Book/poetry/short story recommendations for Eng/Am lit please?

[saw]

DDs (14) are taking a high school final exam as part of their Dutch high school diploma (like a section of the IB, or A-levels, basically one exam that gives you a grade for all your years of secondary in that subject) in English this summer. They're native speakers, but the exam is intended for Dutch students who have been studying English. In addition to the written section, DDs have to do an oral exam, which covers a selection of books/plays (6 total), poems (5 total) and short stories (5 total) that are supposed to be representative of English-language literature. There are no book lists with "required" or even recommended books, so as long as they pick works that are generally recognized as good literature, it's acceptable. They read the works and turn in their list of these in the spring. Anything on the list is fair game during the exam.

 

I'm helping them make a selection of books and am stuck on the 20th century. Personally I prefer the 19th and am not fond of all that much from the latter half of 20th, with the exception of "light" lit and works that are a bit obscure, or maybe Roddy Doyle or Jonathan Franzen (not sure those are appropriate thematically given their age). I'd appreciate suggestions for books, short stories or poetry that would work for the 20th century. So far I have put down as ideas Hemingway, Orlando by Virginia Woolf, Pat Barker's Regeneration (but must reread myself first) and To Kill a Mockingbird for the novels. F. Scott Fitzgerald for short stories. I'd like to avoid books that are too mature in theme -- problem is that the girls are 14, while most students take the exam at 17 or 18.

 

In a perfect world there would be connections between the works (Pat Barker's Regeneration could be paired with Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfrid Owen on the poetry side, trying to do the same with the Shakespeare play we'll read and some other works). I think it would be very interesting for them to be able to make connections among different pieces (and get them better marks on the exam, as there's a good chance the examiners will expect more of native speakers).

 

I'd appreciate suggestions. Many thanks.

[Faithr]

For plays how about A Raisin in the Sun and Murder in the Cathedral for two plays that would be suitable for 14 yo girls.

 

For poets, Robert Frost, e.e. cummings, Langston Hughes, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Marianne Moore.

 

For other 20th century books how about something by P.G. Wodehouse? Or something by Willa Cather?