egao_gakari Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 I have a master list of American literature that I am going to be picking/choosing from for her next year. I sat down today to analyze my list a bit and discovered that I have no authors born after 1926, Harper Lee. To Kill A Mockingbird is the last book on the list. Thinking back on my middle/ high school experience, I came up with a couple more titles: A Separate Peace (Knowles b. 1926, I hated it); The House On Mango Street (Cisneros b. 1954, I may add this one); The Things They Carried (I don't think she'll like it); The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven (I don't remember very well, but feel like it might not be appropriate); The Color Purple (not appropriate yet). Thinking about American writers still living, I came up with Marilynne Robinson (my DD would hate her writing style, although I love her) and then was just stumped. The only other thing I could think of was the memoir The Glass Castle, which we did as a read-aloud a couple years ago. My other big idea was that maybe we could use To Kill a Mockingbird as a segue into a film unit and watch 1-2 films per decade. I dunno. Anybody have any recommendations for modern-ish American lit? That you'd allow your 13/14yo to read? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 (edited) Well, it looks like you're doing high school/adult works, so I don't know if my suggestion of some meaty, discussion-able YA (young adult) would work, but here are some ideas, with the publishing date also the time-setting of the book (with a few exceptions), plus the year the author was born: 1957 - A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry) -- play; not YA -- author born in 1930 1967 - The Outsiders (Hinton) -- author born 1948 -- wrote the book when she was 16yo 1989 - The Joy Luck Club (Tan) -- not YA -- author born 1952 1990 - Jurassic Park (Crichton) -- not YA -- author born 1942 1993 - The Giver (Lowry) -- dystopia; author born 19372001 - Peace Like a River (Enger) -- not YA; setting of the book is early 1960s -- author born 1961 2005 - Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close (Foer) -- author born 19772006 - American-Born Chinese (Yang) -- graphic novel; author born 19732007 - Auralia's Colors (Oversetreet) -- fantasy; first of a quadrilogy; not YA -- Christian author born in early 1970s 2008 - The Hunger Games (Collins) -- dystopia; author born 19622008 - Anathem (Stephenson) -- sci-fi with future setting; not YA -- author born 19592009 - The Help (Stockett) -- setting of the book is 1960s; not YA -- author born 19692012 - Night Circus (Morgenstern) -- fantastical/romance; not YA, but not at all s*xual/graphic -- author born 1978 2016 - The Sun is Also a Star (Yoon) -- author born in 1975 2017 - The Hate U Give (Thomas) -- author born 1988 2017 - Dear Martin (Stone) -- author born 1985 2017 - The Astonishing Color of After (Pan) -- can't find a date, but author likely born late 1980s/1990-ish ETA -- Most classic American lit -- and a lot of these YA works -- are heavy and about hard or depressing subjects. So I'd also recommend including a good dose of humorous short stories and some lighter YA works throughout your year to lighten the mood. While they may not be as "literary" or "deep" for discussion, but they can be interspersed with works you're more heavily studying to help keep your chins off the ground, lol... Examples: 20th century setting, YA lighter reads: - The View from Saturday - Wednesday Wars (Schmidt) - A Year Down Yonder (Peck) 20th century setting, lighter short stories: - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thurber) - The Catbird Seat (Thurber) - The Ransom of Red Chief (Henry) Edited June 7, 2020 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 (edited) Age-appropriate books that are written by modern authors are usually going to be labeled as children's literature or YA. I think that you could find a lot of good books by looking at the Newbery award winners and runners-up. Some books that I (and/or my children) enjoyed: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson Wonder by R.J. Palacio El Deafo by Cece Bell Bomb: The Race to Build -- and Steal -- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi Number the Stars by Lois Lowry The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin Dragonwings by Laurence Yep Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry Li Lun, Lad of Courage Edited June 8, 2020 by Junie 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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