OP doesn't know what "and up" means.

Better late than never! But seriously 15 year olds can explore the topics more deeply than fifth graders in my opinion!

I read it Honors English 9th. OP has too much time on her hands and this is also a good example of why educators should decide curriculum and books, and not “know it all” parents.

We read it in 11th grade honors English Lit many decades ago. The prose isn't hard, but the themes are heavy.

Anonymous wrote:Good god Lord of the Flies is not developmentally appropriate for 5th grade. But whatever. I think I read it in 9th. It is an easy read, but the themes are dark. Also, a good teacher can use any book at any grade and make the activities academically rigorous.

This, OP.

Good god Lord of the Flies is not developmentally appropriate for 5th grade. But whatever. I think I read it in 9th. It is an easy read, but the themes are dark. Also, a good teacher can use any book at any grade and make the activities academically rigorous.

I read in in tenth grade as well. It's not hard to read, but there's still plenty to unpack there if you've got a good teacher. My 12th grade AP English Lit class read an actual children's picture book (The Little Prince, I think this is pretty common) and the teacher taught it really well. I've got a friend from high school who still talks about it.

Once a student can read a book, I don't see there being any kind of upper age where it stops making sense to teach it, if it's a good book. My husband wrote in college about the Wind in the Willows, a book we also read to our six year old. It's about what you do with it, not what age is "right."

I taught at a suburban high school where an AP Literature teacher taught The Help. (Can you imagine an AP exam essay in which a student uses "The Help" as their answer, OMG.) The average teacher in our department was enthusiastic and well-meaning, but they weren't all highly intelligent. We had some things we HAD to teach . . . a Shakespeare play, the research paper. Some teachers would show the movie instead of reading through the play, and they would assign a "group poster" instead of a research paper. They would brag about these "short cuts" in department meetings, like haha, they got one over on the curriculum requirements! Um . . .

It should be little surprise that I had a reputation for being a hard-a$$, lol. I taught a novel or play and required a major writing assignment every nine weeks.

I've been pleasantly surprised that my kids' middle school language arts classes in Richmond Public Schools are reading appropriately challenging works. To be fair, in order to mitigate learning losses, they've doubled the class time for English and math, so there's plenty of time to read. But in the district where I taught, it wouldn't have mattered because we had very few novels to choose from and someone was always using the novel you wanted. I honestly still have dreams about trying to find the books I need to teach and I've been retired for over ten years!

While your DC is reading Lord of the Flies, which is fictional, he should also read the true story of some boys who were stranded together on a deserted island and how they cooperated rather than fought.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongan_castaways

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-21/rutger-bregman-lord-of-the-flies-human-nature/12263980

I read it in honors English freshman year. Yes, it's an easy read, but I would guess older kids more out of it thematically?

Anonymous wrote:You were 13 in 5th grade? That explains a lot.

I laughed out loud at this!

That book is very gay. Surprised they allow it.

13 is 8th grade. And with all of the controversy about what books our kids should be allowed to read, I wouldn’t see this so much as dumbing down the curriculum as a consequence of current politics.

You were 13 in 5th grade? That explains a lot.

This book is for ages 13 and up. I think I read it around 5th grade. By Sophmore year in HS we were reading Ethan Fromme and the Scarlet Letter. Maybe Grapes of Wrath. My kid in a DC metro area public HS is reading Lord of the Flies for English Class. Seriously? Talk about dumbing it down to the lowest common denominator!