Hm, how do I start telling you about this book... It is a modern classic, written in the 1950s. A student recommended this book to me a few years ago, but I never wanted to read it because of its disturbing subject matter. It is about a group of boys on an island after being evacuated from the London area because of an atomic bomb. They are all by themselves, and we follow them through trying to find a way to organize their society. Some try to stay civilized, and others "go wild". It ends up being a struggle for their life for some of them, as Golding, based on his view of human nature, explores how they deal with the situation. As you can tell by now, this is serious business, and was not tempting to me.
You may wonder, now, how come it still figures on a blog having "favorite books" in its title. The reason is simple. I finally had to read the book, thanks to a fellow English teacher whose students I got to be external examiner for. This book was one of their options for their oral exam presentation. So I sat down and read. I expected depression and horror to be the result. But no. The characters have personalities I like, and following their adventures, challenges and crises turned out to be very interesting. The book grew on me as I read, and now I may actually have fallen in love with it.
It is a serious book, and it is a good book. At the same time it is quite easy to read, and the set they have of them at the school library has notes and some study questions in the back to help you along as well. I think this is a book that will appeal equally to boys and girls, if not a bit more to the boys. There we go, I recommended a book I didn't know I liked a week ago. And I am sorry, you Student a few years ago, for not taking you up on your excellent recommendation a long time ago :)
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