Canlas, Kristina Marie

Clata, Kyle Danise

Coronel, Juan Alfonso

Olivar, Christian Wilvert

Pingol, Karl Angelo

CRITIQUE ESSAY

This is a critique essay on the textbook 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and
the World by Sanchez, Lizada, Agustin, and Cuartero. Being a textbook written mainly for
classroom use, its main purpose is to educate students about twenty-first century literature from
both Filipino writers and others around the world.

The main points of the book are centered around different genres, authors, and pieces of
21st century literature. The authors divide the course into individual lessons which all follow an
outline or structure.

Every lesson is structured and divided into parts. At the start of each lesson, there is a
detailed discussion of the main concept of the lesson, or “View”, followed by features like “Map
Out”, “Trackback”, “Locate”, and others to help increase understanding in different ways such as
presentation and analysis of various literary pieces related to the lesson. Furthermore, the book
also has notes called “Marginal Notes”, “Pit Stop”, and “Markers” on the sides of the pages which
may provide additional information regarding the concept or literary piece or some terms related
to the lesson being discussed. Also, throughout the lesson, the activities presented pose
questions which test the reader’s understanding and comprehension of both the concept and the
literary piece or pieces discussed in the lesson.

Since it follows a standard outline or structure for each lesson, the book is very organized,
and the student can easily be acclimated to navigating the various features of the book during
discussions and activities. Furthermore, the side notes found throughout the pages of the book
are helpful in increasing the students’ understanding of the lesson. Also, another strength of the
book is that it presents a diverse selection of literary pieces from both local and foreign writers to
help students widen their range of reading choices. This also aligns with the vision and mission
of the school which both state an aim to produce globally competent students; one way to do this
is to educate them on literature from various regions and countries.

The book, however, tends to use small font size in some areas such as the literary pieces,
which may be inconvenient for readers, especially those with poor eyesight. It is also
monochromatic, which may not suit the preference of some readers because different colors often
act as visual cues for the readers when navigating the book.

Some improvements could be made regarding the small font size in some areas of the
book; also, it would also be recommendable for the book to use different colors to aid as visual
cues for other readers. However, all in all, the book is a reliable textbook for the course of 21st
Century Literature which can be recommended to students and educators.