David Denby 's 'Lit Up' looks at how to turn on teens to literature

One Reporter. Three Schools. Twenty-Four Books That Can Change Lives.

That's the subtitle of David Denby's new book Lit Up, in which the bestselling writer from The New Yorker magazine went back to the classroom to look at how this social-media generation is connecting with classic literature.

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Denby is coming to P.E.I. next week, speaking Thurs. May 5 at 7:30 p.m. at UPEI's Don and Marion MacDougall Hall. It's a free event as part of P.E.I.'s Reading Town literature festival April 30 to May 8. 

"What kind of civilization are we going to have in the future if people are not reading very seriously?" Denby said in a conversation with CBC Radio Island Morning's Matt Rainnie. 

"Young people are probably reading more words than ever before, but they're reading on screens, they're reading part of books, they're reading messages, texts, bits of information," he said. 

"But I don't think we really grow much as readers until we read something sustained and match ourselves against the text and learn a great deal about the world." 

Teens are easily distracted, 72-year-old Denby argues, and teachers now need different approaches to get students interested in picking up classic books.

Engaging the indifferent

Denby's research involved sitting in on English literature classes in New York high schools and seeing how teachers are attempting to engage today's students.

"I set out to answer the question — what is it that turns 15-year-olds, not terribly good readers, that don't think literature is very important — what turns them on?" 

One answer, said Denby, is a need to define themselves — are they straight or gay? What kind of career do they want?

"That's certainly one way that literature can work on them," he said. "It's a way that works with kids who might [be] begrudging or indifferent."

The students he studied were lucky to have teachers who cared about them, Denby noted.

Island Morning is giving away a Reading Town book bag filled with Island-produced books.

To enter, answer this question: what book inspired you when you were a teenager? What book asked big questions of you and made you open your eyes to the world around you, the world of possibilities?

Call 1-800-680-1898, email islandmorning@cbc.ca or tweet @islandmorning Wednesday morning with your answer.

Listen to Island Morning on CBC Radio weekdays from 6:00 to 8:30 a.m.