Chanelle Brown has not found much she can relate to in the classic texts assigned in her English classes at Evanston Township High School. A top student, the junior has toiled through "The Odyssey," "All the King's Men," "The Scarlet Letter," and other standards, she said, while many of her classmates at the suburban Chicago school have given up reading them altogether. Ms. Brown is glad that teachers at Evanston High, like educators elsewhere, have been supplementing the canon with recently published books to provide a more varied, and palatable, literary menu for students. Such decisions, some experts say, can add the kind of engaging and relevant content that high school reform advocates have been calling for. Doing so, however, can foster concerns about whether the content of such books is appropriate. Many young-adult novels, for example, feature violent scenes, topics such as death and abuse, or protagonists who purposely hurt themselves. This article explains why dark and disturbing themes in books get students reading and the concerns of parents and others regarding these themes. This article emphasizes the need for overhauling the high school English curriculum, including incorporating more relevant and engaging reading assignments.