Teenagers' innate interest with the justice system is one of the reasons that so many high school literary classics teem with criminals, controversial issues, and trials. Novels such as "To Kill a Mockingbird," "A Separate Peace," "The Crucible," and "Twelve Angry Men" feature high-impact trials. In the author's desire to tap into this interest,…

The key to improving students' attitudes about reading is to expose them to more contemporary literature--books to which they can relate in settings and themes--books that they are more likely to enjoy. This article describes a collaborative literature circles project between an English teacher and a media specialist that was extremely successful…