Lit Up

November 9, 2015
New Yorker staff writer Denby follows up Great Books, his 1996 account of taking an English class at Columbia University during the curriculum wars, with this energetic and engaged, if less than comprehensive, report on reading among modern-day teenagers. He observes three 10th-grade English classes in three different kinds of high schools: the demanding Beacon School on New York’s Upper West Side; Hillhouse High School, in inner-city New Haven, Conn.; and Mamaroneck High School, in Westchester County. In 2011–2012, Denby sat in on a Beacon class, watching a passionate teacher named Sean Leon lead his class through discussions of classics such as Brave New World, Siddhartha, and Slaughterhouse-Five. During the following academic year, Denby periodically visited Hillhouse and Mamaroneck. At the latter, he meets Margaret Groninger, who teaches contemporary literature and uses “laddering”: letting students select their own reading outside class while also encouraging them to read “better” books. Based on these examples, Denby states that “passionate commitment in teachers” can “pull away from screens and social networking—at least for a while—and pull them into enjoyment of reading.” The sample size of his informal survey is so small, however, that this conclusion, while inspiring and hopeful, comes across as foregone. Agent: Kathy Robbins, the Robbins Office.

October 15, 2015
Teenagers encounter great books and dedicated teachers. New Yorker staffer Denby (Do the Movies Have a Future?, 2012, etc.) believes ardently that reading affords pleasure, "an opening to a wider life," and enhanced "understanding of other people and oneself." He wondered, though, whether reading will survive for children inundated with increasing technology. Will they stop texting and read a book? How, he asks, "does the appetite for serious reading get created?" The author decided to investigate by sitting in on a 10th-grade English class at Beacon, a magnet school in Manhattan. After a year of attending classes and reading all the assigned material, he expanded his project by visiting two other public high schools: the inner-city James Hillhouse High School in New Haven and the suburban Mamaroneck High School in Westchester. Beacon, though, and in particular the class taught by energetic, 30-year-old Sean Leon, is Denby's central focus. Admission to Beacon is competitive, based on grades, a portfolio of schoolwork, and an interview. With students motivated to excel and teachers free to shape their own curriculum, it's hardly surprising that Denby came away impressed--and he ably conveys his enthusiasm to readers. In the two other schools as well, though, the author found that by teaching "aggressively and flexibly, with humor and dramatic power," teachers can generate students' passion for reading. He sees students taught to read actively: responding to readings through journals, annotations, marked-up copies of texts--all of which the teacher reads, comments on, and sometimes grades. At Mamaroneck, a "get-them-reading strategy" requires students to keep a yearlong journal of independent reading, including romance fiction and graphic novels. At Hillhouse, where many students struggle, Denby witnessed a fiery conversation about To Kill a Mockingbird deftly handled by an encouraging, but tough, teacher. An upbeat portrait of fine teachers and the students they inspire.

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Starred review from January 1, 2016
Part literary meditation, part case study of exemplary teaching, Lit Up traces a diverse group of adolescents as they are drawn into the character-forming experience of reading difficult books by their ardent and caring (and as duly noted, union) teachers. Denby, staff writer for the New Yorker and author of Do the Movies Have a Future? (2012) and other books, spent a year observing high-school English classes in three disparate East Coast settings: a New York magnet school catering to middle- and working-class kids, a tough neighborhood high school in a gritty section of New Haven, Connecticut, and an affluent high school in suburban Westchester County. Denby's engrossing report from the field has a narrative arc of its own: his story concerns how disaffected and/or disadvantaged high schoolers can become thoughtful, independent readers when their teachers have the freedom to construct their own curriculum so that students connect emotionally with what they read. In this regard, Lit Up is also a cri de coeur imploring a return to the kind of education that elevates the unquantifiable humanities to foster the spiritual value of literature and the moral instruction of teenagers. As the teacher working in the most challenging setting understands, her students needed literature to live. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2015

Denby (Great Books), a film critic for The New Yorker, writes of attending sophomore English classes at three high schools in the New York metropolitan area. In each of the schools, a teacher with a powerful personality sets the tone. The Beacon School's iconoclastic Mr. Leon has students stick to his list of mostly novel-length, adult-level, required readings. At Mamaroneck High School and at Hillhouse High School, students read from a mix of novels, nonfiction, short stories, and articles. Both schools include options allowing student choice. Denby also explores how to foster "bookishness"--a love of reading deeply--in young people. A supporter of reading to children from infancy, Denby cites research on the wide-ranging benefits of pleasure reading. He describes classroom interactions and applauds the vigor with which these teachers work to connect with students. The author further includes his opinions and critical analysis of some of the books read. VERDICT A readable work recommended for anyone who agrees that reading widely is vital to a productive, fulfilling life. Educators may gain occasional tidbits on teaching style, while librarians will recognize tactics used to entice teenage readers. [See Prepub Alert, 8/10/15.]--Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley Sch., Fort Worth, TX

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2015

As he recounted in Great Books, Denby, a staff writer and former film critic for The New Yorker, returned to Columbia University at age 48 and reenrolled in two Western civilization courses to read the classics. To find out what great books can do for the precollege set, he recently spent a year attending a tenth grade English class at one of New York's prestigious public high schools and also visited a public high school in New York's Westchester County and a struggling inner-city school in New Haven, CT.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.