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My stab at creating a reading list for high school English classes Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Persepolis, by Marjane Satrap “The Tell-Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allen Poe or other short stories “Araby,” by James Joyce (or possibly “The Dead,” but only one Joyce story please and no novels, especially not, for pity’s sake, Ulysses) Hamlet, MacBeth, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello (watch the movie then read it as a class) If Hamlet is studied, why not follow with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle Coraline, by Neil Gaiman "Metamorphosis", by Franz Kafka The First Part Last, by Angela Johnson Your favorite Charles Dickens Farenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (or substitute Feed by M.T. Anderson) The Odyssey (or watch the movie—I think the general knowledge of this story is more important than the words themselves) Batman: The Long Halloween, by Jeff Loeb I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll The Princess Bride, William Goldman Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (or some shorter humorous pieces) The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde (watch the movie) There are scores of great poems I love that I won’t list here Other authors I considered: Raymond Chandler, Dasheill Hammett, Willa Cather, the Brontes, John Gardner (particularly Grendel), Joseph Conrad, short stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, short stories by Hemingway How I came up with this list I disagree (passionately) that books for high school literature should be filled with significant works from the history of literature. For example, the Greek plays, Chaucer, Milton, Dafoe, Melville and such are important in the history and evolution of literature and add to a rich tradition—while these should be studied by serious students of literature, do we really expect most teenagers to read, understand, and enjoy them? I think it’s far more important to have a rich diversity of types of literature. A well-rounded English literature education should include historical novels, comedies, graphic novels, horror, fantasy, mystery, biography, science fiction, as well as classics. These books should be interesting and entertaining (for Pete’s sake!) as well as have literary merit. Also, I believe plays are meant to be viewed. By no means do I think this list is the one true list and all others are flawed. This is just the best I could do given my own reading experience. I’m not a fast reader and not nearly as well read as some. If you’d like to put together your own recommended reading list, I’d love to see it. Here was some of my criteria:
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