The list recently released by Literature study site Shmoop.com shows the Top 10 searches on Shmoop for the 2009-2010 school year. It is an interesting read! The website explains:
The list is based on number of searches conducted on the Shmoop website by teachers and students in the past school year.
While one might think that pop culture juggernauts like Twilight and Harry Potter might crack the list, we found that the classics still dominate students’ searches.
Out of this list, in the past three years of English teaching alone, I have taught Macbeth, To Kill a Mockingbird, Frankenstein and Brave New World. Does this mean I’m on target? (you betcha I will say it does!)
The full Top 10 list:
- The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
- Macbeth, by William Shakespeare
- Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
- Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
- 1984, by George Orwell
- Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
- Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Kelli McGraw 
#1 by David Chapman on July 30, 2010 - 8:39 am
Interesting list – I say that because over the past 10 years I have taught all but Great Expectations. That being said, I now make room for some new texts I now like to teach as well, such as “The Book Thief”, “Fast Food Nation” and “The Life of Pi”.
It raises questions about which Australian texts might feature for teachers and students…
#2 by kmcg2375 on August 1, 2010 - 3:35 pm
Absolutely. And that is one down-side to the Shmoop site – it has a US focus, and currently very few (one??) Australian texts.
#3 by kmcg2375 on August 1, 2010 - 3:36 pm
I think the collection of short stories by Nam Le ‘The Boat’ is amazing, and would love to teach it with an older secondary class.