sign in sign up
<<
Home , Anne Sullivan, Edna Ferber, Ernest Thompson, James Goldman, James Hilton (novelist), Jerome Lawrence

Books All Students Should Read Before they Graduate High School

Unit I: Soldiers, Pirates, and Knights—Tales of Adventure and Survival Title Author EMD* Lexile Born Free Joy Adamson E 1180 The Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane M 920 The African Queen C.S. Forester M Green Dolphin Street Elizabeth Goudge D The Call of the Wild Jack London E 1170 (620, 780, 820, 1310) Day of Infamy Walter Lord M 1030 A Night to Remember Walter Lord E 950 Moby Dick Herman Melville D 1230 (340, 980) Never Cry Wolf Farley Mowat E 1330 All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque M 830 Rabble in Arms D Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott M 1410 (990) Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson E 1100 (250, 440, 740, 890) The Once and Future King T.H. White D 1080 The Virginian Owen Wister M 830 Unit 2: Coming of Age—The Maturation of Self Title Author EMD* Lexile When the Legends Die Hal Borland M 850 Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë M 780 (530, 630, 820) Great Expectations Charles Dickens M 880 (400, 750, 590, 1320) The Summer of My German Soldier Better Greene E 800 Tex S.E. Hinton E 710 D 1320 A Separate Peace E 1110 Christy Catherine Marshall M 930 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers M 760 The Member of the Wedding Carson McCullers M 900 The Chosen Chaim Potok M 970 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger M 790 Shane Jack Schaefer E 870 The Odd Couple E (Non Prose) Rabbit, Run D 960 Macho Victor Edmund Villasenor M 660 Unit 3: The Imagined Past—History in Title Author EMD* Lexile Elizabeth the Queen M Becket M Non Prose A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens D 990 (460, 620, 650,710,) April Morning Howard Fast E 1050 M The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald M 1070 Johnny Tremain Esther Forbes E 840 The Lion in Winter M The House of the Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne D 1320 (930,1290) The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne D 1420 (410, 810, 910, 1340) The Country of the Pointed Firs Sarah Orne Jewett M Doctor Zhivago D 1010 The Winthrop Woman Anya Seton D Exodus Leon Uris D 920 The Friendly Persuasion Jessamyn West E 970 (Court-Martial) M 910 Unit 4: Other Worlds and Future Times—Tales of Fantasy and Science Fiction Title Author EMD* Lexile The Fantastic Voyage Isaac Asimov E 770 Fahrenheit 451 M 890 Harvey E 2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke M 1060 Blithe Spirit Noel Coward E Alas, Babylon Pat Frank M 870 Stranger in a Strange Land Robert Heinlein D 940 E 1060 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis E 940 A Canticle For Leibowitz Walter Miller D 1000 The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien M 1000 Unit 5: In Search of Conscience—The Literature of Social Issues Title Author EMD* Lexile To Sir With Love E.R> Braithwaite E 1080 Pearl Buck M 1530 The Chocolate War Robert Cormier E 820 I am the Cheese Robert Cormier M 810 The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Ernest J. Gaines E 710 Black Like Me John Howard Griffin M 990 A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansbury M Non Prose The Little Foxes Lillian Hellman M and Inherit the Wind E 850 Robert E. Lee Lee M 870 Main Street M 1010 The Crucible M 1320 Animal Farm E 1170 Cry the Country Alan Paton M 860 Twelve Angry Men Reginald Rose M A Majority of One Leonard Spigelgass M The Hiding Place Corrie Ten Boom E 900 Native Son Richard Wright D 700 Unit 6: The Triumph of the Spirit—Overcoming Handicaps Title Author EMD* Lexile Strong at the Broken Places Max Cleland E I Heard the Owl Call My Name Margaret Craven E 1080 Ice Castles Leonore Fleischer E William Gibson M Non Prose I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Joanne Greenberg M 960 Ordinary People Judith Guest M 600 Death Be Not Proud John Gunther M 1060 Susan’s Story Susan Hampshire M E 940 Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes M 910 Eric Doris Lund M 810 Requiem for a Heavyweight Rod Sterling E One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Alexander Solzhenistsyn E 900 M 930 John Steinbeck E 1010 E The Other Side of the Mountain E.G. Valens M 1100 The Bridge of San Luis Rey E 1080 Thornton Wilder M Unit 7: The Top of the Ladder—Stories of Professional Success and Achievement Title Author EMD* Lexile Life and Death in a Coral Sea Jacques-Yves Cousteau M Babe: the Legend Comes to Life Robert W. Creamer M Citizen Tom Paine Howard Fast M 1060 I Always Wanted to Be Somebody E All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot M 990 Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy M Joseph Joyce Landorf M Jerome Lawrence and Auntie Marne M Robert E. Lee The Contender Robert Lipsyte E 760 My Life Golda Meir D Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller M Non Prose The Greatest Story Ever Told Fulton Oursler M The Teahouse of the August Moon E The Paper Lion George Plimpton M My Name is Asher Lev Chaim Potok D 640 Dan Rather with Mickey The Camera Never Blinks M Herskowitz Go Up for Glory Bill Russell E Anchorwoman Jessica Savitch E Babe Didrikson: The World’s Greatest Gene Schoot E Woman Athlete Pygmalion M Non Prose The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark E 1120 The Playboy of the Western World John M. Synge M 870 The House of Mirth D 1230 Unit 8: Who Done It???—Tales of the Dark and Mysterious Title Author EMD* Lexile The Innocents William Archibald M The Chalk Garden Enid Bagnold M Where Are the Children Mary Higgins Clark E 790 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie E 570 The Mousetrap Agatha Christie M Jamaica Inn Daphne Du Maurier E 1070 Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier M 880 Angel Street (Gas Light) Patrick Hamilton M Arsenic and Old Lace Joseph Kesselring M Cloud of Witness Dorothy L. Sayers M Nine Coaches Waiting Mary Stewart E 890 Unit 9: Relived Memories—Childhood Revisited Title Author EMD* Lexile D 1020 1300 (380, 700, 710, 790, Little Women M 1210 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings E 1070 My Antonia M 1010 Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Cheaper by the Dozen E 890 Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and Russel Life with Father E Crouse How Green Was My Valley Richard Llewellyn D 1090 The Learning Tree Gordon Parks M 860 690 A Day No Pigs Would Die Robert Newton Peck E

Our Town Thornton Wilder M Non Prose The Glass Menagerie M Non Prose

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the- M Moon Marigolds

Unit 10: Moonlight and Roses—Tales of Love and Romance Title Author EMD* Lexile Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen D 1190 (770, 1030, 1100) Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë D 880 (570, 770) Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert M 1030 The Peacock Spring Rumer Godden M The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy D 1040 Mistress of Mellyn Victoria Holt E 760 The Beloved Invader Eugenia Price E 910 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton M 1200 (690, 1160 Additional Titles for Student Readings Title Author EMD* Lexile The Rector of Justin Louis Auchincloss M A Man for All Seasons M Lord Jim Joseph Conrad D 1120 (430, 830, 1110) The Last of the Mohicans James F. Cooper D 1350 (380, 500, 620, 770) To Serve All My Days R.H.Delderfield D PT109 J.R. Donovan E The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan Doyle M 1090 (380, 590, 620, 840,) The Count of Monte Cristo Alexander Dumas M 930 (570, 680, 830) Go Ask Alice Anonymous E 1010 Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones Anne Head E 890 A Woman Called Moses Marcy Heidish E Captains Courageous M 1020 The Turning Point E The Bridges at Toko-Ri James Michener E 1140 The Last Hurrah Frank O’Connor M Something for Joey Richard Peck E 860 Marjorie Rawlings E 750 The Light in the Forest M 870 John Steinbeck M 680 Mila 18 Leon Uris D 850 1030 (440, 540, 590, 710, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne M 850, 870) Ben Hur Lew Wallace D 990 Unit 1: Adventure and Survival Title Author EMD* Lexile Run Silent, Run Deep Edward L. Beach E Lorna Doone R.D. Blackmore M 830 The Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan D 1140 (840, 900, 1030) The Inn of the Sixth Happiness Alan Burgess M The Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad M 1050 Two Years Before the Mast Richard Henry Dana M 1290 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas M 960 (530, 560, 660, 730, 790) Lord of the Flies E 770 Dove Robin Lee Graham E 1020 Kon-Tiki Thor Heyerdahl M 1310 A Walk Across America Peter Jenkins E 1020 Coming Into the Country John McPhee M 1060 Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson E 990 (490, 610, 880) Unit 2: The Maturing Self Title Author EMD* Lexile Winesburg, Ohio Sherwood Anderson M 1050 Midnight Hour Encores Bruce Brooks E 820 The Stranger M 880 David Copperfield Charles Dickens M 1070 (430, 540, 830) 1060 (570, 580, 640, 790, Oliver Twist Charles Dickens D 800, 850, 990) Maddy’s Song Margaret Dickson M Silas Marner George Eliot M 1330 (780) Them that Glitter and Them that Don’t Bette Greene E A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man D 1120 Carrie Stephen King E 850 I will Call It Georgie’s Blues Suzanne Newton E 730 Jacob I Have Loved Katherine Patterson E 880 Davita’s Harp Chaim Potok M 750 Words by Heart Ouida Sebestyen E 750 Homecoming Cynthia Voigt E 630 Unit 3: History in Fiction Title Author EMD* Lexile The Ox-Bow Incident Walter Van Tilburg Clark M 890 The Robe Lloyd C. Douglas M Drums Along the Mohawk Walter D. Edmonds M 830 Ernest Hemingway M 610 Across Five Aprils Irene Hunt E 1100 Babbitt Sinclair Lewis M 1110 Gone With the Wind M 1100 The Mask of Apollo Mary Renault M The Jewel in the Crown Paul Scott D The Gates of Zion Bodie Thoene E 840 A Connecticut Yankee in ’s Court M 1080 (110 Graphic Format) Battle Cry Leon Uris M Queen Dolley Dorothy Clarke Wilson M Unit 4: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and the Supernatural Title Author EMD* Lexile Watership Down Richard Adams M 880 Foundation Isaac Asimov M 830 The Last Unicorn Peter S. Beagle E Ray Bradbury M 740 A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L’Engle E 740 The Great Divorce C.S. Lewis M Z for Zachariah Robert C. O’Brien E 820 The Hollow Hills Mary Stewart M 980 The Other Thomas Tryon E 1070 (290, 530, 620, 680, The Time Machine H.G. Wells M 830, 860) Things Invisible to See Nancy Willard E Unit 5: Social Issues and Moral Challenge Title Author EMD* Lexile Go Tell It on the Mountain James Baldwin M 1030 Only Earth and Sky Last Forever Nathaniel Benchley E Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Brown M 1080 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky D 990 (850) Intruder in the Dust D Farewell to Manzanar Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston E 1040 The Honorable Prison Lyll de Becerra de Jenkins E Skindeep Toeckey Jones E Fragments of Isabella Isabella Leitner E Kaffir Boy Mark Mathabane M 1040 Other People’s Houses Lore Segal M The Shoes of the Fisherman Morris L. West M Bob Woodward and Carl All the President’s Men M 1010 Bernstein Unit 6: Success and Achievement Title Author EMD* Lexile Kareem Abdul-Jabbat and M Peter Knobler Yankee From Olympus Catherine Drinker Bowen M Captains and the Kings Taylor Caldwell D Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser M 980 Pentimento Lillian Hellman M 1160 Up the Down Staircase Bel Kaufmann E Profiles in Courage John F. Kennedy M 1410 Anna and the King of Siam Margaret Landon M Eleanor and Franklin Joseph P. Lash D 1350 The Natural M 1060 West With the Night Beryl Markham M 1200 A Man Called Peter Catherine Marshall M The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath M 1140 Gale Sayers with Al I Am Third E 870 Silverman and Lawrence Beverly: An Autobiography M Linderman Madame Sarah Cornelia Otis Skinner M Jane Stuart Smith and Betty The Gift of Music M Carlson The Agony and the Ecstasy Irving Stone M Oprah Robert Waldron E The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde M 970 (580, 920) Unit 7: Reflections of the Family Title Author EMD* Lexile A Midwife’s Story Penny Armstrong E The Dollmaker Harriette Arnow M 1120 Père Goriot Honoré de Balzac M 1180 Cold Sassy Tree Olive Ann Burns M 930 Edna Ferber E 980 Roots M 1330 Tess of the D’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy M 1160 The Portrait of a Lady D 1020 (940) The Thornbirds Colleen McCullough M 990 Giants in the Earth O. E. Rolvaag M 760 (830) A Reckoning May Sarton M 840 John Steinbeck M 700 Mrs. Miniver Jan Struther E Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy D 1080 E 670

* EMD: E=Easy, M=Medium, D=Difficult and refer to the readability of each book.

These lists have been created from: 150 Great Books (1986) and 100 More Great Books (1991) by Bonnie A. Helms, J. Weston Walch, Publishers, Portland, .