{"id":5116,"date":"2025-02-16T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itslitteaching.com\/?p=5116"},"modified":"2025-09-17T15:44:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T19:44:24","slug":"world-literature-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itslitteaching.com\/world-literature-books\/","title":{"rendered":"World Literature Books for Struggling Readers: A Global Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My first thought upon reviewing my school’s World Literature curriculum, frankly, was that it was a disaster.<\/strong> Did Shakespeare really need another unit? <\/em>(Students would have read two other Shakespearian plays by the time they took this World Literature class. And did we need more dead white guys in our curriculum?) And the other World Literature books were too long and challenging for my students, who were mostly struggling readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No offense to Shakespeare (I love him, personally), but my school’s curriculum would never have worked for my students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took a ton of research and reading to find World Literature books that were actually accessible for struggling readers. But in this post, I hope to introduce some World Literature books that are not only accessible but bring new voices and perspectives to your classroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(If you want some more tips on structuring your World Literature curriculum, check out this post<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, I’ve organized a list of titles by continent. Each listing highlights why that book is a great choice for students who need accessible and compelling reads. For some of the titles below, I’ve written reviews. If you can click on a title, you’ll learn more about that book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re here because you need to put together a World Literature curriculum for struggling readers QUICKLY, let me save you hours–if not days or weeks–with my complete World Literature class here. <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Pinterest Pin that reads, \"World Literature Books for Struggling Readers\" over an image of a globe next to a stack of books and a rolled up diploma<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Introducing World Literature Books<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Set the stage and introduce your World Literature curriculum with this lesson centered around the Ted Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story.”<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

First, before I offer any text suggestions, let’s address one issue with World Literature classes: they task you, the teacher, with covering the entire globe in far too little time. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You cannot possibly cover the entire globe in a year, let alone a semester. This means that many voices and viewpoints will be left out of your curriculum entirely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This point is an important one to make to your students. Before diving into any text, make sure students understand that one novel is only one voice. A single novel cannot represent an entire country or continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really recommend my lesson Why Study World Literature?: “The Danger of a Single Story”<\/a> for introducing your World Literature class. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Pinterest Pin that reads, \"World Literature Books for Struggling Readers\" around an image of an open book in front of a globe<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

World Literature Books By Continent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I broke down this list by continent because I know covering as much of the globe as possible is important to any World Literature teacher. Look over this post if you want some ideas for other ways to choose and organize your classroom texts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n