millard, Glenda | contemporary | YA | disability |
| There Will Be Lies | Lake, Nick | fantasy | YA | disability |
| This is how it always is | Frankel, Laurie | contemporary | adult & YA | normalises family issues including being trans |
| When Michael Met Mina | Abdel-Fattah, Randa | contemporary | YA | race |
| When Mister Dog bites | Conaghan, Brian | contemporary | YA | disability |
| Whisper to Me | Lake, Nick | fantasy | YA | mental health |
| Windup Girl | Bacigalupi, Paolo | dystopian | adult & YA | disability, climate change |
| Winter Be My Shield | Spurrier, Jo | fantasy | adult | social issues |
| Winterkill | Boorman, Kate | dystopian | YA | disability, social control, queer oppression |
| Wishbird | Wang, Gabrielle | fantasy | children/YA | race |
| Yellow | Jacobson, Meg | contemporary | YA | poverty |