Louise Marley

I've heard about it. The first person do sentence people to reading books was a judge, though I can't remember where she was. She noticed that a lot of the people who came through her courtroom were illiterate, so she sentenced them to read "Native Son" and write a book report on it.

She felt that Mr. Wright's work would educate them in more ways than one.

Hi Louise,

Thanks for sharing this story with your readers! I encourage anyone who is interested in finding out more about the Changing Lives Through Literature program to check out our website at http://cltl.umassd.edu as well as our blog at http://cltlblog.wordpress.com . We will be posting a lengthy response to the Leah Price article on Wednesday and hope you will stop in to see us weigh in on the article.

Unfortunately, this article presents a very reductive view of Changing Lives Through Literature. Harvard professor Leah Price’s one day in a CLTL classroom presents a very limited, academic view of this 18 year old program. Price presents reading as punishment, rather than as a thought provoking agent for change, calling a book a “literary ankle bracelet”. Yet CLTL works because books transport readers and lead to soaring, life altering discussions about agency, society, anger, love, and change. CLTL works because narratives open the human heart. Price doesn’t mention that she attended the first of a twelve-week CLTL session. No doubt she would have walked into a very different classroom, with very different students at week 6 or week 7.
Price flippantly connects the CLTL program to a book club, rehab, imprisonment, or, somewhat mockingly, to a Sunday school class. But Dr Price really misses the richness and complexity of what goes on in a CLTL classroom. Dr Price is writing from the perspective of expert, when she actually has a lot to learn.