How to Read Literature Like a Professor: For Kids

Umm, people, this book is clearly for adolescents and younger teens, which is why there are mentions of *GASP* "fooling around" and sexy vampires. (Not to mention the fact that "fooling around" doesn't necessarily mean sexual shenanigans.) If anyone has actually READ Stoker's Dracula, it's obvious that vampirism is sensuous and sexual, along with the parasitism of the upper class. Sheesh. Why else is Twilight so popular with today's teens?Part of understanding literature is understanding metaphor, tropes and allusion to older works, which is why the reading list at the end is not full of today's teen hits, dear ones. While The Hunger Games is thrilling and enjoyable on its own, it takes on a deeper resonance if you understand it sprang from the tradition of Quest stories, from the Arthurian legends and The Canterbury Tales to LOTR. It's the journey, not the destination.Parts of the book could have been clearer, I agree. The introduction is a bit disconcerting, as it seems to start in the middle of a class discussion, and it takes a moment to get ones bearings. That can be a great start for a novel, but maybe not for a book on literature where expectations are different. The opening story of Kip Smith does seem a bit dated, but as Vietnam was the last war underage teens could feasibly sign up for, what with today's checking of birth certificates in triplicate, it was probably unavoidable.Overall, a great guide to decoding literature for teens. Not for eight year olds, but they don't exactly clamor to read Shakespeare and Henry James, do they?

My granddaughter’s freshman class is using this book. I bought a copy in order to be able to help her with advice, if need be. One of the first thing’s my granddaughter said to me was, “This book is NOT for kids!” After I read it, I have to agree. While not specific, it does discuss sex in books and symbols that represent sex (e.g. marriage) and other topics beyond the experience of most elementary age children.It’s written in language an eight-year-old could easily understand, but some of the examples and discussions are on topics that are likely beyond the average student in 3rd or 4th grade. The last example in the book would bore them to tears. I’ve worked with children of various ages throughout the years, my daughter is a teacher, and I’ve heard students’ discussions with peers, all of which form the basis of my opinion.All of that said, I believe it’s an excellent book, and totally appropriate for ninth graders. It probably is too easy a book for upper classmen, but this is a book that likely has something new for many students. Instead of ages 8-12, I’d set the ages to 10-14.

The book's content is good and interesting. I bought it for my son. Most paragraghs is easy understand and feel good. Just some of the book feel not fit kids.

Ordered this for my daughter's English honors class as it was recommended by her teacher. Was exactly as described and came on time, quickly. Good price good quality.

Easy to understand

I purchased this book for my children, it was needed for school. Seems like a book that gives the reader the basic tools needed to understand how to read literature. Great price. Fast delivery. Happy with it.

Wow! Such an entertaining but extremely informative tool for dissecting texts and making deeper connections to literature. This is a must for helping your teen write better English essays. Written so that a younger kid (10+) could enjoy, but content and deeper understanding is best for 13+.

(I'm 14 writing this on my mom's account)this book teaches you how to not only read into books more deeply, but how to write more meaningful stories.It shows you how to intelligently compare books and see how all stories are the same in some aspects. I found this pretty helpful, although some of the examples seemed a little inappropriate for the age group this was trying to appeal to. I doubt many kids have read books like Dracula or a lot of the other works referenced in this book. Even I have never heard of many of the books he talks about, and I am a few years over the suggested age range for this book and LOVE reading. In short, this is a good book, but just doesn't seem like its targeting the right age. It seems like it would be more useful to teenagers, maybe 13 or 14 year olds to 16 year olds. Teenagers might understand the references and be more familiar with the stories this book mentions.

Good book for ur kid that’s going into AP English.

How to get more out of stories?How to be better aware of why the narrator specified the season of the year?Why a particular scene struck you that much?Why you seem to already know a character of the most recent novel you got? Thomas C. Foster wants to tell you what he thinks is most helpful in getting more engaged and more enchanted with stories. This book is not academical in any sense (besides being written by an academic and being true)— fitting with the title, the author maintains a very conversational tone, quite engaging, that makes the book really easy to read. He gives lots of examples, and even though you may not be familiar with Oedipus or Green Eggs and Ham, you will always get what he is explaining. The best characteristic of this book is how well organized each chapter is: all of them are really concise and short, most being 6 pages long, explaining how some aspect of a story can be a symbol of something else (like, how the weather can be a symbol of the emotional state of the character; if a character is angry and gets in the rain, he will probably get angrier (and wetter); the narrator wouldn't mention the weather if it weren't affecting the characters and the story), and then the author gives specific examples of novels that contain the symbols he is explaining and how they deepen the meanings. But even though being so approachable and well written, there's a caution to be made: there is one chapter where the whole point is about sex, and three more mentions throughout the book. Maybe not for kids, rather for adolescents. Finally, ending the book in great style, there is a case study: a whole short story is given in the last chapter, and then the author takes the interpretations of symbols he had been explaining so far and apply them to the story we just read. It is great to see it in action. As for the material aspect the book: Nice margins, great font size, kind of cheap paper but it doesn't interfer in the reading. All in all, the book indeed helps those who want to get an introduction to better understanding and appreciating all kinds of stories, and does so in very friendly, bite-sized chapters.

A must read book for the young readers. My student loves it <3

Recommended by another teacher... enjoyed this as a personal and professional development tool.

Worth reading and passing onto your younger high school student. Teachers don't seem to have time to go through this stuff anymore and I know my kid missed a lot of the basics for English. This book doesn't teach everything about English, but it definitely gives enough information to get kids thinking and interpreting some of the basics in what they are reading. No regrets with this purchase.