Response to "Night"

I have read this book a couple of times, and re skimmed it for this presentation that we are going to have.  The one thing that I remember most from the story is the loss of his innocence over the course of the book.  I know that there is many more themes and ideas in the book and that is why this one is a great choice for students to read.  Like all literature, there is more than one way of seeing it, and this book seems like a transition book into further literature.  The book isn't too difficult to read and that will be good for high school students. With the amount of ideas and themes located in the book, I think that it is a good book do do argumentative papers or class discussions with.  Many adolescent books are about coming of age, and this one is no different, except his coming of age tale is much different than others. That fact in itself is good for students to see similarities and differences with other adolescent books, increasing their schema about literature.  I'm not sure if this book is a part of most curriculum, but I imagine that many students will or have read it.

WW2 is always something that students seem to be more interested in, mainly because of the huge scale war that took place.  This book gives a much more somber side of the story, which I think is necessary for students to know, if only to broaden their horizons about the subject.  The book also deals with alot of mature things, and I don't think today's students for the most part can relate to his struggle.  I think pairing it up with the war side of the story would keep it more interesting for students.  There is a timeline in "Night" and one that a teacher could use the war progression with.  I also think that this is a good book to use instead of slave narratives.  Slave Narratives are a huge part of English courses, but I think that sometimes it can be overdone and students need a break with other types of literature.