My first was Lord of the Flies by William Golding,
An older sibling had the book prescribed at university and told me it was "about kids on an island". Well, I was a kid and it sounded like fun, so I read it.
At 14, I didn't want to believe that kids would actually behave the way Golding described it. Sort of a rude awakening for me.
Lord of the Flies was actually one of our novel study books in my grade 10 (15-16 year olds) English class. I really enjoyed reading that book. Those boys really went berserk on that island.
Come to think of it, my grade 9 and grade 10 English class teachers were pretty hardcore back then. We read To Kill a Mocking Bird, Watership Down, Romeo and Juliet, in grade 9 (14-15 year olds); and we had McBeth, Lord of the Flies, and one other novel that I forgot about in grade 10. I think it was always 2 novels and 1 Shakespeare for the year in terms of literary studies.
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