My amazing artists come from around New York City to attend high school at our arts magnet school. They are bright, creative, and plugged into the issues of our time. They are also about 75% women. The canon is chock full of texts by dead white males. I love many of these texts by Shakespeare, Orwell, Dickens, and Camus, but we need an array of voices and representation for my student body.
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is a woman-centered dystopia that speaks to the issues my students see in our society.
Not only does the book take on issues of reproductive rights, religious extremism, and the danger of human progress, but it also offers a scintillating and rich literary world. My AP Literature students are hungry for great books and great books that grapple with the challenges of our time. Atwood hits the mark: it's high-quality and rich literature and was almost prescient in its portrayal of politics and reproductive right. Atwood is also a living, female author.
I know my seniors will engage with the content of this book, but having their own copy to richly annotate will teach them reading skills as well. A pillar of our AP Literature course is developing an annotation toolbox and style: teaching students to converse with the text: noting meaning, techniques, connections, and questions. When we are finished, they will get to keep their copy of the novel and their documented experience of reading.
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