English III Novel Reading List

English III students in Mrs. Schlotthauer’s class will be required to read four American novels during the year: two in the first semester and two in the second. Below are the choices, a synopsis of each novel, and the approximate dates each novel will take place.

August/September

When the Legends Die by Hal Borland When his father kills another Indian, Thomas Black Bull and his parents seek refuge in the wilderness. There they take up life as it was in the old days, hunting and fishing, battling for survival. But an accident claims the father’s life, and the grieving mother dies shortly afterward. Left alone, the Indian boy vows never to return to the white man’s world, to the alien laws that condemned his father. 294 pages

Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson RAMONA is the story of a part-Indian, part-Spanish girl growing up in mid-Nineteenth century California. Facing discrimination and hardship, Ramona marries but sees her Indian family destroyed as the status of Indians and Californians declines as settlers flood into California. Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885) was an American author concerned with the plight of Native Americans. Jackson petitioned the government to improve its treatment of the Indians, often writing on the subject. In 1882, she published A CENTURY OF DISHONOR, chronicling the unfair and unjust treatment of Indians at the hands of American settlers and the U.S. Government. 360 pages

October/November

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger This is at once a heroic quest, a tragedy and a love story, in which “what could be unbelievable becomes extraordinary” (Connie Ogle, The Miami Herald). Enger brings us eleven-year-old Reuben Land, an asthmatic boy in the Midwest who has reason to believe in miracles. Along with his sister and father, Reuben finds himself on a cross-country search for his outlaw older brother who has been controversially charged with murder. Their journey unfolds like a revelation, and its conclusion shows how family, love and faith can stand up to the most terrifying of enemies, the most tragic of fates. 311 pages

Bless Me Ultima by Rudy Anaya A talent for meaningful storytelling and exquisite prose has made Rudolfo Anaya a leading exponent of Chicano literature in English. Anaya's work has won international acclaim, earning him a premier place in virtually every anthology of Latino writing. Now his classic bestseller, Bless Me, Ultima (first published in 1972) is reborn in this beautifully illustrated special edition. Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima enters his life. She is a curandera, one who heals with herbs and magic. 'We cannot let her live her last days in loneliness,' says Antonio's mother. 'It is not the way of our people,' agrees his father. And so Ultima comes to live with Antonio's family in New Mexico. Soon Tony will journey to the threshold of manhood. Always, Ultima watches over him. She graces him with the courage to face childhood bigotry, diabolical possession, the moral collapse of his brother, and too many violent deaths. Under her wise guidance, Tony will probe the family ties that bind him, and he will find in himself the magical secrets of the pagan past—a mythic legacy equally as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America in which he has been schooled. At each turn in his life there is Ultima who will nurture the birth of his soul. Enhanced by four full-color paintings by noted New Mexican artist Bernadette Vigil, this book will be treasured by all admirers of Rudolfo Anaya, whether they are longtime followers of his work or are discovering him for the first time. 290 pages

January/February

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Upton Sinclair’s muckraking masterpiece The Jungle centers on Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant working in Chicago’s infamous Packingtown. Instead of finding the American Dream, Rudkus and his family inhabit a brutual, soul-crushing urban jungle dominated by greedy bosses, pitiless con-men, and corrupt politicians. While Sinclair’s main target was the industry’s appalling labor conditions, the reading public was most outraged by the disgusting filth and contamination in American food that his novel exposed. President Theodore Roosevelt demanded an official investigation, which quickly led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug laws. For a work of fiction to have such an impact outside its literary context is extremely rare. Today, The Jungle remains a relevant portrait of capitalism at its worst and an impassioned account of the human spirit facing nearly insurmountable challenges. 396 pages

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton This is Edith Wharton’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal during the sumptuous Golden Age of old New York, a time when society people “dreaded scandal more than disease.” This is Newland Archer’s world as he prepares to marry the beautiful but conventional May Welland. But when the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after a disastrous marriage in Europe, Archer falls deeply in love with her. Torn between duty and passion, Archer struggles to make a decision that will courageously define is life – or mercilessly destroy it. 307 pages

My Antonia by Willa Cather This is a soulful and rich portrait of a pioneer woman’s simple yet heroic life. The spirited daughter of Bohemian immigrants, Antonia must adapt to a hard existence on the desolate prairies of the Midwest. Enduring childhood poverty, teenage seduction, and family tragedy, she eventually becomes a wife and mother on a Nebraska farm. A fictional record of how women helped forge the communities that formed a nation, My Antonia is also a hauntingly eloquent celebration of the strength, courage, and spirit of America’s early pioneers. 222 pages

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain He has no mother, his father is a brutal drunkard, and he sleeps in a hogshead. He’s Huck Finn, a homeless waif, a liar and thief on occasion and a casual rebel against respectability. But on the day that he encounters another fugitive from trouble, a runaway slave named Jim, he also finds for the first time in his life love, acceptance and a sense of responsibility. And it is in the exciting and moving story of these two outcasts fleeing down the Mississippi on a raft that a wondrous metamorphosis occurs. 279 pages

Sea Wolf by Jack London In London's most gripping novel, Humphrey Van Weyden is rescued from the freezing waters of San Francisco Bay by a demonic sea captain and introduced to fates far worse than death. Through this story London recalls his own adventures on a sealing vessel at the age of seventeen. 394 pages

March/April

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920’s. 180 pages

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway The best American novel to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Hemingway’s frank portrayal of the inexorable sweep of war glows with an intensity unrivaled in modern literature, while his description of the German attack on Caporetto – of lines of tired men marching in the rain, hungry, weary, and demoralized – is one of the great moments in literary history. 332 pages

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston One of the most important works of twentieth century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston’s beloved 1937 classic is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving selfhood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials and purpose. A true literary wonder, Hurston’s masterpiece remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published – perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature. 193 pages