LynnG in Arizona Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 The last time I did American Lit, we did Willa Cather's O Pioneers inbetween Tom Sawyer and Great Gatsby. However, neither I nor my dd liked O Pioneers, and I'm looking for a better choice this time around. Any ideas? We're also doing: Scarlett Letter Poe's short stories Uncle Tom's Cabin Main Street Grapes of Wrath Fahrenheit 451 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Are you specifically looking for a novel set in the Westward Expansion time period, or anything in the time period between Tom Sawyer and The Great Gatsby? What about All Quiet on the Western Front or Sgt. York and the Great War? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Q Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 We liked My Antonia better than O Pioneers. Or maybe something by Edith Wharton? I despise Ethan Frome but The House of Mirth is wonderful. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harrison_B Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 I enjoyed "Little Britches" for this time period; however, I don't know if it is a highschool book. I checked Rainbow Resource and they have it listed as grade 7+. Even if it isn't what you're looking for, I would definitely read the story if you get a chance. It is a wonderful book. Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Here's a big general list for that time frame, excerpted from what I've been pulling together. Good luck in finding what works for your family! Warmly, Lori D. 1850s Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin (novel) Herman Melville - Billy Budd (short story) - Moby Dick (novel) - Bartleby the Scrivner (short story) 1860s-70s Bret Harte - Outcasts of Poker Flats (short story) - Luck of Roaring Camp (short story) Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self Reliance (essay) Mark Twain - Celebrated Jumping Frog (short story) - Adventures of Tom Sawyer (novel) - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (novel) Louisa May Alcott - Hospital Sketches (compilation of letters) - Little Women (novel) - Little Men (novel) 1890s Stephen Crane - Bride Comes to Yellow Sky (short story) - The Monster (short story) - The Open Boat (short story) - The Red Badge of Courage Henry James - Turn of the Screw (novella) 1900s Jack London - Call of the Wild (novel) - White Fang (novel) O. Henry - Gift of the Magi (short story) - Ransom of Red Chief (short story) Edith Wharton - Ethan Fromme (novel) POETS Walt Whitman Robert Frost W.E.B. DuBois Carl Sandburg Ezra Pound William Carlos William Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Sinclair Lewis' The Jungle was a great, gory read. It was an important book because of its social commentary, that really had an effect on society. It's fairly quick to read, too. If you want to digress from Am Lit into World Lit, I liked Kafka's Metamorphosis (truly weird), and the novel All Quiet on the Western Front (WWI--truly excellent). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 It looks like you got gals, so I would go Great Gatsby, although mine did not like it, because of the cheating. But, she did like it better than Tom Sawyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Tom Sawyer was published in 1870s, but is set in the 1830s-50s, and The Great Gatsby in mid-1920s, so I've given you what I could find as classic works do-able for high school that were either published OR are set within the timeframe of 1850-1925. Hope that helps! At the bottom is a list of poets who were writing from 1850-1950, in case you want to include poetry. BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D. 1850s Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin (novel) Henry David Thoreau - Walden (essays/journal) Herman Melville - Billy Budd (short story) - Moby Dick (novel) - Bartleby the Scrivner (short story) Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Scarlett Letter (novel) - The House of Seven Gables (novel) - Tanglewood Tales (short story collection) - Feathertop (short story) 1860s-70s Bret Harte - Outcasts of Poker Flats (short story) - Luck of Roaring Camp (short story) Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self Reliance (essay) Mark Twain - Celebrated Jumping Frog (short story) - Adventures of Tom Sawyer (novel) -- set in 1830s-50s Louisa May Alcott - Hospital Sketches (compilation of letters) - Little Women (novel) - Little Men (novel) 1880s Mark Twain - Prince and the Pauper (novel) -- set in 1547 - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (novel) -- set in 1830s-50s - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (novel) -- set in 528 1890s Stephen Crane - Bride Comes to Yellow Sky (short story) - The Monster (short story) - The Open Boat (short story) - The Red Badge of Courage -- set in Civil War (1860s) Henry James - Turn of the Screw (novella) 1900s Booker T. Washington - Up From Slavery (autobiography) -- covers 1850s-1900 Jack London - Call of the Wild (novel) - White Fang (novel) - The Sea Wolf (novel) O. Henry - Gift of the Magi (short story) - Ransom of Red Chief (short story) Edith Wharton - Ethan Fromme (novel) - The House of Mirth (novel) Upton Sinclair - The Jungle (novel) 1910s Willa Cather - O Pioneers! (novel) - My Antonia (novel) Booth Tarkington - Penrod (collection of comic sketches) Zora Neale Hurston -- published 1930s - Their Eyes Were Watching God (novel) -- set pre-WW1 20th century Thornton Wilder -- published 1930s - Our Town (play) -- set in 1901-1913 1920s Edith Wharton - Age of Innocence (novel) Willa Cather - Death Comes for the Archbishop (novel) -- set in the 1840s-1890s F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby (novel) - Bernice Bobs Her Hair (short story) - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (short story) - Babylon Revisited (short story) Ernest Hemingway -- published 1930s - Farwell to Arms (novel) -- set during WW1 1850-1900 William Cullen Bryant Emily Dickenson Walt Whitman 1900-1950 Edna St. Vincent Millay Robert Frost W.E.B. DuBois Carl Sandburg T. S. Eliot Hart Crane Ezra Pound William Carlos William Langston Hughes Wallace Stevens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April in CA Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 LoriD has some real gems on her list - I really wish my guys had time to read them all! I will draw your attention to Penrod by Booth Tarkington. If you can find this book, or Penrod and Sam, also by Tarkington, snatch it up immediately, gather the family around and begin to read aloud. Be prepared to stop periodically to laugh yourself silly. This book is so funny, especially if you have an appreciation for the ridiculous and for young, imaginative boys. Tarkington does a great job capturing the dialects of various characters, and his vocabulary is superb, as is his comedic timing. His books reflect the prejudices of the era (but just as a matter of course - just as a mirror of the times, not saying that it is right or good, as I recall), so this book also can give you an opportunity to discuss racial and class distinctions, then and now, and how we ought to treat people. The Penrod books (I think there are three altogether) can be enjoyed by a wide variety of age groups, and while it may not rank with Huck Finn in terms of being great literature, it is very, very good literature and worth reading. I was lucky enough to find it several years ago for 50 cents at a library book sale! Blessings, April Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnG in Arizona Posted April 5, 2009 Author Share Posted April 5, 2009 Thank you all for your responses!! A couple of random replies . . . Let's see, we've already done All Quiet on the Western Front (fabulous). Same with Little Britches (thank you, Sonlight!). The Jungle might be an excellent choice. I've never read it myself, but know its historical importance. Lori D., you are so sweet to type out your wonderful list! You do have some amazing choices on there. In fact, your list has reminded me that I should probably add in some good short stories . . . O Henry for sure! Another classic that I've never actually read is Red Badge of Courage. How do you like that one, ladies? How about your teens? With my eldest daughter I did Across Five Aprils for our Civil War book. It's really junior high level reading, but still an excellent and balanced piece of Civil War fiction. April, thanks for the rec on Penrod. I've never heard of it before, but you make me want to go find a copy. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellogirl Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 Stephen Crane should be read, but be warned, The Red Badge of Courage is rather morbid. Powerful, but difficult. Of his short stories, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky and Maggie are good, though the latter involves the sins of the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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