# Teaching > General Teaching >  Literature Textbooks?

## genoveva

Hello fellow educators! I could really use your help here. I am putting together proposals for American, World, and European Literature courses for a school that seems to strictly use textbooks. Eek! The American Literature textbook is 15 years old (!) and I'm hoping to suggest a better and more current textbook. Any suggestions out there? This one is by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Educational Division. It is the Macmillan Literature Series, Signature Edition. Put plainly, it is outdated and sucks.

The World Literature textbook is a 2000 textbook by Prentice-Hall, Inc. On the cover it says Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes- World Literautre. It is not bad, but I feel that it is missing a ton of great, classic lit. I don't like using textbooks- straight out, and hate when there are only excerpts from texts. I believe texts should be read in full. Any alternative suggestions would be appreciated!

The school does not currently have a European textbook- so perhaps this is my chance to pursuade them to purchase a really good one if they must insist on using them. Please do forward your suggestions here!

Also, in general, I would love to hear others' experiences teaching lit from textbooks.

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## kao218

if i were you i would do my best to convince them to not adopt a textbook--they are awful and in most cases only include short selections from works. if they are adamant about adopting a textbook i would push for them to also adopt/purchase whole novels to supplement the textbook because there is no textbook available that includes whole works. if i were you i would request exam copies from various publishers to see which text meets your needs. publishers will send you a free exam copy in the hopes that your school will choose their book.

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## genoveva

> if i were you i would request exam copies from various publishers to see which text meets your needs. publishers will send you a free exam copy in the hopes that your school will choose their book.


Thank you for this advice! And also, I completely agree with everything you said! Since the school already has American and World lit textbooks in use, I will push for whole text purchases to supplement the textbooks. I will also ask for exam European textbooks while simultaneously trying to convince the school to purchase whole texts instead!!  :Thumbs Up:

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## coolrent

Have you ever thought about renting your textbooks. You can make more money if you rent them instead of selling them... You can do that on www.cool-rent.com. It is up to you... 
For example: lets say you think that you can take $50 when you sell your textbook. Then you can make it like that - the deposit plus the price you take for the rental to be equal to $50 (less or more - that depends on you). And when the book is returned you can return the deposit to the other person.
It is that easy!

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## ScottyOhara

Go to this link: http://www.mypearsonstore.com/bookst...16232&xid=PSED.

This is the textbook that we use in a class I am currently enrolled in.
It is an Early American Lit text that has very many of the classic authors you would probably like. Be mindful that this only the first edition of the book.

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## BlackCat

I never understand the role of textbooks in literature, this is not science.

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## cafolini

Textbooks could be best, because they can give you lots of examples to choose from, and whatever interests you, you can get it and read the whole thing.

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## Cunninglinguist

I've never read a lit textbook, but I see how it could be useful. Insofar as primary texts go, those can be bought online from various sellers relatively cheaply, such as $0.99 USD + S&H (and stuff in the public domain can be gotten electronically for free). I have always preferred actually reading the books to anything, but in survey courses this could get tricky as most kids do not want to commit six or seven hours per day to reading. Also, my intuition is that using an anthology such as Norton's would be useful, as they are great summaries using content from primary texts.

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## a4et2n

I've always felt that literature textbooks mock the intelligence level of the students, given the huge text and the publishers' need to define every other word. Granted, some of them do provide interesting historical background, but a quick google search would yield the same (or better) results.

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## cafolini

> I've always felt that literature textbooks mock the intelligence level of the students, given the huge text and the publishers' need to define every other word. Granted, some of them do provide interesting historical background, but a quick google search would yield the same (or better) results.


Well yes, that's the direction in which we are going. But that's beyond the context of a class. The class should be of references and passages that allow the student to do furrther work with what he/she likes from the class.

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## bro7i

good evining every body 
I want to ask about the differences between postcolonial respons and postcolonial situation , plz help me

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## pdlapp

I thinking renting books is actually not a bad idea. You can try that... payday loans

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## ralfyman

Prentice Hall looks fine for secondary school, and Norton for tertiary.

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## Motherof8

What do you think about literature books that are older- say written about 1900? My parents had an English literature book written at that time and I used it when I home schooled my children.

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## SFG75

> The American Literature textbook is 15 years old (!) and I'm hoping to suggest a better and more current textbook. Any suggestions out there? This one is by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Educational Division. It is the Macmillan Literature Series, Signature Edition. Put plainly, it is outdated and sucks.


The newest Prentice-Hall book is what we utilize and it is very good. There are also a ton of resources that the publisher offers online. You can have students take quizzes, access notes, as well as work on specialized lessons that feature some good web links. 

I would argue that textbooks are valuable. There are many themes to go over and texts do play a role. You can't possibly stock your room with 20+ books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and every other genre and have a decent budget. Yes, some books should be available outside of the text and you should be able to justify that. 




> The school does not currently have a *European* textbook- so perhaps this is my chance to pursuade them to purchase a really good one if they must insist on using them. Please do forward your suggestions here!


You have to look at your curriculum and how it aligns with state standards. It would also serve you well to talk to some veteran teachers in your department who can help guide you on this. 

Yes, we all have a personal bias to what should be taught and what authors should get more attention over others. At the same time, you have to look for what is best for students at their appropriate level of development and ability. You might enjoy Dostoyvesky, but forcing it on 8th graders or freshmen would be unwise, it's a safer bet, and serves your students better, if you work up gradually to more enlightening books by following your curriculum to a "T."

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