| Sycamore High School English Department JUNIOR Recommended reading list Agee, James. A Death in the Family. Story of loss and heartbreak felt when a young father dies. Anderson, Sherwood. Winesburg, Ohio. A collection of short stories lays bare the life of a small town in the Midwest. Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women. Meet the March sisters: the talented and tomboyish Jo, the beautiful Meg, the frail Beth, and the spoiled Amy, as they pass through the years between girlhood and womanhood. A lively portrait of growing up in the 19th century with lasting vitality and enduring charm. Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Set in the South, the story focuses on Angelou's early life: a mixture of love, abuse, and discovery. (sexual situations) Cather, Willa. My Antonia. First published 1918. Antonia, a Bohemian girl, comes to the prairie of Nebraska, visits the city and returns to find peace in her roots. Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1899. Edna Pontellier, an unhappy wife and mother, discovers new qualities in herself when she visits Grand Isle, a resort for the Creole elite of New Orleans. Cisneros, Sandra. The House On Mango Street. 1991. In short, poetic stories, Esperanza describes life in a low-income, predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago. Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans. 1826. An adventure brings the wilds of the American frontier and the drama of the French-Indian War vividly to life. Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. 1894. During the Civil War, Henry Fleming joins the army full of romantic visions of battle which are shattered by combat. Edelman, Bernard, ed. Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. Collection of letters written by those serving and working in Vietnam. Nonfiction Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. 1952. A young African American seeking identity during his high school and college days, and later in New York's Harlem, relates his terrifying experiences. Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying . The Bundren family takes the ripening corpse of Addie, wife and mother, on a gruesomely comic journey. Franklin, . The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Considered one of the most interesting autobiographies in English. Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying. 1993. When Jefferson's attorney states, "I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this," disillusioned teacher Grant Wiggins is sent into the penitentiary to help this slow learner gain a sense of dignity and self-esteem before his execution. Haley, Alex . Roots. Traces Haley's search for the history of his family, from Africa through the era of slavery to the 20th century. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. This 1960's drama of a black family moving into a white neighborhood brought Hansberry overnight fame and success. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The House of the Seven Gables. 1851. Hepzibah tries to shelter her brother from the evil of Judge Pyncheon in 19th century Massachusetts. Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. 1961. In this satirical novel, Captain Yossarian confronts the hypocrisy of war and bureaucracy as he frantically attempts to survive. Hemingway, Ernest. Farewell to Arms. 1929. World War I is the setting for this love story of an English nurse and a wounded American ambulance officer. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie repudiates many roles in her quest for self-fulfillment. Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. A novel about a power struggle between the head nurse and one of the male patients in a mental institution. Kovic, Ron. Born on the Fourth of July. Paralyzed in the Vietnam War, 21-year-old Ron Kovic received little support from his country and its government. London, Jack. Call of the Wild. Buck is a loyal pet dog until cruel men make him a pawn in their search for Klondike gold. Malamud, Bernard. The Natural. 1967. An allegory about the rise and fall of a baseball player who can't quite overcome his own pride or the chicanery of modern life Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. The tragedy of a typical American--a salesman who at the age of sixty-three is faced with what he cannot face; defeat and disillusionment. Mitchell, Margaret. Gone With the Wind. First published 1936. After her genteel, romantic lifestyle is swept away by the Civil War, Scarlett O'Hara summons strength to salvage her plantation home. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. 1987. Preferring death over slavery for her children, Sethe murders her infant daughter who later mysteriously returns and almost destroys the lives of her mother and sister. Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. This novel takes readers into a magical and richly peopled world which encompasses four generations of African American life. Myers, Walter Dean. Fallen Angels. 1988. Young American soldiers are soon disillusioned and challenged by the realities of the war in Vietnam. Coretta Scott King Award 1989. O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. 1990. These stories follow Tim O'Brien's platoon of American soldiers through a variety of personal and military encounters during the Vietnam War. (profanity and violent situations) Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. The heartbreaking story of a talented young woman's descent into madness. Poe, Edgar Allan . Great Tales and Poems. Poe is considered the father of detective stories and a master of supernatural tales. Salinger, J. D. Catcher in the Rye. First published 1951. Holden Caulfield runs away from boarding school to New York City. (some profanity and sexual content) Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. (1905) The classic muckraking novel that exposed corrupt conditions in the Chicago meatpacking industry. Contains some violent/disturbing situations. Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin Uncle Tom, Topsy, Sambo, Simon Legree, little Eva: their names are American bywords, and all of them are characters in Harriet Beecher Stowe's remarkable novel of the pre-Civil War South. Uncle Tom's Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, "a man of humanity," as the first black hero in American fiction. Tan, Amy: The Joy Luck Club. An instant bestseller, this startlingly original debut novel tells the emotionally honest and intensely moving story of several generations of Chinese-American women and their families, illuminating the special mysteries of the bonds between mothers & daughters. Thoreau, Henry David. Walden . In the mid-19th century, Thoreau spends 26 months alone in the woods to "front the essential facts of life." Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse Five. First published 1969. After surviving the bombing of Dresden in World War II, Billy Pilgrim spends time on the planet Trafalmador. (violence) Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Epistolary novel of a black woman's life; winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award in 1982. (sexual situations) Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. Set in the harsh New England farmlands and told in flashback by a narrator, here is the story of the inexorable fall of a decent, rough-hewn man, ironically drawn by his most pure and beautiful feelings--his love for his wife's cousin, the gentle and sweet young Mattie. Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. In this semi-autobiographical play the domineering matriarch of the Wingfield family tries to find a "gentleman caller" for her fragile daughter. Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche Dubois' fantasies of refinement and grandeur are brutally destroyed by her brother-in-law. Wright, Richard. Native Son. 1940. For Bigger Thomas, an African American man accused of a crime in the white man's world, there could be no extenuating circumstances, no explanations and only death. List compiled by Jana Edwards www.janaedwards.com back |
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