The Most-Taught Books in American Classrooms Have Barely Changed in 30 Years

Wall Street Journal

24-07-2025

Teenagers in English classrooms today in many ways seem a world apart from students decades ago. The books sitting on their desks, however, are remarkably similar.
Classics including Shakespeare plays, F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' and Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible' all appear in the top 10 books assigned by English teachers at public middle and high schools today, according to a new report. Six of the top 10—John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' and 'Hamlet' among them—overlap with the most-taught books reported in an influential 1989 study.