What's on your must read list......

[TXMary2]

.......for American History literature?

[LibraryLover]

How old? What era?

Currently my teen is doing moderns in history.

She recently read two of Steinbeck's 'California' Novels: Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

For WW II , she is currently reading Farewell to Manzanar, then Catch 22 (my dh thinks this is a great novel, I am not sure how she will like it), and Snow Falling on Cedars.

Off the top of my head (time flies), in the past we've done:

The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Crucible
The Scarlet Letter
House of Seven Gables
To Kill a Mockingbird
Killer Angels
Phyllis Wheatley
On Walden Pond
Tom Sawyer
Farenheit 451
Little Women

There are just so many, kwim.

[Catherine]

O Pioneers and My Antonia are both very moving portrayals of settlers in the midwest and the difficulties they faced.

[LibraryLover]

O Pioneers and My Antonia are both very moving portrayals of settlers in the midwest and the difficulties they faced.


I love My Antonia.

I didn't see the panninng, but I enjoy of lot of lit that has been panned by crtics-- past and present. I am ok with that. :)

[Dot]

The age group varies with these:

Anything by Steinbeck. He's wonderful.
My Antonia
Summer of My German Soldier
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry
To Kill A Mockingbird
Anything by Twain
The Scarlet Letter
Invisible Man
The Giver
Fahrenheit 451
(My favorite) Johnny Got His Gun

[transientChris]

I am a bit confused by what you mean by American history literature? Did you mean American literature or American historical books or books that made a difference in American history?

[Lori D.]

We're doing American Lit. this year with our 10th and 11th grade DSs:

Novels:
- The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne)
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain) --> (followed by gr. 6-8 book "The Day They Arrested the Book)
- Call of the Wild (London)
- The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)

Novellas:
- Billy Budd (Melville)
- The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway)
- The Pearl (Steinbeck)

Short Stories:
- Rip Van Winkle (Irving)
- Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Irving)
- Fall of the House of Usher (Poe)
- Man Without a Country (Hale)
- Luck of Roaring Camp (Harte)
- Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Bierce)
- The Catbird Seat (Thurber)
- Thank You Ma'am (Hughes)
- The Lottery (Jackson)
- A Good Man is Hard to Find (O'Connor)
- Revelation (O'Connor)
- There Will Come Soft Rains (Bradbury)
- The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas (LeGuin)

Plays (we'll just watch, not read them):
- Our Town (Wilder)
- A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry)
- Death of a Salesman (Miller)

Poets
- Anne Bradstreet
- Phyllis Wheatley
- Emily Dickinson
- Walt Whitman
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Robert Frost

Excerpts from essays, speeches, biographies


Other "don't miss" American works we did in previous years:
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain) -- novel
- To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee) -- novel
- Farenheit 451 (Bradbury) -- novel
- The Giver (Lowry) -- middle school level novel
- A Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller) -- novel
- The Earthsea trilogy: Wizard of Earthsea; Tombs of Atuan; Farthest Shore (LeGuin) -- novels
- Helen Keller: Story of My Life (Keller) -- autobiography
- Bride Comes to Yellow Sky ( Crane) -- short story
- Gift of the Magi (Henry) -- short story
- The Lady or the Tiger (Stockton) -- short story
- The Most Dangerous Game (Connell) -- short story


And here are a few more American works I'm really trying to figure out how to fit in somewhere along the line:
- Penrod (Tarkington)
- The Chosen (Potok)
- Black Like Me (Griffin)
- I Heard the Owl Call My Name (Craven)
- The Joy Luck Club (Tan)


A girl might especially enjoy some of these titles:
- Christy (Marshall)
- My Antonia (Cather)
- Little Women (Alcott) -- middle school level reading
- Mama's Bank Account (Forbes) -- middle school level reading
- Sing Down the Moon (O'Dell) -- middle school level reading
- Streams to the River, River to the Sea (O'Dell) -- middle school level reading
- After the Dancing Days -- middle school level reading
- A Gathering of Days (Blos) -- middle school level reading
- Julie of the Wolves (George) -- middle school level reading
- Farewell to Manzanar (Yep) -- middle school level reading
- A Year Down Yonder (Peck) -- middle school level reading

[Kareni]

I've tagged this thread with the tag "American Literature." If you click below on the tag, you'll be taken to other threads on this topic.

Regards,
Kareni

[msjones]

We're doing American Lit. this year with our 10th and 11th grade DSs:

Novels:
- The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne)
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain) --> (followed by gr. 6-8 book "The Day They Arrested the Book)
- Call of the Wild (London)
- The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)

Novellas:
- Billy Budd (Melville)
- The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway)
- The Pearl (Steinbeck)

Short Stories:
- Rip Van Winkle (Irving)
- Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Irving)
- Fall of the House of Usher (Poe)
- Man Without a Country (Hale)
- Luck of Roaring Camp (Harte)
- Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Bierce)
- The Catbird Seat (Thurber)
- Thank You Ma'am (Hughes)
- The Lottery (Jackson)
- A Good Man is Hard to Find (O'Connor)
- Revelation (O'Connor)
- There Will Come Soft Rains (Bradbury)
- The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas (LeGuin)

Plays (we'll just watch, not read them):
- Our Town (Wilder)
- A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry)
- Death of a Salesman (Miller)

Poets
- Anne Bradstreet
- Phyllis Wheatley
- Emily Dickinson
- Walt Whitman
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Robert Frost

Excerpts from essays, speeches, biographies


Other "don't miss" American works we did in previous years:
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain) -- novel
- To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee) -- novel
- Farenheit 451 (Bradbury) -- novel
- The Giver (Lowry) -- middle school level novel
- A Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller) -- novel
- The Earthsea trilogy: Wizard of Earthsea; Tombs of Atuan; Farthest Shore (LeGuin) -- novels
- Helen Keller: Story of My Life (Keller) -- autobiography
- Bride Comes to Yellow Sky ( Crane) -- short story
- Gift of the Magi (Henry) -- short story
- The Lady or the Tiger (Stockton) -- short story
- The Most Dangerous Game (Connell) -- short story


And here are a few more American works I'm really trying to figure out how to fit in somewhere along the line:
- Penrod (Tarkington)
- The Chosen (Potok)
- Black Like Me (Griffin)
- I Heard the Owl Call My Name (Craven)
- The Joy Luck Club (Tan)


A girl might especially enjoy some of these titles:
- Christy (Marshall)
- My Antonia (Cather)
- Little Women (Alcott) -- middle school level reading
- Mama's Bank Account (Forbes) -- middle school level reading
- Sing Down the Moon (O'Dell) -- middle school level reading
- Streams to the River, River to the Sea (O'Dell) -- middle school level reading
- After the Dancing Days -- middle school level reading
- A Gathering of Days (Blos) -- middle school level reading
- Julie of the Wolves (George) -- middle school level reading
- Farewell to Manzanar (Yep) -- middle school level reading
- A Year Down Yonder (Peck) -- middle school level reading

I love this list! Thank you!

[mhaddon]

Did anyone mention The Yearling? I didn't read it until I was in HS and it one of my favorite books :001_smile:

[TXMary2]

I am a bit confused by what you mean by American history literature? Did you mean American literature or American historical books or books that made a difference in American history?

Sorry. I meant literature books that can double for history. I want books that we can use for literary analysis purposes, but that take place during the time period we would be studying for U.S. History.

[TXMary2]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Most of them were on my list, but some I had not remembered. The list for short stories is excellent- THANK YOU!