GREEN MEADOW WALDORF SCHOOL OUTSIDE READING LIST GRADES 9 and 10 ❖ 2019-2020
REMINDERS: 1) Read as many plays as you wish, but choose only one for a book report. 2) If you choose to write on a work of literature not on this list, you must check with your English teacher first to receive approval. 3) Passing off a previously written book report, yours or someone else’s, will be considered a serious violation of academic ethics and will be dealt with sternly.
❖ FICTION AND BIOGRAPHY ❖
Winesburg, Ohio Anderson Collection of short stories depicting a small mid-western town early in the century.
Things Fall Apart Achebe A modern Nigerian makes his way between timeless tradition and modern change.
A Man of the People Achebe A young man experiences the inside track of the “People’s Leader” in an African country.
A Long Way Gone (B) Beah Ismael Beah tells of his experience as a boy soldier, picked up at the age of 13 by the government army of Sierra Leone. .
The Exonerated Blank & The authors combine their interviews with people exonerated from (Play) Jensen death row with their own memoirs of how they explored these people’s stories to create a play from the material.
Caleb’s Crossing Brooks A fine, well-textured story of early inhabitants of Martha’s Vineyard, both white and Wampanoag, as the two cultures influence each other. Vividly set in the 1660s.
The Tracker (B) Brown An autobiographical account of a boy who learns how to track animals and live Indian-wise and self-sufficient in the wilderness.
Manchild in the Brown Account of a man who grows up in the heart of a NY city ghetto and Promised Land escapes to become an artist.
My Antonia Cather An immigrant girl makes her way in the wilds of America’s Great Plains, among immigrants from other parts of the world.
The Woman in White Collins A mystery novel set in England in the 19th century—with wild events, guilty secrets.
Jungle Love (B) Corbett An autobiographical story of a famous naturalist and hunter that focuses on his knowledge and love of India.
Her-Bak de Lubicz Set in ancient Egypt, the story of a young boy determined to learn about ancient mysteries.
Hulabaloo in the Desai What happens in a village in modern India when Sampath decides to Guava Orchard live in a guava tree? A warm, bright, hilarious story poetically told.
Great Expectations Dickens A classic tale of an orphan boy who becomes a gentleman.
Collected Poems Dickinson As the poet herself said, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” These poems are guaranteed to loosen the lid of the mind.
The Whistling Season Doig A delightful, humorous, and inspiring story set in Montana in the early 1900s. When a widow arrives to houseclean for a widower and his three sons, many kinds of learning ensue.
I Rode with Douglas First-hand account of life with one of history’s greatest generals, Stonewall (B) “Stonewall” Jackson of the Civil War.
My Family Durrell An amusing memoir about growing up on the island of Corfu and Other Animals (B) in the middle of an eccentric family.
Zeitoun Eggers A gripping and informative book about Abdulrahman Zeitun, the Syrian-American owner of a contracting company in New Orleans who chose to ride out Hurricane Katrina rather than leave town with his family.
The Master Butchers’ Erdrich German settlers in northeastern Minnesota after World War I find their Singing Club ways in the new World, while wrestling with strains of the old world.
Chasing the Monsoon Frater This travelogue relates Frater’s experience of chasing the monsoons through Delhi, Calcutta, and across Bangladesh to the town where he was born, also the wettest town on earth.
Collected Poems Frost A modern, down-to-earth New Englander’s straight-talking perspective on timeless events.
Blood Knot Fugard Set in South Africa in the early sixties; two brothers—one light-skinned, (Play) one dark--feel the racial conflicts of their country come between them.
Ellen Foster Gibbons A novel narrated in first person by the tough-spirited Ellen, who, on her own at a very young age, does her best to survive while trying to figure out the adults and problems around her. Heart-wrenching and funny.
Two Riders of Giono The story of two brothers, peasants on the bleak high plateau of central The Storm France: one a wrestler, the other a champion horse rider. Will they be comrades or rivals in strength?
Tiger at the Gates Giraudoux Borrows the basic setting of the Trojan War, but is a modern (Play) interpretation of man’s struggle against destiny.
Autobiography of Grealy A local Spring Valley girl, coping with cancer of the jaw and thirty a Face (B) operations over twenty years, comes to understand Beauty.
I Never Promised Green A young girl battles her own “demons” to find health. 2 You a Rose Garden
Death Be Not Gunther A journalist’s chronicle of his son’s fiercely intrepid battle with Proud (B) cancer.
The Big Sky Guthrie A mountain man traps beaver and lives with the Indians in the West during the 1830’s.
Motoring With Hansen This travelogue tells of the adventure Hansen had in the late 1970s Mohammed after being shipwrecked on a desert island off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea. The story tells of his incredible adventures with his taxi driver, Mohammed.
Plainsong Haruf This beautifully crafted novel of small-town life set in eastern Colorado portrays two elderly, bachelor/brother farmers, a high school teacher looking for love, and a pregnant 12-year-old, whose lives intersect.
A Bell for Adano Hersey A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel in the style of a documentary about a feisty Sicilian village taken captive during World War II.
Green Was The Earth Heyerdahl A combination of memoir, botanical and historical exploration, and on the Seventh Day (B) pure adventure story. Heyerdahl tells the story that precedes his voyage of the Kon-Tiki, when he first visits the Polynesian Islands as a newlywed college student.
Someone Knows Hill This impressive novel tells the story of an African woman from her My Name home through her enslavement on the Carolina coast, and her ensuing journey up to Boston, Nova Scotia, England, and finally home. A remarkable story.
Lost Horizon Hilton A small group of Westerners finds Shangri-La, a village out of time in the Himalayas.
Power Hogan In a potent story set in contemporary Florida, two young women of the nearly extinct Taiga tribe pursue their destinies in relation to the nearly extinct Florida panther.
Soldier Boys Hughes The stories of two youths, one from Utah and one from Germany, who enlist in their respective armies during World War II.
Toilers of the Sea Hugo An illiterate fisherman seeks to win the hand of a wealthy ship-owner’s daughter by rescuing her father’s unique boat from the rocks on which it foundered—facing terrible seas and a hidden danger in the depths.
Enemy of the People Ibsen One idealistic man’s crusade for truth against Norwegian towns- (Play) people’s selfish motives.
Halide’s Gift Kazan The story of Halide, who lives in Constantinople during the reign of 19th Century Sultan Abdul Hamid. Her father frees her from illiteracy by defying the edicts of the sultan and sending her to the American school for girls, where she becomes one of the first formally educated Turkish women in history. Historical fiction.
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The Poisonwood Kingsolver Mix a southern American evangelist with the Congo’s fight for; Bible independence, and you have the recipe for poisonwood.
Endurance Lansing The story of the year Shackleton and his men spent ice-locked in Antarctica.
Sea Wolf London A well-educated, ship-wrecked journalist gets an education at sea on a seal hunter’s ship.
This Side of McCann Richly written New York City story about homelessness, love, inter- Brightness racial marriage, sandhogs who dig tunnels, and the men who build skyscrapers.
Angela’s Ashes McCourt The tragic and hilarious story of his growing up in poverty in Limerick, Ireland.
The Member of McCullers Twelve-year-old Frankie Adams, with all the agony of dawning The Wedding puberty, completely misunderstands what it means to be a “member of the wedding.” A lyrical and poignant coming-of-age novel, a poetic portrait of adolescence.
Born To Run McDougall The amazing true story of a number of the world’s best contemporary long-distance runners (hundreds of miles), including the best of all, the quiet, mysterious Tarahumara Indians in Mexico’s Copper Canyon.
The Crucible Miller Dramatizes the Salem witch hunts at the end of the 17th century. (Play)
Death of a Miller Classic 20th century family drama. Salesman (Play)
Empress Orchid Anchee Min This fine recent novel dramatically recreates the life of a Chinese country girl who ends up becoming Empress in the 1860s; historically valid, well rendered.
Mercy Morrison A fine, vividly written novel by our only living Nobel novelist, Mercy is the multi-stranded tale of slavery in Maryland in the 1690s, interweaving native American, African, Dutch, and Portuguese strands potently; what writing!
Never Cry Wolf Mowat Chronicle of a man’s extensive study of wolves in their native habitat.
Miguel Street Naipaul The novel is made up of childhood stories experienced by the narrator. All of the stories are united by the location of Miguel Street in Port of Spain.
Mutiny on the Bounty Nordoff/Hall Captain Bligh pushes Fletcher too far, in the South Pacific.
Capitan Alatriste Pérez-Reverte A Spanish soldier living in the 17th century and his Italian sword for hire are paid by two mysterious masked characters to kill a pair of unknown visitors in Madrid.
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The Chosen Potok A special friendship between two Jewish boys in Brooklyn, one from a Hasidic sect and the other from an Orthodox sect, builds a bridge of understanding across religious boundaries and difficult times.
Davita’s Harp Potok A Jewish girl growing up has to overcome both losing her Communist father in the Spanish civil war and the prejudice against women in parochial education.
The Ramayana Rama, cast out of his kingdom, needs the help of the monkey-king to rescue the lovely Sita.
The Man Who Roberts Roberts tells about his life working with horses, beginning with his Listens to Horses (B) early rodeo-riding days. A testimony to the power of non-verbal communication and an inspirational memoir.
Cyrano de Bergerac Rostand The romantic, dashing figure of Cyrano with the grotesque nose (Play) dominates this play about unrequited love and sacrifice.
Nine Tailors Sayers A master mystery, set with bell-ringers in England.
Macbeth Shakespeare A bloody play of ambition, conscience, and downfall. (Play)
Arms and the Man Shaw A comic look at the idea of the romantic, involving a professional (Play) soldier, a lying heroine, and a romantic buffoon.
Pygmalion Shaw On a bet, a linguistics expert in London transforms a Cockney flower (Play) girl into an elegant lady.
On the Beach Shute Some people’s last days as life leaves the world after a nuclear war.
Travels with Charley Steinbeck The author, with poodle and camper truck, observes life in diners and small towns across America.
The Moon is Down Steinbeck A novel depicting Norwegian resistance to the German Occupation in World War II.
Confessions of Styron Prize-winning novel exploring the historical event of the slave Nat Turner rebellion in Virginia in the 1830s; a richly vocal range of various perspectives, yielding insights into facets of the American psyche.
The Thurber Festival Thurber Essays, sketches, and pieces of short fiction, in which the main characters, usually dogs or middle-aged men, grapple with the vagaries of life in New York City.
General From the Traven The story of Juan Mendez, perhaps the youngest and greatest of the Jungle Indian rebel chieftains who leads an ill-equipped and hungry band Against government forces at the onset of the Mexican Revolution.
5 Government Traven Depicts the political corruption that infected even the smallest of villages in Mexico. This novel tells the story of Don Gabriel, a minor government functionary who sends luckless Indians into debt slavery so that he can ship them off to work in the great mahogany plantations.
La Carreta Traven Andres, a young Indian, is an oxcart driver who can read and is more sophisticated than most of his companions who toil in the great mahogany plantations. He dreams of another way of life.
March to Monteria Traven Celso, a young Indian who goes off to toil for two years in a mahogany plantation, is given a trumped up charge to assure that he will remain because his work is so good.
Rebellion of the Traven Set in the slave-labor mahogany plantation of tropical Mexico in 1919 Hanged at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution.
Life on the Mississippi Twain Recollection by author of his steamboat pilot days.
Treasury of Great Untermeyer Humorous offerings in prose from Twain to E.B. White. Humor
The Hummingbird’s Urrea Teresita, born in Mexico in the late 19th century to a poor teenaged Daughter Indian girl, is educated by a Yaqui shaman, who teaches her how plants can be used to heal sickness, helping her recognize her extraordinary power to heal with her hands.
Precious Bane Webb Written in 1924, set in the idyllic English countryside. An unusual love story in charming Shropshire dialect.
Night (B) Weisel Nightmarish account of a boy and his father in a Nazi concentration camp.
The Robber Bridegroom Welty Southern fairy tale of a wealthy planter’s daughter’s romance with a bandit.
Indigo Wiley Winner of the Pen-Faulkner award for best novel, this story follows the transformations of an American educator in Nigeria during his changing relationships to Africans and to himself. Artful.
Black Boy (B) Wright Autobiography describing a black child’s experiences growing up in the South.
❖ HISTORY ❖
Having Our Say Delaney The gutsy, humorous and revealing memoir of Bessie and Sadie Delaney, 103 and 105 year old sisters, whose lives reflect the struggles of women and of African Americans in this century.
6 Autobiography of Ben Franklin A pithy and colorful account of the life and times of America’s first great scientist and man of culture.
Quest Gill Autobiography of the doctor whose work with the terminally ill has indicated that there is observable and meaningful pattern in the process of dying.
George Washington Carver Holt The fascinating life of America’s first great black botanist, who rose above the segregation of the deep South to achieve world-wide fame.
The Spirit of St. Louis Lindbergh Charles Lindbergh’s marvelous account of his famous first flight to Paris, interspersed with colorful memories of his earlier years as a barnstorming pilot.
A Song Yet Sung McBride A potently written, multi-voiced story of some slaves’ escapes in Eastern Maryland in the 1850s, based on historical events. “The Code” is the secret language the “colored” used to communicate around and through the white world. Rich, mysterious, dramatic, a mighty novel.
A Land of Our Own Meir An oral biography of the remarkable woman from Wisconsin who emigrated to Israel and rose to become Prime Minister. The conflict in Palestine is carefully and thoughtfully discussed.
Black Elk Speaks Niehardt The amazing story of Black Elk, one of the last Oglala Sioux medicine men from the time of Crazy Horse.
In the Heart of the Sea Philbrick The author chronicles the horrifying, true story of the Essex, a whale ship that was rammed by a whale in 1821. The incident became one of Herman Melville’s inspiration for writing Moby Dick.
The King Must Die Renault Based on the adventures of the Greek Hero Theseus, his encounter with the minotaur, and the trip home.
Greek Treasure Stone Novel about Heinrich Schliemann’s life and work, whose lifelong dream was to uncover the legendary city of Troy.
Abraham Lincoln Thomas A colorful account of the man who kept the vision of a United States alive during the tumult of the Civil War.
Lost World of Van der Post The author, a South African anthropologist, writer, and farmer, the Kalahari chronicles his search by hint and footprint for the Bushmen, believed to be extinct.
❖ SCIENCE ❖
Flatland Abbott An imaginative adventure in a two-dimensional world.
Natural History Ackerman of the Senses
Silent Spring Carson The book that launched the environmental movement. 7
The Closing Circle Commoner
Madame Curie Curie The life of the two-time Nobel prize winner, in chemistry and physics.
Why We Do It: Eldredge A critique of the view that human behavior is merely a product of our Rethinking Sex & the Selfish Gene genes rooted in a hunter-gatherer past.
Through A Window--My Goodall One of the most important scientific works ever published, this is the Thirty Years With the autobiography of Jane Goodall’s experiences studying a tribe of Chimpanzees of Gombe chimpanzees in Gombe, Africa.
Measuring Eternity: Gorst A dynamic history of the struggle to understand how—and when—the The Search for the Earth, or even the universe, began. Beginning of Time
Thinking Beyond Darwin Kranich An approach to evolution theory that is based on an epistemology of spiritual monism.
Dance of the Tiger Kurten Fictional account of the interaction between Homo Sapien Sapiens and Homo Sapien Neanderthalensis (people like us and “caveman”).
The Triple Helix: Lewontin A reconsideration of the relationship between the organism (an inside) Gene, Organism & Environment and the environment (an outside) that provides a critique of geocentric thinking.
Basin and Range McPhee
Mortal Lessons: Selzer Aphorisms on life and medicine by a doctor. Notes on The Art of Surgery
Eco-Geography: What Suchantke A new way of seeing and understanding the landscape leading to We See When We Look experiencing nature as a form of meaning. At Landscapes
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