There's a reason most schools read novels like A Separate Peace, The Catcher in the Rye, and To Kill A Mockingbird. American students are familiar with the settings, the language isn't too far removed from the way we speak today, and the narrators are pretty easy for American teens to sympathize with.

Then we have A Passage to India. Let's be honest: most teenagers are initially going to find Passage pretty boring and unrelatable. On top of that, the story is told in Edwardian British language that seems to go on forever without really saying anything. It could easily be a chore to keep students interested.