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Using the 'hometown' novel in composition 101.

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Abstract

Among the toughest challenges in using a novel as a resource in a composition course is choosing a text that appeals to the students. I use "hometown" novels; that is, novels set in or around the area where my students are from. Students immediately find common ground between themselves and the characters, find the plots recognizable, and find the themes relevant to their lives. This essay describes several practical exercises to offer while reading the hometown novel and discusses the rewards such an assignment brings.

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In the first-year composition courses I teach, I require numerous papers of different modes and varying lengths, but I also ask students to read one novel during the semester, a work upon which I base one long paper and several smaller projects. I want students to be aware of the pleasures fiction has to offer and of the insight it can give into their lives. Many of the students I have worked with over the years have expressed a sense of disconnectedness between themselves and the novels they have been assigned to read in high school or college courses. They have complained that the texts mean nothing to them because the plot is unrealistic or irrelevant, because the characters seem completely alien, or because the setting is unrecognizable. Oftentimes students have admitted that they have not read a novel from cover-to-cover since middle school, and some have even insisted that they do not like reading at all. With these challenges in mind, choosing the right novel is important. I realize that I could just as easily confirm their fears of reading as I can kindle their interest in reading further. My ultimate goal is to encourage these students to read, and that can only be accomplished when they regard the texts I choose as relevant.

The best strategy I have found to make reading meaningful to my students is to assign a...

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