If You Teach It, They Will Read

What does it mean to ""teach"" a poem, novel, or play? Surely it is about lessons in comprehension and improvements in language facility, but what does literature teach us beyond literacy? Students can read substantial literature and achieve what its authors intended: an insight into the human condition. Even those who appear indifferent struggle with questions of right and wrong, good and evil, love and loss, self-interest, and self-sacrifice. Discussing books he has used in the classroom, MacLean encourages his students to learn that others have wrestled with the same issues---issues that are expressed in timeless stories. For teachers, students, and lovers of literature, this book is a reminder of why, in the words of Maya Angelou, ""we stumble and fall, and how, miraculously, we can stand up."" What more important lesson is there? If You Teach It, They Will Read Paperback edition by John V. MacLean