I have really enjoyed reading Charlotte Temple and I think you should have your classes read it in the years to come for several reasons. Charlotte Temple sticks with the theme of reading complex text, which we have been working on all year. Also having the narrator in Charlotte Temple makes reading the book pleasurable. Lastly, the book is a good lesson for sophomores.
Charlotte Temple was a good book to read for the end of the year because it was consistent with what we have learned all year, which was how to get though a difficult text. Charlotte Temple relates to the concept of reading hard texts because of the advanced language. For example, there was not one time where I would read a page in the book and know every word. I had to look up vocabulary words constantly during the course of this reading. I have learned many words now that I had not understood before. This book has expanded my vocabulary.
One of the main reasons I liked Charlotte Temple was because of the narrator; the narrator was very helpful in making me understand the story more completely. For example, when La Rue, Motraville, Belcour and Charlotte are on the boat and they meet Crayton. La Rue puts herself out there and talks to him which Crayton likes and is impressed by. After this the narrator stops the story to talk about La Rue. The narrator explains: “The reader no doubt has already developed the character of La Rue: designing, artful, and selfish, she had accepted the devoirs of Belcour because she was heartily weary of the retired life she led at the school, wished to be released from what she deemed a slavery, and to return to that vortex of folly and dissipation which had once plunged her into the deepest misery…”(53) The narrator almost gives the reader a summary of what is going on. All the information the reader would normally have to pick up by his or her self was given to the reader. Throughout the book the narrator is constantly giving feedback and opinion to help the reader get a better understanding of the book. I really liked having some else’s opinion as I read. This for me made the book even more enjoyable. The narrator guides the reader by explaining the story and allows the reader insight into the author’s point of view. I think this would make an excellent book for future sophomores because the book provides the reader with a complex story where the reader has a “guide” in the form of a narrator which helps the reader better understand the story. This creates a different learning experience for the student.
In general, this book just has a good moral. What happened to Charlotte is extremely sad and as Rowson said in the preface, she wrote the book to make sure this would never happen to any other person. Of course it is different these days, and if a person was missing, there would be police, and other professionals, looking frantically for this girl. Although it is different these days, we still read about circumstances like this in the news. I think this is a good book for tenth graders to read because Charlotte is the same age and gets pregnant like many teens in our society today. Sadly, many of them get thrown out of their houses, and are left on the street as Charlotte was. This book could possibly prevent others from going through the same pain Charlotte was forced to go through. I strongly believe having your sophomore classes read this book is a great idea.
