A few years ago I suggested to my son's eighth grade English teacher that she have the class read
A Christmas Carol. She was looking for short texts that junior high school kids could understand and enjoy. I thought this would be a great introduction to Dickens -- and I'd been assigned it in seventh grade. All the students loved it.
"Oh, I don't know about that," she said. "Since Christmas is a religious theme and I think that's not permitted."