Literary Works Catalog 2020-2021
Below is a catalog of literary works that may be taught during the 2020-21 school year at Highland Park High School. The literary works are listed by grade level. As a reminder, although a book may be identified as a required reading, parents and students are always provided with the option of an alternative text. Each title below is linked to either a text rationale or to a reference to the work’s inclusion in a state-approved textbook. Rationales provide summaries of the works and explanations for why they are being recommended for instruction.
In addition to the works listed below, teachers often use excerpts, short stories and poems to complement the area of study being covered in the unit.
Please note: All of these titles are approved for instructional use. Course overviews indicating which texts will be used in 2020-21 will be posted at the beginning of the school year.
Freshman |
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Title |
Author |
Instructional Use |
George Orwell |
Choice |
|
Paulo Coelho |
Required |
|
George Orwell |
Required |
|
Markus Zusak |
Choice |
|
Tara Westover |
Choice |
|
Required |
||
Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski |
Choice |
|
Jon Krakauer |
Choice |
|
Jon Krakauer |
Choice |
|
Yann Martel |
Required | |
Lost in Yonkers |
Neil Simon |
Required |
William Shakespeare |
Choice |
|
William Shakespeare |
Required |
|
Homer |
Required |
|
Homer, adapted by Hinds |
Required |
|
Wes Moore |
Choice |
|
William Shakespeare |
Required |
|
Sue Monk Kidd |
Choice |
|
Ernest Hemingway |
Choice |
|
Charles Dickens |
Choice |
|
William Shakespeare |
Required |
|
Chinua Achebe |
Required |
|
Mitch Albom |
Choice |
|
William Shakespeare |
Choice |
|
*Added by the Literature Review Committee 10/15/2020
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Sophomore |
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Title |
Author |
Instructional Use |
George Orwell |
Choice |
|
George Orwell |
Choice |
|
Arthur Miller |
Required/Choice |
|
Alan Paton |
Choice |
|
Ray Bradbury |
Required |
|
Amy Tan |
Choice |
|
William Shakespeare |
Choice |
|
William Golding |
Required |
|
Art Spiegelman |
Choice |
|
Macbeth |
William Shakespeare |
Choice |
John Steinbeck |
Required |
|
Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie |
Required |
|
Lorraine Hansbury |
Required |
|
John Knowles |
Required |
|
Chinua Achebe |
Required |
|
Laura Hillenbrand |
Required |
|
Junior |
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Title |
Author |
Instructional Use |
Aldous Huxley |
Required |
|
Joseph Heller |
Choice |
|
Dave Cullen |
Required |
|
William Deresiewicz |
Required |
|
F. Scott Fitzgerald |
Required |
|
Rebecca Skloot |
Choice |
|
Truman Capote |
Choice |
|
Frederick Douglas |
Required |
|
William Shakespeare |
Required |
|
Malcolm Gladwell |
Required |
|
Kurt Vonnegut |
Choice |
|
Tennessee Williams |
Required |
|
Ernest Hemingway |
Choice |
|
Tim O’Brien |
Choice |
|
Henry David Thoreau |
Required |
|
Chris Hedges |
Choice |
|
David K. Shipler |
Required |
|
Senior |
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Title |
Author |
Instructional Use |
Cormac McCarthy |
Required |
|
Anonymous |
Required |
|
Chaucer |
Choice |
|
Bram Stoker |
Choice |
|
Mary Shelley |
Required |
|
John Gardner |
Required |
|
William Shakespeare |
Required |
|
Joseph Conrad |
Required |
|
Dante Alighieri |
Required |
|
Italo Calvino |
Required |
|
Charlotte Bronte |
Choice |
|
William Shakespeare |
Required |
|
William Shakespeare |
Required |
|
William Shakespeare |
Required |
|
Sophocles |
Required |
|
John Milton |
Required |
|
Oscar Wilde |
Choice |
|
Barbara Kingsolver |
Choice | |
Cormac McCarthy |
Required |
|
Emily Bronte |
Choice |