How to Read Literature Like a Professor: For Kids Paperback – April 23, 2013

Umm, people, this book is clearly for adolescents and younger teens, which is why there are mentions of *GASP* "fooling around" and sexy vampires. (Not to mention the fact that "fooling around" doesn't necessarily mean sexual shenanigans.) If anyone has actually READ Stoker's Dracula, it's obvious that vampirism is sensuous and sexual, along with the parasitism of the upper class. Sheesh. Why else is Twilight so popular with today's teens?Part of understanding literature is understanding metaphor, tropes and allusion to older works, which is why the reading list at the end is not full of today's teen hits, dear ones. While The Hunger Games is thrilling and enjoyable on its own, it takes on a deeper resonance if you understand it sprang from the tradition of Quest stories, from the Arthurian legends and The Canterbury Tales to LOTR. It's the journey, not the destination.Parts of the book could have been clearer, I agree. The introduction is a bit disconcerting, as it seems to start in the middle of a class discussion, and it takes a moment to get ones bearings. That can be a great start for a novel, but maybe not for a book on literature where expectations are different. The opening story of Kip Smith does seem a bit dated, but as Vietnam was the last war underage teens could feasibly sign up for, what with today's checking of birth certificates in triplicate, it was probably unavoidable.Overall, a great guide to decoding literature for teens. Not for eight year olds, but they don't exactly clamor to read Shakespeare and Henry James, do they?

I read How to Read Literature Like a Professor last summer when it was assigned to my child for AP Literature, so when I saw How to Read Novels Like a Professor on Amazon, I just had to read it. I am glad that I did.I gave it five stars, because it was very readable, sometimes funny, and always entertaining. It was so much fun that I didn’t realize how much I was learning about how novels are written and why. He presents the reader with these laws of novels which are very helpful. I recommend this book to anyone who loves curling up with a good book, because Professor Foster discusses so many different authors and novels that it will take many hours just to read what is of interest to the reader. Read the book!

Don't be fooled by the title, kids- This is not a boring book. Of course, it's not a very exciting read, but it doesn't contain page after page after page of B, O, R, I, N, G. It's really fun to read, mostly because it's slightly funny, but also because it's literally learning how to make connections between pretty much every book that was ever written- Like a giant conspiracy theory. But I know what you're thinking. "But I don't wanna read a long book about literature! Who wants to study about BOOKS?! For-" Okay, that's quite enough. As I said, it's not boring. Also, this book is more of a branching tutorial on the study of literature. Because, seriously, no one is going to write a five hundred page piece of literature describing literature? I mean, maybe uncle Morty, but... Anyway, this book is extremely useful, and it's not just for kids, despite the title. If you want to impress your English teacher... Give this book a try. Or don't. I can't force you too, but- Hey. Might just improve your grade a bit. Or a lot.

It's a very interesting book, it illustrates literature in a different way that is easy to understand.

I read this myself (the mom) before reading it aloud to my 5th grade son. I think this book is brilliant, but there are a few parts we skipped over. In the Vampire chapter there’s mention of a couple fooling around in a car… or something like that. It’s easy to skip… and then in the Shakespeare chapter there’s a mention of sex—like a spinoff version of a Midsummer Nights Dream…. ANYWAY. This book is incredible if you can edit those parts out. It’s too valuable to skip. BUT I wish the author would write a newer version and have better editors who understand what’s age appropriate! I found some additional educational materials to use with this book on TPT. I disagree with other reviews that the author is using too many references to older works. I think kids should be familiar with these books/stories (Huckleberry Finn, Jungle Book, Charley and the Chocolate Factory, Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol, Greek Myths… etc) There’s still plenty of references to Harry Potter and more modern stories as well…

I enjoyed this book tremendously, and I learned many things with great examples.Also, Foster also made the book amusing to read, and I found myself laughing multiple times by ingenious choices of words that fit perfectly in the context, and without me losing focus - on the contrary, it encouraged me to keep reading and learning eagerly. As a biomedicine student, I find that much of the non-fiction I read, in the long run, bore me - but this book is terrific. Would highly recommend, and I also purchased "How to read poetry like a professor".