Why Our Kids Need Jules Verne

Today's students need a little more Jules Verne in their curriculum, writes Good education editor Liz Dwyer. He was born 183 years ago this week, but his fiction "seems more applicable than ever to the 21st-century lives of students," she argues. He's probably an after-thought in the age of "pre-packaged reading programs" or at best an addition to a summer reading list—and that's a shame.

"In our increasingly global society, Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days is the perfect backdrop for helping kids learn the National Geography Standards," she writes. "Students that watched Lost will appreciate The Mysterious Island. And, given that the main characters in all of Verne's most famous novels are inventors, explorers, and adventurers, President Obama's call for Sputnik-style innovation around science, math, and technology syncs up perfectly with his work." (More Jules Verne stories.)