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Not-to-be-missed literature


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I may soon be tutoring a couple of homeschooled teenagers in English, and am trying to put together a list of not-to-be-missed literature from a few categories. I would very much appreciate any input!

 

American

British

World

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

TOP 10 WORKS TAUGHT AS HIGH SCHOOL LIT

(listed in order of most frequently used in schools)

1. To Kill A Mockingbird

2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

3. a play by Shakespeare

4. something by Dickens

5. Farenheit 451

6. Lord of the Flies

7. The Odyssey

8. 1984

9. The Scarlet Letter

10. (toss up between a number of works listed below)

 

 

35 CLASSIC WORKS MOST OFTEN TAUGHT IN HIGH SCHOOL

(listed roughly in chronological order of writing)

1. The Iliad (Homer) -- WORLD (ancient Greece)

2. The Odyssey (Homer) -- WORLD (ancient Greece)

3. Beowulf (translation by Heaney) -- BRITISH

4. a play by Shakespeare -- BRITISH

(usually a choice from: Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Henry V, or Julius Caesar)

5. The Last of the Mohicans (Cooper) -- AMERICAN

6. The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne) -- AMERICAN

7. Pride and Prejudice -- OR -- Emma (Austen) -- BRITISH

8. Frankenstein (Shelley) -- BRITISH

9. Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) -- BRITISH (but about the French Revolution)

10. Great Expectations (Dickens) -- BRITISH

11. a short story by Edgar Allen Poe (usually a choice from: Tell Tale Heart, Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Gold Bug, or The Rue Morgue) -- AMERICAN

12. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain) -- AMERICAN

13. Moby Dick (Melville) -- AMERICAN

14. Treasure Island (Stevenson) -- BRITISH

15. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson) -- novella -- BRITISH

16. a Sherlock Holmes short story (usually a choice from: The Blue Carbuncle, The Red Headed League, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Adventure of the Dancing Men, or The Problem of Thor Bridge) -- BRITISH

17. The Red Badge of Courage (Crane) -- novella -- AMERICAN

18. a short story by O. Henry (usually The Gift of the Magi; or perhaps The Ransom of Red Chief) -- AMERICAN

19. Call of the Wild (London) -- AMERICAN

20. The Open Window (Saki) -- short story -- BRITISH

21. All Quiet on the Western Front (Remarque) -- WORLD (German)

22. The Most Dangerous Game (Connell) -- short story -- AMERICAN

23. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) -- AMERICAN

24. Animal Farm (Orwell) -- novella -- BRITISH

25. 1984 (Orwell) -- BRITISH

26. Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl (Frank) -- WORLD

27. Lord of the Flies (Goldman) -- BRITISH

28. The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) -- AMERICAN

29. Things Fall Apart (Achebe) -- WORLD (Nigerian)

30. Death of a Salesman (Miller) -- play -- AMERICAN

31. Farenheit 451 (Bradbury) -- AMERICAN

32. Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) -- AMERICAN

33. A Farewell to Arms -- OR -- The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) -- AMERICAN

34. To Kill A Mockingbird (Lee) -- AMERICAN

35. The Lottery (Jackson) -- short story -- AMERICAN

 

 

College Board: 101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Reader

100 Most Often Recommended Works for College Freshmen

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