"Dr Strauss says I should rite down what I think and remembir and evrey thing that happins to me from now on."

And so begins the classic book known as Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. We read an excerpt out of this book last year in English, and it intrigued me so much that I just had to find the whole book and read it.
After I was done, I was AMAZED at how much they had cut out of the school version. They cut out everything about Charlie's personal life and ALL of the controversy going on with him and his parents, which to me is half the story.
So here's the full story: Charlie Gordon is 32 and retarded. This is the 60s, by the way. His teacher from the adult learning center says he should be part of this experiment which will give him an operation to make him smarter, like normal person smart. So he does it, and it's a success!
Charlie seems to be able to pick up numerous concepts that it takes other people a whole lifetime to learn. And his brainpower is increasing exponentially, so much that it's scary.
But just because he is growig intelligentially doesn't mean he is growing emotionally. When it comes to personal matters, he is still as childlike as ever and as naive as a four-year-old.
And then the bad effects start catching up with Charlie: turns out the experiment may have a reverse effect.
There are also many interesting subplots in this book, which really make it worth the read. Some of these are Charlie's parents; as he gets smarter he starts to remember more of his childhood and sees truly what his parents did to him. Another would be the mouse, Algernon. The scientists who performed the operation on Charlie actually did this experiment on Algernon first, so Algernon and Charlie form a special bond that can't be broken the whole story.
This book is a classic even though it wasn't written all that long ago. It's easily understandable for kids/young adults/ANYBODY in the present, but it relates to times back then when this would have been a WAY futuristic story rather than something that could really happen today. And, of course, it has just the right dose of heartbreaking humanity that makes you want to cry. ♠♠♠