Why did you chose the books you did for Core 530?
I do think there is a cultural issue surrounding the concern over the books we chose for British Lit. Among the other criteria we use to choose books (which are listed in our top 10 goals and the article entitled "I Can't Believe You Use That Book!"), many of the books we chose for British Lit are covered in American high schools, and our audience is generally American. Also, many of our customers are concerned about preparing their students for college, and in America, college students are expected to know many of these stories. Also, the British Lit course helps provide some preparation for students who plan to take the AP (Advanced Placement) lit exam. Books used in the British Lit course that customers may expect to see on the AP lit exam are notated with "AP" on the British Lit IG book list.
We also choose books based on cultural literacy-here in the U.S., some common knowledge people should have includes Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Alice and the White Rabbit.
We also choose hopefully to show people plenty of options for future reading-thus, if a person likes Jeeves, the can find many more Jeeves books they can read if they want. Part of this goal is to expose people to variety, and so, as far as I know, we don't include multiple works by an author in a single year. I love Shakespeare, and my initial thought would have been to include one work in each of his genres, but that would have meant at least two other books would have to be cut, and, as I mention before, we hope for variety.
And we hope that the Sonlight notes will pique the students' interest enough that they will go on to read more Shakespeare! And more Austen! And more Holmes!