MICHAEL GOVE sparked yet more outrage yesterday by bumping off classic books from the new school curriculum.

The Education Secretary has reportedly dropped acclaimed novels and replaced them with pre-20th century English works.

“Michael Gove’s reported decision to remove much-loved and resonant novels such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men is both absurd and misguided,” said children’s author Alan Gibbons.

The curriculum will be officially announced next week.

When asked why the government was set to drop such books, a spokeswoman for GCSE examiner OCR said that Mr Gove “really dislikes” Of Mice and Men.

“In the new syllabus 70-80 per cent of the books are from the English cannon,” OCR said.

And 13 year-old Charli Kimmis, from Birmingham, published an open letter to the minister attacking the underlying bigotry in the curriculum.

“The government want us all to be more tolerant about other races, and then increases the fact that many children are not educated on other cultures,” she wrote.

Mr Gibbons agreed: “Imposing an anglocentric orthodoxy only reflective of middle-aged white men in suits is hugely depressing and retrograde.”

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are understood as critiques to the Establishment, with both of its authors harassed by US authorities during the cold war.