My Booklist

9th Freshmen

  • The Most Dangerous Game

    by Richard Connell Year Published:

    The Most Dangerous Game," an adventure tale that pits two notorious hunters against one another in a life-and-death competition. Connell's story raises questions about the nature of violence and cruelty and the ethics of hunting for sport.

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  • The Odyssey

    by Homer Year Published:
    Ten years after the fall of Troy, the victorious Greek hero Odysseus has still not returned to his native Ithaka. A band of rowdy suitors, believing Odysseus to be dead, has overrun his palace, courting his faithful wife, Penelope. The goddess Athena, Odysseus' greatest immortal ally, appears in disguise and urges Odysseus' son Telemakhos to seek news of his father. Prisoner and lover of the goddess, Kalypso, for eight years, Odysseus has a variety of adventures before he arrives home. Self-deception among men and gods makes for a variety of decisions with interesting consequences.
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  • The Pearl

    by Steinbeck, John Year Published:
    The discovery of a huge pearl seems to be a gift from the sea which will raise Kino’s family from poverty, a gift which turns out to be as poisonous as the bite of the scorpion which torments his small son, Coyotito. Deceived by pearl buyers, tormented by thieves, set apart by the jealous villagers, Kino and Juana make a variety of decisions which result in the death of their son, death of their tormenters, and the return of the pearl to the sea.
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  • The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

    by William Shakespeare Year Published:

    Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of William Shakespeare about two teenage "star-cross'd lovers"[1] whose untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal "young lovers".

     

    Note: This book is available in our Library.

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10th Sophomore

  • Animal Farm

    by Orwell, George Year Published:
    All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. A cautionary tale of the ease in which a totalitarian regime can replace a democracy, set on a farm amidst the animals. Disgusted by the way in which farmer Jones treats them, his animals plan a revolution based on the vision of Old Major, a vision in which the pain of animals is caused by the tyranny of man, a vision which says that their lot can be changed by following seven rules. Old Major’s vision is warped as Napoleon and his minions seize control of reality and change the seven rules to match their own needs.
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  • Julius Caesar

    by Shakespeare, William Year Published:
    Fearing that Rome’s republican government may be handed to Caesar by the populace which has offered him the royal crown, conspirators seek to align Brutus with their design to murder Caesar. Brutus, a loyal friend, is tormented by the decision he must make…to right a wrong that has not yet occurred, or allow the wrong to happen by doing nothing.
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  • Night

    by Weisel, Elie Year Published:
    Denouncing Hitler’s Final Solution, his way of creating a perfect society for the Aryan race, Weisel states: "Never shall I forget that night… which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed...Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my Faith forever…Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust."
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  • Parrot in the Oven

    by Victor Martinez Year Published:

    Set in a dusty California town, Martinez employs a series of compelling, frequently troubling vignettes to illuminate a Mexican American boy's coming of age. It's not easy for Manuel Hernandez to discover his place in the world, especially when he is constantly bombarded with the hardships of his poor and woefully dysfunctional family. Their tiny sheetrock house in the projects is the scene of angry arguments-even of threats at rifle point. Manny steps onto a battlefield at every turn, whether he is collecting his alcoholic and violent father from the local pool hall, withstanding the ethnic slurs of white school mates, or seeking initiation into a neighborhood gang.

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  • Things Fall Apart

    by Achebe, Chinua Year Published: Challenging
    Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, is the seminal African novel in English. Although there were earlier examples, notably by Achebe's fellow Nigerian, Amos Tutuola, none has been so influential, not only on African literature, but on literature around the world. Its most striking feature is to create a complex and sympathetic portrait of a traditional village culture in Africa. Achebe is trying not only to inform the outside world about Ibo cultural traditions, but to remind his own people of their past and to assert that it had contained much of value. All too many Africans in his time were ready to accept the European judgment that Africa had no history or culture worth considering.

    Note: This book is available in our Library.
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11th Junior

  • Looking for Alaska

    by John Greene Year Published:
    Sixteen-year-old Miles Halter's adolescence has been one long nonevent - no challenge, no girls, no mischief, and no real friends. Seeking what Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps," he leaves Florida for a boarding school in Birmingham, AL. His roommate, Chip, is a dirt-poor genius scholarship student with a Napoleon complex who lives to one-up the school's rich preppies.
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  • The Adventures of Huck Finn

    by Twain, Mark Year Published:
    Personification of American ideals (except for Horatio Alger hard work and enterprise), Huck demonstrates ingenuity, free will and his own form of morality as he and Jim, an escaped slave, wend their way down the Mississippi on a raft. Through humor and outlandish situations, Twain attacks traditions held dear by the American South, while having Huck be the spokesperson for personal freedom.
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  • The Catcher in the Rye

    by Salinger, J. D. Year Published:
    Caught in the angst of adolescence, flunking out of school, goal-less yet idealistic, Holden Caulfield rails against the phony adult world as he runs away to New York City, a side trip in his avoidance to going home. Child of a wealthy family, Holden has moved from boarding school to boarding school, either expelled for failing classes or just choosing to leave. Other than the dream of being the catcher in the rye, Holden displays disturbing cynicism about life and people.
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  • The Color Purple

    by Walker, Mildred Year Published:
    From childhood rape to poverty and abuse, Celie must overcome the misogyny of the men in her life and American racism to become an independent and free individual. Through 20 years of letters to her missionary sister, the reader shares Celie’s fears and frustrations with her husband, and her joys and hopes with her friend Shug. Often perceived as an indictment of men, this is also a tribute to the indestructible human spirit as it pursues a dream.
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  • The Crucible

    by Arthur Miller Year Published: Challenging

    E arly in the year 1692, in the small Massachusetts village of Salem, a collection of girls fell ill, falling victim to hallucinations and seizures. In extremely religious Puritan New England, frightening or surprising occurrences were often attributed to the devil or his cohorts. The unfathomable sickness spurred fears of witchcraft, and it was not long before the girls, and then many other residents of Salem, began to accuse other villagers of consorting with devils and casting spells. Old grudges and jealousies spilled out into the open, fueling the atmosphere of hysteria. The Massachusetts government and judicial system, heavily influenced by religion, rolled into action. Within a few weeks, dozens of people were in jail on charges of witchcraft. By the time the fever had run its course, in late August 1692, nineteen people (and two dogs) had been convicted and hanged for witchcraft.

     

    Note: This book is available in our Library.

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  • The Great Gatsby

    by F. Scott Fitzgerald Year Published:
    The book can be read online http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/index.html
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  • The Jungle

    by Sinclair, Upton Year Published:
    A major muckracking novel responsible for the overhauling of the meatpacking industry, this depicts the heartbreaking disenchantment of Ona and Jurgis, two Lithuanian immigrants who came to the dream of America, expecting that with hard work the opportunity for the good life would be possible. Powerless against the meat factory system and the people who preyed upon their naiveté, a child dead, dream destroyed, they become the hopeless.
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  • To Kill a Mockingbird

    by Lee, Harper Year Published:
    Family history and stories within stories suggest the rigid social ties that hold society together in the little town of Maycomb, Alabama, and the inescapable links that tie an individual to his or her family or clan. Scout Finch has an awakening when her lawyer father Atticus defends a African American accused of raping a white girl, a member of a family the town considers trash, a defense that roils up prejudices, shakes family ties, and demonstrates that decisions and actions are determined by the perspectives of the people involved.
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12th Senior

  • Hamlet

    by William Shakespeare Year Published:

    The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then taken the throne and married Hamlet's mother. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seething rage—and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.

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  • MacBeth

    by William Shakespeare Year Published:

    Often regarded as archetypal, the play tells of the dangers of the lust for power and the betrayal of friends. For the plot Shakespeare drew loosely on historical accounts of King Macbeth of Scotland by Raphael Holinshed and the Scottish philosopher Hector Boece.[1] There are many superstitions centered on the belief the play is somehow "cursed". Some actors will not mention the name of the play aloud, referring to it instead as "The Scottish play".

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  • The Things They Carried

    by Tim O’Brien Year Published: Challenging

    Lieutenant Jimmy Cross' platoon of soldiers are a group of very young men, most of whom are unprepared for the Vietnam War. They carry heavy rations and supplies, and pictures of their girlfriends, and fear and sadness and confusion. They often pretend that they do not feel as much as they do, because they don't want to look silly to the other soldiers. Strange things happen to soldiers in Vietnam: they get paranoid, and they lose their sense of morality and justice. They become hardened and angry, because no one back home understands what they are going through.

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  • Tuesdays with Morrie

    by Mitch Albom Year Published: Average

    Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift with the world.

     

    Note: This book is available in our Library.

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