The Round House

The Round House by Louise Erdrich was a very good, yet sad book. I think that this book would be more suited for those who are in high school, preferably 10-12th graders, although in some cases I think that this book could even be used for the middle school ages since they are around the same age as the main character. This book is a very easy read. I did find it interesting that there were never quotation marks when someone was speaking within this book which I have never seen before. The books lack of quotation marks could possibly confuse students, but I highly doubt it. Once you realize the stylistic choice, you kind of just get used to it. I believe that this book is mostly suited for high schoolers because of the content. I think that, although not always, high schoolers tend to be able to handle more mature content and this book definitely has a lot of content that should be discussed very carefully and intently.

I think that this book comes with a lot of challenges, though they are worthwhile. One big challenge would be that this book includes sexual assault and an attempted murder. With these things, especially the sexual assault, maturity must follow. Some students in high school may not be able to handle reading this due to it hitting too close to home or even just because they lack maturity in general. I think that this book should be used in the classroom though because it could be great for opening up discussions. A lot of injustice occurs within this novel and that could be a great topic for discussion. It is also a great book to use in the classroom because a lot of the times students hear about the injustice that occurs with African-Americans, which is great however, it is also important to open students up to realizing that there are also other cultures who face different types of injustice as well.