Reading Lessons by Carol Atherton review – breathing new life into old texts

How one teacher wrestles meaning and relevance from classics of English literature

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the books you studied at school are the ones that stick with you for ever. In my case it was Pride and Prejudice, but for you it might have been Macbeth or Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses. These are the texts you know by heart& because, once upon a time, you& spent two years annotating them using different coloured pens and consigning chunks to memory.

But what broader, deeper kinds of& learning might be available to teenagers studying English literature at school, asks Carol Atherton. For the past 25 years she has taught both GCSE and A-level in state secondary schools in Lincolnshire. Now, in a dozen carefully prepared “reading lessons”, she demonstrates how a generous and attentive teacher is able to wrestle meaning and relevance from old warhorses such as An Inspector Calls and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.