"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

3 of 5 stars.

This book is a classic. I read it several years ago and decided to try to tackle it with my eighth graders. Some enjoyed it, some did not but it is such a great book to experience. Though for my students, it was a challenge and a bit archaic, there are some great discussion points in this novel. We spent a whole quarter reading this book (though it is short) because I had to make sure my students understood what they were reading and there were so many discussions we had based off of what was going on in the book.

The idea that the government can censor what you read is rather intriguing for my students. We had a discussion on whether this would be viable in the world we currently live in. We also discussed that it in the book, the government didn't have to stop citizens from reading, they pretty much did that on their own. The firemen where an added spectacle or "circus" as they are referred to it in the book.

Even the idea of having TV walls as Mildred sits in front of the TV like a zombie everyday, entertained my students. In actuality, there are many people like Mildred in the world we live in. So, though Bradbury wrote this book in the 50s about a futuristic society, we are indeed experiencing the things he wrote about. People are Ok with being entertained rather than informing themselves about what is going on in the world, the media seeks to distract the public away from the real issues in the world, people don't value education, children have become reckless, society is superficial, and knowledge is not valued. Isn't this the world we currently live in?

Though Bradbury can be overly descriptive and metaphorical, the content of his novel is a great leeway into awesome discussions. I have to think about whether I want to read it in the coming years with my students, but it definitely had my students thinking more than they usually do. We are going to follow up with the movie which will allow them to visualize some of the content of the novel.

~Remember, teachers read fun stuff too!