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At a time when even Noddy books have been declared ‘problematic’ due to their use of archaic terms such as ‘swot’ (since changed to ‘bookworm’), some of us might may feel the temptation to unleash our inner ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’ in response.
With Triggered Literature, Sutherland performs the valuable service of collating numerous examples of literary trigger warnings – only without any Daily Mailesques rants or condemnation, opting instead to deploy wry humour in considering the questions said trigger warnings raise. Are trigger warnings valuable for prompting readers to think carefully before engaging with books? Perhaps. Or should we instead adopt Kafka’s view that books ought to ‘shake us awake’? In any case, Triggered Literature certainly has the potential to provide some lively fodder for classroom discussions in English, citizenship and politics classes.
This review was originally published in Teach Secondary magazine.