Adolescents today are starving: they’re aesthetically and culturally undernourished. Among the many culprits: Our poor use of literature throughout secondary education. Great works on high school reading lists are treated as mere boxes to checked off, and do students really learn to love Dickens in AP lit? — Our STEM students, moreover, will have few electives in college; the high school years may represent their real taste of literature. This homeschooling dad shows how we can use literature to nourish our teens, expand their emotional intelligence, and sharpen their insight into human relationships.