TCB Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 My dd16 is taking a Rhetoric course with WTMA and is going to do APUSH at home using the Funda Funda course. I would like her to also read some of the great American lit books throughout the year. She has read some already, like "To Kill a Mocking Bird', 'Tom Sawyer', and several others, but I would really like to focus on that this year and cover as many of the best that we can. Can you give me some suggestions on what are your unmissable ones? I have done a search but only found 1 thread with some listed. If you are able to correlate the book to time frame in history that would be great. Mostly though, I am interested in what you think is essential American lit for a high school student to read, or your favorites. I would like this to be an enjoyable part of her year. We will mostly read and discuss only as she will be doing a lot of composition in the Rhetoric class and also in history. Thanks for any advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 My dd took Am. Lit through the Center for Lit (Adam and Missy Andrews) last year. That would be a good place to start for a book list. American Literature 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel Mertz Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 In no particular order: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Ralph Waldo Emerson Emily Dickinson Louisa May Alcott Audre Lorde Flannery O'Connor John Steinbeck Maya Angelou James Baldwin Alice Walker Eudora Welty Harriet Beecher Stowe William Faulkner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted August 3, 2016 Author Share Posted August 3, 2016 In no particular order: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Ralph Waldo Emerson Emily Dickinson Louisa May Alcott Audre Lorde Flannery O'Connor John Steinbeck Maya Angelou James Baldwin Alice Walker Eudora Welty Harriet Beecher Stowe William Faulkner Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacharsis Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 I like short stories, so I'll focus my advice there. :) All these are in the public domain, fortunately. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving (1820) -- a collection of his short stories, including "Rip Van Winkle" and "Legend of Sleepy Hollow". One of the first American collections to become popular overseas. ​Tales by Edgar Allen Poe (1845) -- a good selection of his famous prose work such as "House of the Fall of Usher" and "The Purloined Letter". ​ ​Tales of the Argonauts by Bret Harte (1875) -- Fanciful California tall tales that introduced the concept of the Wild West to the rest of the world. ​ ​The Altar of the Dead, the Beast in the Jungle by Henry James (1909) -- a good retrospective of his style, including a new preface written before his death. ​​ Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1922) -- Exactly as the title suggests! Includes "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", one of his better-known shorts. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 I highly recommend The Chosen by Chaim Potok. Here is the description from Amazon if you are not familiar with the book: In 1940s Brooklyn, New York, an accident throws Reuven Malther and Danny Saunders together. Despite their differences (Reuven is a Modern Orthodox Jew with an intellectual, Zionist father; Danny is the brilliant son and rightful heir to a Hasidic rebbe), the young men form a deep, if unlikely, friendship. Together they negotiate adolescence, family conflicts, the crisis of faith engendered when Holocaust stories begin to emerge in the U.S., loss, love, and the journey to adulthood. The intellectual and spiritual clashes between fathers, between each son and his own father, and between the two young men, provide a unique backdrop for this exploration of fathers, sons, faith, loyalty, and, ultimately, the power of love. Others I would recommend are The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (turn of the century focus on immigrants, industrialization especially the meat packing industry) All the Kings Men by Robert Warren (southern politics 1920's-1930's) You could also check out this list for other ideas http://www.universitylake.org/Clue/CustomResources/UniversityLakeWi/Summer%20Reading%20American%20Lit%20(11th%20grade)%202014.pdf 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 These are the books my literature lover enjoyed most: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Chosen by Chaim Potok The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan The Help by Kathryn Stockett 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariaT Posted August 5, 2016 Share Posted August 5, 2016 All that and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted August 5, 2016 Author Share Posted August 5, 2016 Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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