When my mom died, my dad took me to that place for "help". I noped after about a year (15). I have received mail and phone calls for 35 years - new phone numbers, new addresses... they still harass me. They are 100% a cult and want money.

You need a good teacher for it too. I had one English teacher who though just reading it to us was an effective teaching strategy, we all failed. We all know the story and main points but he never explained any of the lines but tested us on the lines. Later, I had another teacher who went over Caesar and she was so good, she basically translated line by line and went over everything. She made it really interesting, all while knitting at her desk. I miss her!

Disturbs me to this day and I read it 45 ish years ago as a 13 year old

disagree, it's a great book

Honestly seems like something I'd be interested in, even back then. Definitely not a book for 11 year olds though.

If you want the real deal, try We, children from Bahnhof Zoo by Christiane F.

If you don't know what this book is about, it is a true first person account by someone who suffered prolonged and extreme physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his mother as a child. Not for the squeamish.

I think educators need to frame these works correctly for them to be effective.

We had to read a handful of books like that (not really but same topics) like Speak and there was a discreet opt-out option, you had to pick a book from the teacher’s shelf and write an essay on it instead

Ya think? Great book though, holds up incredibly well.

I read this when i was young and loved it so much. Its such a magical story about a boy and the strong bond he has with his two hunting dogs. The ending is upsetting but it's 100% worth reading, even for younger children in my opinion. I dont really see why people feel the need to shelter kids from a book like this one. (obviously some books on this list yes, they sound awful). But this book is great!

I tried to read it as a kid. Hated it. Tried to read it as an adult. Loved it. One of my favorite genres is something I like to call 'sunny horror', and so few things qualify.

thank god my teacher was amazing, because they did a great job of reminding us that this is not a representation of what happens when humans are left to their own devices. this is what happens when entitled rich white british boys are left to their own devices. this is not applicable to all humanity because those kids did lead very specific and priveledged life before the island. also beauty queens by libba bray does a completely different demographic version of this. i know english teachers who teach these books together to show that even if they're children, they don't arrive in these situations as blank slates. there's context to explain why people behave the way they do

This is a great book. The OP just seems to be bad at books.

Lord of the flies came to mind as soon as I saw the title of this list. I think I read it when I was 12 or 13 and boy, did I cry when Piggy died. It was a shocking scene that disturbed me for days. I haven’t read it as an adult, so I don’t understand the allegorical aspect. I’ll pick it up soon. Hopefully this year.

There was an old Simpsons episode that was in reference to this book that was pretty funny.

Have to strongly disagree with this. Lord of the Flies is a definite must read,vas a preteen, teenager and adult.

I thought Lord of the Flies was an amazing book and I am glad we read it in school. I was a big wuss until probably my mid 20s and wouldn't have gone near a lot of books if a class hadn't made me.

I read it in High school because even though it was easy, according to the teacher that's a better age group to understand the themes. Like how the beast is in human nature. And the parallels to the very real war going on at the time, the adults who were supposed to be their saviors were really not so dissimilar. At least that's what I was taught about it.

It was good, I thought, as a study on human behavior! Perhaps you missed the point.

Oh I love this book, great story and a good piece of philosophy

This book is about how easily people (especially males) can descend into tribalism and how thin the veneer of civilization really is. It is relevant right now .

Omg I absolutely loathed Lord of the Flies!

I still read this every now and then. It reminds me of my time spent working with some really horrible human creatures.

I actually liked this one when we read it in HS. But I don't think I understood it in a way I would now.

Poor Piggy 😢 and Simon. I read this one and watched the movie my senior year. My English teacher prepared us for this one for a week before we read it together as a class (as in, out loud, together, 2 chapters per day).

Again, a HS read. It explained a lot GREAT book.

Saw the movie. Barf!

I wasn't allowed to study Shakespeare, my grades weren't great. I had to read c**p like this. Got the same grades. Irregardless of what we studied. Teacher: Why do you think the author wrote this character this way? Me: Don't have a clue. And could care less. (Don't get me wrong. I love reading. Read a lot. But the motives behind the author's choices? I'm blank. Jules Verne did a story like this. His was good. I was always very lucky in one thing. My parents didn't believe in censorship and we could read whatever we wanted. Years later, I told my mother what kind of c**p I had to read that year. Because she wouldn't stand up for me to take the Shakespeare course.

I do not like it a bit, sad ends

I found it was very disturbing after I had finished reading it and fully processed what it meant. And I was in grade 9.

I read Lord of the Flies in 8th grade and I LOVED it

This but not because this book is bad, but because people take it as some treatise on human nature, when in reality its scathing criticism of the English hugh classes. The idea isn't lol this is how people are. Not even how boys are. No its specifically about privately educated English lordlings, and the creator literally said so himself

Good book, but extremely f****d up. Which yeah, that's the point but still

I read it as an adult, I thought it was anticlimactic and boring...imagine that, children going crazy and turning on each other bored me

Didn't read the book in school but they showed the movie in Jr. High. Sorry but that was so utterly depressing and I hated it. They promoted as a special treat for the entire school so I didn't expect them to show something so dark. I think it probably has educational value but I believe that was too young. Also, one book I checked out from the school library in grade school really messed with my head. It had a very graphic depiction of a man who committed suicide by sticking a gun in his mouth. I have no idea why the school thought that was appropriate reading material at that age.

I remember reading this my first year of high school. I was so upset and frustrated by the ending I hurled the book to the floor immediately upon finishing it. No comeuppance?? Good book though.

Depressing, but still a cautionary tale. Read it in high school.

As a little girl reading this, I was like "this was clearly written by an adult who forgot what it was like being a kid". It was more obnoxious than anything.

LOL. First title I thought of when I saw this thread. I read it as an assignment in school.

Also, stop teaching metaphor and symbolism. Take a hint from the MCU and realize plot line and character development are secondary to fight scenes and protracted stories about convincing other superheroes to join the good fight for the betterment of humanity.

My school assigned several books that were of this ilk. Basically about how horrible children can be. I think some teachers had issues with their jobs. Don't blame them but that topic could be avoided.

It was a horrible novel when I had to read it in 7th grade maybe but as I got older, I have learned to appreciate and understand the concept.

I had to read this for an honors English class and loathed it. It doesn't help that I had a teacher that felt everything was symbolism and "who's the Jesus figure"

Just want to let folks know this is based on a true story EXCEPT the children did not harm or bully one another. They banded together and survived until they were rescued.

I like the overall message/theory of the book. But there's a scene where they rape a boar with a spear and that haunts me 20+ years later

Margaret Mitchell was born in 1900 in Atlanta, GA, an area in the US still reeling from the Civil War. Her goal was to make a historically accurate depiction of life in the South and the impacts of the War. The book outlines how people were treated, what slavery really was, what it was like to have your property, land completely destroyed because of war, and the attitudes of different plantation owners to slaves. IMO, to judge GWTW by today's standards is to miss the point. The horrors depicted in that book gave me insight to my own prejudices and how to personally combat them.

i read the book in 6th grade and while it is an awesome book it takes some emotional strength to read.