TEEN READS >> CLASSICS FOR TEENS

Achebe, Chinua Things fall apart
Grades: 9-12
209 pp
Genre(s): fiction, historical fiction
Culture: multicultural

This is a classic of African literature, written to counter demeaning and incorrect stereotypes of the Igbo people. The novel chronicles the life of Okonkwo from his banishment for accidentally killing a clansman through seven years of exile to his return.

Angelou, Maya I know why the caged bird sings
Grades: 10-12
290 pp
Genre(s): biography, autobiography
Culture: Black/African American

This is a series of memories of her childhood and youth, some of which is fairly ugly. It paints a raw picture of racism, sexism, and sexual abuse without being preachy, graphic or crude.

Asimov, Isaac I, Robot
Grades: 8-12
272 pp
Genre(s): science fiction, short story
Culture:

This is a series of connected short stories introducing the cool logic and cruel technological fate of the three laws of robotics.

Austen, Jane Pride and prejudice
Grades: 7-12
295 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture: Western European

In early nineteenth-century England, a spirited young woman copes with the courtship of a snobbish gentleman and with the romantic entanglements of her four sisters.

Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451
Grades: 8-12
179 pp
Genre(s): science fiction
Culture:

In this book, firemen's jobs are to burn books. It is a horror story, political satire and meditation on the irreplaceable value of books in a free society.

Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre
Grades: 7-12
422 pp
Genre(s): fiction, historical fiction
Culture: Western European

The story of Jane Eyre's transformation from a frustrated, lonely orphan into a compassionate, self-confident, independent woman is a gripping one. (Contains an elaborate plot and a writing style that is as fiery and morally impressive as the novel's heroine.)

Bronte, Emily Wuthering heights
Grades: 9-12
350 pp
Genre(s): fiction, historical fiction
Culture: Western European

The brooding tale of a gypsy orphan and his intrusion into the lives of the Earnshaw family is set in the bleak moors of England in the early nineteenth century. The tragic love of Heathcliff and Catherine, with its passionate scenes and violent episodes, was shocking to mid-nineteenth-century readers.

Conrad, Joseph Heart of darkness
Grades: not available
132 pp
Genre(s): fiction, historical fiction
Culture: multicultural

This is the story of the civilized, enlightened Mr. Kurtz who embarks on a harrowing journey into the savage heart of Africa, only to find his dark and evil soul.

Crane, Stephen Red badge of courage
Grades: 8-12
162 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture:

A boy's illusions shatter on the battlefields of the Civil War.

Dickens, Charles David Copperfield
Grades: 8-12
878 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture: Western European

A young boy in nineteenth-century London is sent away from an unhappy home, is forced to work in a wine warehouse, and becomes acquainted with a wide variety of characters in London's streets. In this semi-autobiographical novel, Dickens tells of David Copperfield's rise in economic status and discovery of true love.

Dickens, Charles A tale of two cities
Grades: 9-12
369 pp
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Culture: Western European

This is an emotionally wrenching story of love and sacrifice and a mystery set during the French Revolution. Dickens reminds his readers that all acts, whether noble or petty, shrink to nothing when viewed in a cosmic context.

Dumas, Alexander The three musketeers
Grades: 8-12
545 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture: Western European

Four intrepid guards have adventures protecting the queen from the evil and Machiavellian Cardinal Richelieu.

Ellison, Ralph Invisible man
Grades: 10-12
581 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture: Black/African American

Ellison recounts a double tragedy: growing up black in a racist society, and the pitfalls of simply growing up with no guidance or truth as to one's own identity.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott The great Gatsby
Grades: 9-12
216 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture:

Life during the turbulent 1920s is shown in the tragic story of the wealthy Jay Gatsby and his attempts to win back the love of Daisy Buchanan. The irresponsible behavior of the rich and powerful toward people of the lower class is portrayed. This novel is a recounting of the failure of the American Dream. Language reflective of the time is evident.

Hardy, Thomas Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Grades: 9-12
414 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture: Western European

Tess is violated by one man and forsaken by another. With the innocent and powerless victim, Tess, Hardy creates profound sympathy for human frailty, while passionately indicting the injustices of Victorian society.

Hemingway, Ernest The old man and the sea
Grades: 8-12
127 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture:

All of Hemingway's classic themes are here: grace under pressure, courage in the face of certain defeat, man pitting himself against his most note-worthy enemy, nature. Life, like fishing, is less about the catch and more about the fight.

Hesse, Herman Siddhartha
Grades: 9-12
152 pp
Genre(s): historical fiction
Culture:

Siddhartha leaves his family for a contemplative life, then discards it for one of the flesh. Bored and sickened by lust and greed, he moves on. At a river he hears a sound which signals the true beginning of his life - the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace and, finally, wisdom.

Hugo, Victor Les miserables
Grades: 7-12
1,463 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture: Western European

A novel of love, loss, honor, revenge, damnation, salvation, and social injustice. In the novel, Hugo takes the readers into the Parisian underworld, immerses them in the battle between good and evil, and carries them onto the barricades during the uprising of 1832.

Kesey, Ken One flew over the cuckoo's nest
Grades: 10-12 mature
272 pp
Genre(s): drama, fiction
Culture:

A struggle for power and authority between a head nurse and a defiant male patient in a mental institution leads to a climax of hate, violence, and death. This is a fable about conformity, rebellion, and the stifling power of rule-bound institutions. Also available as a play.

Keyes, Daniel Flowers for Algernon
Grades: 8-12
216 pp
Genre(s): science fiction
Culture:

Charlie, a sweet man with an IQ of 68, undergoes surgery that not only reverses his retardation, but develops his mind into that of a genius.

Lee, Harper To kill a mockingbird
Grades: 8-12
281 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture: multicultural

A black man is accused of raping a white woman in this 1960 novel set in a small Alabama town. The plot is a complex web of murder, mystery, courtroom drama, love, bigotry, courage, cowardice, hate, confusion, wisdom, sacrifice, and selfishness.

Machiavelli, Niccolo The prince
Grades: 9-12
127 pp
Genre(s): philosophy, political
Culture:

A how-to book of conquest and power.

Orwell, George 1984
Grades: 9-12
268 pp
Genre(s): science fiction
Culture:

Winston Smith exists in constant danger for the dreadful crime of retaining his memory. He joins an underground resistance movement and they set out to see if their small band can reclaim the world from the powers squeezing all humanity out of it.

Remarque, Erich Maria All quiet on the western front
Grades: 9-12
295 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture: Western European

This novel depicts the experiences of a group of young German soldiers fighting and suffering during the last days of World War I.

Salinger, J. D. The catcher in the rye
Grades: 9-12
214 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture:

This book explores a teen-ager's confusion about life, love, sex, family and, most of all, hypocrisy. Holden Caufield narrates his life story from the confines of a psychiatric hospital.

Sinclair, Upton The jungle
Grades: 9-12
349 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture:

The conditions of the Chicago stockyards and meat packing plants are described through the eyes of a young immigrant struggling in America. The leading gross-out classic.

Steinbeck, John The grapes of wrath
Grades: 9-12
619 pp
Genre(s): historical fiction, realistic fiction
Culture:

This book traces the Depression-era journey of the Joad family from Dust Bowl Oklahoma to what they believe will be salvation in California.

Steinbeck, John Of mice and men
Grades: 10-12
107 pp
Genre(s): fiction
Culture:

George and Lenny, migrant workers in the Salinas Valley of California during the Great Depression, dream of a time when they will have enough money to buy their own farm. Lenny, a mentally retarded young man, unwittingly commits murder. His friend, George, must determine the most humane way for justice to be done.

Thoreau, Henry David Walden
Grades: 9-12
333 pp
Genre(s): essay
Culture:

In March 1845, Thoreau borrowed an ax and built himself a wooden hut on the edge of Walden Pond, where he lived until September 1847. Walden is a record of that experiment in simple living.

Twain, Mark The adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Grades: 6-12
327 pp
Genre(s): historical fiction
Culture: multicultural

Huck and runaway slave Jim build a raft and plan to arrive in the Northern states via the Mississippi; during a terrible storm one night their course is shifted and they find themselves traveling down river, deeper into slave territory. Dialogue reflects local dialect of the times.

Verne, Jules Journey to the center of the earth
Grades: 7-12
300 pp
Genre(s): science fiction
Culture:

Otto Lidenbrock spends months exploring fabulous secrets of ancient civilizations and monstrous creatures thriving in a subterranean world.

Verne, Jules 20,000 leagues under the sea
Grades: 7-12
461 pp
Genre(s): science fiction
Culture:

Narrated by Professor Aronnax, the novel follows his adventures as he investigates what appears to be a series of attacks on international shipping by some sort of sea monster. The monster turns out to be the Nautilus, a steel-plated submarine, helmed by Captain Nemo.

Wells, H. G. The time machine
Grades: 6-12
125 pp
Genre(s): science fiction
Culture:

A million years into the future, the world is divided neatly into two: the Eloi, beautiful, basically helpless creatures who live above ground, and the Morlocks, beastly creatures surviving on depravity and cannibalism.

White, T. H. The once and future king
Grades: 9-12
639 pp
Genre(s): fantasy
Culture:

This is not the fairy tale Camelot: Lancelot is physically ugly, Guinevere's hair begins showing streaks of white, and Arthur is often confused, if not outright bewildered. As Arthur comes into possession of the crown, the story becomes darker and darker, an inescapable sense of doom lingering on every page.