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Personally, I think that the best thing that teachers can do is find books that speak to the issues that kids are facing today, preferably in settings that the kids recognize and understand, and using language that is familiar rather than archaic. If the point of literature is to make people think, especially about the so-called "human condition" then we need to ask kids to read books that will engage them not turn them off. We have generations who don't read because all that most of them were taught was material that didn't speak to them (and often taught be those who couldn't really make the text come alive or address current issues and concerns). I would say that much of the best literature these days is probably to be found either in the form of science fiction by authors who push the boundaries of what it means to be human or look into questions of existence and morality and so forth or young adult fiction that, while perhaps not written at the complexity that some might want, does speak to youth and to their fears and concerns. Kids will have plenty of time to read Shakespeare and other classics as they grow up, but they never will broaden their horizons if all that they are taught is to hate reading.
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