Our fast-paced society creates a disconnection in people's lives. Classroom instruction no longer focuses on life skills, but the focus is based on test results. This leaves a gap between intelligence and life application. Past research suggests that life skills taught in the classroom/school, even more directly through literature do enhance student success in school and in critical connections to text. The research performed in this project studied the influence life skills modeling through literary connections had on student academic success levels in English class. This was measured through observation, journaling, and surveying a class of 10^th grade English students. This particular study showed strong personal and relational connections to the text, but no true measure of higher academic scores was noted. The measurement of how much students related to text through life skills connections was difficult to measure in a "paper and pen" process. Although direct numerical data on whether or not academic scores raised in correlation to life skills application through literature is effective; deep critical connections were apparent in the research.