Reading Lessons

The books we read at school, the conversations they spark and why they matter

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Reading Lessons

By: Carol Atherton

Narrated by: Emma Cunniffe

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

An English teacher's love letter to reading and the many ways literature can make us, and our lives, better.

How can a Victorian poem help teenagers understand YouTube misogyny? Can Jane Eyre encourage us to speak out? What can Lady Macbeth teach us about empathy? Should our expectations for our futures be any greater than Pip’s? And why is it so important to make space for these conversations in the first place?

Over her twenty-five-year career, English teacher Carol Atherton has taught generations of students texts that will be familiar to many of us from our own schooldays. But while the staples of exam syllabuses and reading lists remain largely unchanged, their significance – and their relevance - evolves with each class as they encounter them for the first time.

Each chapter of Reading Lessons invites us to take a fresh look at these novels, plays and poems, revealing how they have shaped our beliefs, our values, and how we interact as a society. As she recalls her own evolution as a teacher, Atherton emphasises the vital, undervalued role teachers play, illustrates how essential reading is for developing our empathy, and makes a passionate case for the enduring power of literature.

©2024 Carol Atherton (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Education

Literary History & Criticism

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Critic reviews

Atherton must be an inspiring teacher if her marvellous book is anything to go by ... Profound and empathetic ... Highly entertaining ... An engrossing book and a testament to a life well lived

Original and clever ... You want to force this book on the educational experts and politicians who are so sure they know how schools should operate. If your children are studying English literature, they should read this. But if you love books, you will want to read it yourself.

She demonstrates how a generous and attentive teacher is able to wrestle meaning and relevance ... Nothing is more valuable than teaching a subject that encourages young minds to push beyond the confines created by the algorithms of social media, which is where her pupils live when they are not underlining bits of text in coloured Biro. Unlike any Stem subject, “doing English” requires young readers to enter imaginatively into the lives of others. And that, for “Miss”, remains the greatest transferable skill of all.

Gentle and humane, a tribute to a vocation as much as to a discipline

Beautifully written, sensitive and full of warmth ... A vital point of reflection for anyone who has taught, or been taught, English literature ... Thought provoking and illuminating

Reading Lessons is many books in one: a fresh and frank memoir of almost three decades as a secondary school English teacher, a love letter to literature itself, and a compelling argument for why young people continue to need novels, poems and plays ... At a time when English is under attack as an academic subject, Carol Atherton’s powerful defence of it reminds us what we are in danger of losing.

'Essential ... At a time when the importance of the arts in education is being eroded, Reading Lessons makes a powerful case for the study of literature. If you are in the job you are in because you loved literature at school - or even if you didn't love it so much - this book is for you'

This exhilarating report from the educational frontline shows how literature can excite – but also perplex – young readers. Indeed, it shows how the excitement and the perplexity often belong together

Generous, humane and constantly surprising. An urgent defence of the power of literature to create empathetic, interrogative citizens

A beautiful, thoughtful, vital book about the importance of stories. I loved every page ... Her story is fascinating and moving and one everybody should read, but especially any teacher of English who might be wondering if there’s any point to what they’re doing…there’s every point!

Most relevant

This is quite different to what I usually read/listen do and I found the exploration of different texts put next to the learning and social and emotional development of students wonderful, deeply insightful into human nature and really compassionate. I have never thought of the study of English like it is described in this book although I did study it for 2 years at uni - I don’t think we were taught in the way the author describes - I wish she had been my teacher! Her conclusions about the role of studying English and other arts subjects are a real challenge to the authorities to understand the role these play in education and life. Fantastic book - and I want to read all the books she refers to that I haven’t already read and reread the others!