Julius Caesar
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 15+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Some men in Rome are afraid that Caesar will become a king. His friend Brutus joins them and they kill Caesar. Everything gets worse after that, and Brutus learns that a good goal does not make a wrong act right. This is Shakespeare's great play about political murder. Brutus means well and does evil, and Rome pays for it. It teaches teens how flattery and fine speeches move people. A Catholic reading list recommends Shakespeare's works from fourteen. The world of the play is pagan, and its heroes kill themselves as a point of honor, so it needs a parent's word.
For parents
Read aloud or act out from about thirteen. Independent reading from fifteen, which is the usual 10th grade placement. Plugged In lists a stabbing, conspirators washing their hands in blood, several suicides by sword, mild profanity and nothing sexual. Wikipedia adds a mob killing an innocent man and a ghost. The Romans in the play treat suicide as noble. Say clearly that the Church teaches otherwise: our lives belong to God and we are stewards of them. The omens and Roman gods belong to the pagan setting. Ask: is Brutus a good man? May we do evil so that good may come? How does Antony turn the crowd, and how do people do that today? Why does killing Caesar fail to save the republic?