Just as the unnamed town in "The Lottery" holds tight to its traditions, you will be introducing an enormously rich tradition to your classroom by including Shirley Jackson's famous tale in the curriculum. "The Lottery" has chilled readers for generations, and though it's a brief tale, it manages to reinforce larger themes in American literature while also shaking up its readers a bit. 

Of course, your students won't likely be put off the way many of the story's initial readers were back in 1948. Indeed, it will be the story's chilling aspects that will draw them in. Considering the current popularity of dystopian YA lit, "The Lottery" should be a good fit for the literary tastes of many of your students, and they'll likely notice a few parallels between Jackson's tale and some of their contemporary favorites.