So, I was prepping my kids for a big ol' German Lit Final Exam. We were talking about Schlink's The Reader and one practice question was "Does Michael go to Auschwitz?"

One girl: "Ugh! Why does everything sound so SCARY in German?"

Me: "Well, I mean, it WAS a death camp. So."

Then, later we're talking about The Sorrows of Young Werther, a book they all loathed, the reasons ranging from "It's boring!" to "Werther is a bitch."

One guy: "I don't know who I hate more — Werther or the Nazis."

Me: "Uh, the Nazis tried to exterminate an entire people. Werther just killed himself."


Same guy, perking up: "Oh yeah! He DID kill himself! I forgot he did anything good."

Yikes. Stick a fork in me kids, I'm done.