Lucy Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 My dd is doing MFW AHL for freshman year and I want her to be reading great books in addition to the already assigned reading (Odyssey, Illiad, etc.) She just finished To Kill a Mockingbird and Count of Monte Cristo and loved them. So my question is this: What do you consider to be the most MUST READ books for high school? Give me your lists - by order of grade if you have them - or totally at random if you don't! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 One title that comes to mind. . . Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. I was graduated from high school in 1973, to provide a time frame. This book was the first I had heard of South African history from any period other than a small amount of material concerning the Boer Wars. This is a powerful work. Another title. . . The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene. Many people hold to the stereotype that most Mexicans are believing Roman Catholics. Mexican history is complex, with many surprising "chapters" throughout the centuries. There have been severe persecutions of Catholicism by the Mexican government, and this novel is set during that of the 1930s. The hero is a deeply flawed and sinful man, but he transcends himself by the end of the book through a quietly heroic act of unselfishness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 This is a fun topic! I have been thinking about a must-read American lit list for high school, and here is what I have come up with so far - based on things I have read, and on various lists of the most influential books of American lit. I look forward to seeing other titles! I agree with Cry The Beloved Country, that definitely makes it onto my must-read list for high school. American lit only: The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850) Moby-Dick (1851) Walden & Civil Disobedience – Henry David Thoreau (1854) Leaves of Grass (1855) Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) The Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane (1895) O! Pioneers(1913) or My Antonia(1918) – Willa Cather The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton The Great Gatsby – Fitzgerald The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neal Hurston (1937) Native Son – Richard Wright (1940) Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison (1952) The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien The Color Purple – Alice Walker The Joy-Luck Club – Amy Tan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 There are too many good books for me to choose. I feel like my musts are more by category or group than by individual title. So for example, I think a student should read a Shakespeare comedy and at least one tragedy or history. I think a student should read at least two or three great epics in translation, so The Odyssey, The Iliad, Gilgamesh, etc. A student should read at least something by Melville, something by Hawthorne, something by Steinbeck... but I feel like depending on the student, it would be fine to read short stories or to read Of Mice and Men instead of Grapes of Wrath, or to read both, you know? I think a student needs to read from the great British lit of the 1800's, but must a student read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice and Middlemarch and Great Expectations and Tale of Two Cities and Tess and Vanity Fair and... but I think it's okay to choose some and let others go, not thinking that they're less, just making a different choice, you know? I feel like a student should read at least two or three great African-American novels, but I don't want to say which ones are the musts... I could make a list of a dozen easily... Their Eyes Were Watching God, Invisible Man, Native Son, Beloved, The Color Purple, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Black Boy... But again, I feel like it's fine to choose and not feel like any one was the must, but rather that that category of literature be represented. I don't feel like Cry, the Beloved Country is a must. It's a possibility, but I'd be more interested that an African novel or work be represented, so something like Things Fall Apart or So Long a Letter would take precedence for my own categories of musts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 There are too many good books for me to choose. I feel like my musts are more by category or group than by individual title. I'm totally with you. I had ideas of what were good books and/or books I loved and I let my guys choose what they wanted to read to fit certain things. All ended up reading To Kill a Mockingbird, Black Boy, The Giver, The Hiding Place, & Night - probably a few others, but in general, their books were tailored to their likes/dislikes while giving them a sampling of quite a bit. My two who were homeschooled through high school read far more than my ps high school guy, so there's that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 There are too many good books for me to choose. I feel like my musts are more by category or group than by individual title. So for example, I think a student should read a Shakespeare comedy and at least one tragedy or history. I think a student should read at least two or three great epics in translation, so The Odyssey, The Iliad, Gilgamesh, etc. A student should read at least something by Melville, something by Hawthorne, something by Steinbeck... but I feel like depending on the student, it would be fine to read short stories or to read Of Mice and Men instead of Grapes of Wrath, or to read both, you know? I think a student needs to read from the great British lit of the 1800's, but must a student read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice and Middlemarch and Great Expectations and Tale of Two Cities and Tess and Vanity Fair and... but I think it's okay to choose some and let others go, not thinking that they're less, just making a different choice, you know? I feel like a student should read at least two or three great African-American novels, but I don't want to say which ones are the musts... I could make a list of a dozen easily... Their Eyes Were Watching God, Invisible Man, Native Son, Beloved, The Color Purple, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Black Boy... But again, I feel like it's fine to choose and not feel like any one was the must, but rather that that category of literature be represented. I don't feel like Cry, the Beloved Country is a must. It's a possibility, but I'd be more interested that an African novel or work be represented, so something like Things Fall Apart or So Long a Letter would take precedence for my own categories of musts. I totally agree. And I think at least part of the choice will be guided by our preferences as teachers - I think I am much better at "teaching" - i.e. discussing - a book that I really like vs. one that I'm just meh about. So on my list, The Age of Innocence trumps House of Mirth, because I really loved the former and it moved me more deeply. Same with Grapes of Wrath vs. any other Steinbeck, Jane Eyre vs. Wuthering Heights, and lots of other choices. I think once we let go of the idea that we can read everything with our students, that frees us up to choose things for that students - books we love and want to share with them, and books we think will particularly affect them, when and where they are in their lives. So I'd never make a high school student read Virginia Woolf - I found her totally incomprehensible till I was 40! And there are other books which I remember being blown away by at 17 which now don't affect me as much. I was just saying last night that one of my favorite things about homeschooling is getting to share wonderful books that I have loved with my kids. That's been fun with read-alouds up till now, but my older is finally getting to the point where we can really talk about the book and its ideas, and it is tremendously exciting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happybeachbum Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte Christy Catherine Marshall Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Incidents of a Slave Girl Harriet Jacobs When I was a Slave Norman Yetman Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 None, really. There are so many books out there that I think each student/teacher should pick what suits their educational wants and needs. However, lists are GREAT. Because they give a lot more options for students. And I don't just mean lists of books, I mean lists of categories. So bring it on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 I only have 2 books that I require all my kids to read before graduation and neither would appeal to all families, Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity. All other lit choices depend on the student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happybeachbum Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 What I have a trouble with is idea of well read or at least what books make you well read. It's too subjective. That's why it's better just to add books that you enjoyed or not always enjoyed, but maybe appreciated. Even books not considered classic, because at one time the books posted weren't classics either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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