As noted earlier in the week, I recently found out that next year, I’ll be taking over the Advanced Placement literature class at the high school where I teach. I am thrilled about this for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is actually getting to put together a course reading list without worrying about the reading levels of my students. That is, within reasonable limits, I can teach whatever I want.
And what better topic for a blog post here? So, without further ado, here are the books I’ll be teaching next year (probably. There’s still a little wiggle room) along with a bit of commentary:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by William Shakespeare: So much high school curriculum is focused on Shakespeare, but many students never read anything beyond tragedies. I really like this play, I think it’s accessible, and I think students can stand to see a bit of his lighter side.
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen: I found a nearly complete class set in the book room and was tickled. I don’t think anyone has taught this at my school for years. Again, I think it’s good to throw in some stuff that isn’t all doom and gloom. Besides, you can’t do better than Austen for early 19th century.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy: I think this book is just fascinating. It would be considered at least fairly progressive if it came out today, but it was published in 1891. Hardy is dense, and I know some of my students are going to struggle to get through this, but it’s such a compelling story and tries so hard to represent the woman’s perspective that I have to teach it.
Ethan Frome
by Edith Wharton: I love Edith Wharton and can’t imagine teaching an AP class without her. This short, but ponderously grim volume is not my favorite (though I do like it), but we had it in the book room at school, so there you go.
The Sun Also Rises
by Ernest Hemingway: Again, I don’t know how you teach AP without Hemingway. This is second only to A Farewell to Arms among his works if you ask me. Hemingway feels amazingly modern when you compare his work to Ethan Frome, published just 15 years earlier. It’s also nicely short and a very quick read. I definitely look forward to talking about impotence with my students (no, I don’t).
Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller: High school students are so driven by money. It’s good to show them the dark side of that equation.
Native Speaker
by Chang-rae Lee: I was pretty thrilled when I saw how often this fairly recent (1995) book has appeared on the test. Lee is one of my favorite contemporary authors. He writes stunning prose and this is a great novel about cultural assimilation and dealing with loss. I think my students will love it.
The Blind Assassin
by Margaret Atwood: Atwood has had no fewer than six books appear on the AP test. That’s amazing for a living author. Given that, and my unabashed love of her writing, I had to teach an Atwood. There was a dust-up at my school about The Handmaid’s Tale a few years ago, so I chose this book, which I love just as much. I’m sure the students will be shocked by some of it, but that’s what you get in a college level class.
Good stuff – and gave me some ideas for my class, too. I have always started with Hemingway’s _The Old Man and the Sea_. It’s a good way to show kids how to do close reading, how an author’s life reflects his craft, and the idea of “cultural lenses”…among a lot of other things. It’s short but incredibly deep. Hemingway is one of my favorites.
I have a set of _Tess_ in my classroom. Never considered teaching it because I hated it in college (I suspect it had something to do with the prof). I think I’ll have to revisit it this summer.
I also use Perrine’s _Structure, Sound, and Sense_ for short stories, drama, Shakespeare, and poetry. It’s an excellent collection, but there are several out there that are good.
Ordered Ellison’s _The Invisible Man_ (AP test favorite and something my sheltered students definitely need to read). and _Great Expectations_. I also have _The Great Gatsby_ ready to roll (It’s one I’ve taught every year to some class or another. The new movie will be helpful, I hope, in generating some excitement for the novel.).
I’m excited to teach AP Lit again after being away from it for a couple of years. I have two AP Language (seniors), an AP Lit (juniors) and three “regular” junior classes. Going to be a fun and interesting year!
Yeah, we have Perrine’s as well, and I’ll definitely be using it (it lives on my desk right now).
Gatsby is off limits for me because juniors read it. I’d like to do Great Expectations, but I would have had to order copies. I could only order two books, so I went with the contemporary stuff since we had literally nothing remotely contemporary and good.
Invisible Man, I have somehow escaped. I need to read it.
Interesting list, Jason! Do you like any Native American authors or stories about Native Americans (and have ones you’d recommend?) I wish that had been included in my curriculum at school.
I recently picked up James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans and some of his other books at a thrift shop to add to my enormous to-read pile.
I can’t think of any Native American authors I’ve read. I really say that I am not a fan of Last of the Mohicans. I read it a few years ago in my constant quest to catch up on things I should have read and was not impressed. Very episodic and the female characters might as well be scenery.
I took an American Lit class in college where most of the writers were Native American. Linda Hogan is quite good and was my favorite of those we read. Mean Spirit and Power are her best, in my opinion. I know Sherman Alexie is taught a lot here in Washington, but he may not be so ordinary in other areas of the country. His One Stick Song is just beautiful and heartbreaking. He’s a bit sophomoric, but I find him enjoyable.
Your list is a great one, Jason.
I second the recommendation for Linda Hogan’s books. “Solar Storms” is dense but has beautiful prose. Also, there are Louise Erdrich’s books you could check out.
Thanks for posting your list! Your students are lucky ones to get to dive into those books. It sounds like you have freedom in picking your books. What about African American literature? Do you ever teach that? I took an African American literature class in college and really enjoyed it – in particular, I remember reading James Baldwin’s “Go Tell It On the Mountain” and Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”.
You know, I felt bad about not having any African- American authors on my list, but then I realized that, though my district ostensibly cares about diversity in the reading material, all that really means is they make sure to work in plenty of African-Americans among the dead white men. That is, students read lots of black authors in 9th, 10th, and 11th, but no Asians and few women.
But it’s a fine line, and especially hard in teaching an AP class that requires you to pull most authors from a long time ago. I’m sure I’ll teach something like Invisible Man eventually, but not this year.
Having gone to school in the system where Jason teaches, I can confirm the district’s idea of “diverse” reading material.
I also love Their Eyes Were Watching God–we read it in my junior AP English class and I thought it was wonderful.