“Books must differ as widely as the needs of the individual students. Some are intended to awaken a taste for reading in those who have never read for pleasure. Others are to bridge the gap between trash and good literature…Still others are to stimulate thought, to inspire a worthy view of life, to arouse ambition.”
From Report of the Committee on Home Reading, prepared by NCTE’s Committee on Home Reading
In 1911, the National Council of Teachers of English primarily formed because of the undue influence of college entrance requirements on English education. These requirements often included a required reading list of books selected by a college board. These lists, however, differed from year to year and from college to college. To prepare their students for college, English teachers were forced to try to form their curricula based on these wildly diverging lists that often did not hold the interest of their students.
In 1913, NCTE published its own list of recommended reading, The Report of the Committee on Home Reading, which would go on to sell over a 400,000 copies. By creating its own list of recommendations, NCTE successfully diluted the influence of college boards and their lists of required reading. In J.N. Hook’s A Long Way Together: A Personal View of NCTE’s First Sixty-Seven Years, NCTE Past President E.H. Kemper McComb explains:
“After the reading list, and its revisions, came out, no one in the Council worried about ‘college boards,’ because an immediate result of the lists was that college entrance requirements were liberalized. The Council took no credit for this, but there is no question that the Council lists assisted in the liberalization of the requirements.” (1979, p. 25)
Today, NCTE continues to publish reading recommendations, which has expanded to multiple reading advisory series for different grade levels. To learn more, take a look at the featured topics below:
- Report of the Committee on Home Reading
- Good Reading
- Books for You
- Your Reading
- Adventuring with Books
- High Interest, Easy Reading
Report of the Committee on Home Reading
The first recommended reading list published by NCTE, The Report of the Committee on Home Reading, helped the Council end the strict and inconsistent required reading lists set by college boards. Also known as A List of Books for Home Reading, this book was intended for college-bound high school students. The Committee on Home Reading, chaired by Herbert Bates, prepared the list. Learn more: 15/73/803
Item: First edition of The Report of the Committee on Home Reading (1913)
Good Reading
In 1933, NCTE’s Committee on College Reading began to publish its own series of reading lists called Good Reading for college students, selecting literary classics considered essential for college students to know. The Students’ Guide to Good Reading was the first edition. The Committee on College Reading continued to print Good Reading until the late 1960s. Learn more: 15/73/802
Item: First edition of Students’ Guide to Good Reading (1933)
Books for You
Books for You is another series focused on high school students. Instead of explicitly preparing students for college, the goal of this series is to encourage students to read for pleasure. First published in 1945, Books for You lists books according to subjects, as illustrated below in the table of contents. Later editions include subjects such as “Adventure and Survival,” “Drama and Theater,” “Family Conflicts,” “Poetry,” “Social Situations,” and “The West.” Learn more: 15/71/813
Item: First edition of Books for You (1945)
Your Reading
Your Reading is one of the first reading advisory series to focus exclusively on junior high students. Published by NCTE and its Committee on the Junior High and Middle School Booklist, Your Reading is meant to encourage students to read quality literature, organizing suggestions under subjects such as “Adventure,” “Physical Handicaps,” “The Supernatural,” “History and Government,” and “Places and People of the World.” Learn more: 15/73/818
Item: First edition of Your Reading (1946)
Adventuring with Books
Adventuring with Books is one of the first reading advisory series to focus exclusively on elementary students. This series is targeted toward teachers, librarians, and media specialists in order to help guide them in selecting books for the library and classroom. These books are organized according to age level and genre. Learn more: 15/73/812
Item: First edition of Adventuring with Books (1950)
High Interest, Easy Reading
Since 1965, High Interest, Easy Reading has encouraged reluctant readers in junior high and high school to read by selecting books for their entertainment value, as well as for their literary value. As with almost all NCTE reading advisory books, selected books are arranged by subjects, such as “adventure,” “history,” “trivia,” and “fantasy.” Learn more: 15/73/811
Item: First edition of High Interest, Easy Reading (1965)
