Literary Works Catalog 2023-2024

Below is a catalog of literary works that may be used instructionally during the 2023-24 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 2023-24 will be posted at the beginning of the school year. Please check your teacher's course overview to see which specific titles will be utilized in your class this school year.

Freshman
Title	Author	Instructional Use
1984	George Orwell	Choice
Alchemist, The	Paulo Coelho	Required
Animal Farm	George Orwell	Required
Book Thief, The	Markus Zusak	Required
Educated	Tara Westover	Choice
Epic of Gilgamesh, The	George Andrew	Required
Fly Girls	Keith O'Brien	Choice
Hobbit, The	J.R.R. Tolkien	Required
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet	Jamie Ford	Choice
Invisible Thread, An	Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski	Choice
Into the Wild	Jon Krakauer	Choice
Into Thin AIr	Jon Krakauer	Choice
Life of Pi	Yann Martel	Required
Lost in Yonkers	Neil Simon	Required
Macbeth	William Shakespeare	Choice
Midsummer Night's Dream, A	William Shakespeare	Choice
Odyssey, The	Homer	Required
Odyssey, The	Homer, adapted by Hinds	Required
Other Wes Moore, The: One Name, Two Fates	Wes Moore	Choice
Romeo and Juliet	William Shakespeare	Required
Secret Life of Bees, The	Sue Monk Kidd	Required
Sun Also Rises, The	Ernest Hemingway	Choice
Tale of Two Cities, A	Charles Dickens	Choice
Taming of the Shrew, The	William Shakespeare	Choice
Things Fall Apart	Chinua Achebe	Required
Tuesdays with Morrie	Mitch Albom	Required
Twelfth Night	William Shakespeare	Choice

Sophomore
Title	Author	Instructional Use
Crucible, The	Arthur Miller	Required
Cry, the Beloved Country	Alan Paton	Choice
Fahrenheit 451	Ray Bradbury	Required
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet	Jamie Ford	Choice
Julius Caesar	William Shakespeare	Required
Lord of the Flies	William Golding	Required
Macbeth	William Shakespeare	Required
Maus, Complete Works	Art Spiegelman	Required
Monster Calls, A	Patrick Ness	Required
Of Mice and Men	John Steinbeck	Required
Purple Hibiscus	Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie	Required
A Raisin in the Sun	Lorraine Hansberry	Required
Separate Peace, A	John Knowles	Choice
Short Novels of John Steinbeck, The	John Steinbeck	Choice
Things Fall Apart	Chinua Achebe	Choice
Unbroken	Laura Hillenbrand	Required

Junior
Title	Author	Instructional Use
Brave New World	Aldous Huxley	Required
Death of a Salesman	Arthur Miller	Required
Excellent Sheep	William Deresiewicz	Required
Great Gatsby, The	F. Scott Fitzgerald	Required
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The	Rebecca Skloot	Choice
In Cold Blood	Truman Capote	Required
Just Mercy	Bryan Stevenson	Required
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, The	Frederick Douglas	Required
Othello	William Shakespeare	Required
Outliers	Malcolm Gladwell	Required
Streetcar Named Desire, A	Tennessee Williams	Required
Sun Also Rises, The	Ernest Hemingway	Choice
Things They Carried, The	Tim O’Brien	Required
Walden	Henry David Thoreau	Required
War is a Force that GIves Us Meaning	Chris Hedges	Required
Working Poor: Invisible in America	David K. Shipler	Required

Senior
Title	Author	Instructional Use
All The Pretty Horses	Cormac McCarthy	Required
Beowulf	Anonymous	Required
Canterbury Tales, The	Chaucer	Choice
Frankenstein	Mary Shelley	Required
Grendel	John Gardner	Required
Hamlet	William Shakespeare	Required
Heart of Darkness	Joseph Conrad	Required
In the Time of Butterflies	Julia Alvarez	Choice
Inferno	Dante Alighieri	Choice
Invisible Cities	Italo Calvino	Required
Jane Eyre	Charlotte Bronte	Choice
Joy Luck Club, The	Amy Tan	Choice
Macbeth	William Shakespeare	Required
Much Ado About Nothing	William Shakespeare	Required
Oedipus Rex	Sophocles	Required
Paradise Lost	John Milton	Required
Picture of Dorian Gray, The	Oscar Wilde	Choice
Poisonwood Bible, The	Barbara Kingsolver	Choice
Road, The	Cormac McCarthy	Required
Wuthering Heights	Emily Bronte	Choice

*Required means that the lit review committee has vetted the work to be eligible for full class instruction.

**Optional means the lit review committee has approved the work to be offered as a student choice for lit circles.

HPHS Literature Glossary