Michelle has to choose a book from this list (scratched out books she’s already read) for her SAT prep class. What do you think she should read?
# Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart
# Agee, James. A Death in the Family. 1957. The enchanted childhood summer of 1915 suddenly becomes a baffling experience for Rufus Follet when his father dies.
# Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility
# Bernstein, Leonard. The Joy of Music. 1959. Bernstein describes all aspects of classical music.
# Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. 1970. There’s another side of America’s western expansion: the one seen through Native American eyes.
# Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. 1962. This landmark book gave birth to the environmental movement.
# Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1899. Edna Pontellier, an unhappy wife and mother, discovers new qualities in herself when she visits Grand Isle, a resort for the Creole elite of New Orleans.
# Cisneros, Sandra. The House On Mango Street. 1991. In short, poetic stories, Esperanza describes life in a low-income, predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago.
# Edelman, Marion Wright. The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours. 1992. A child advocate shares her thoughts on values, raising families, and the future of our country.
# Forster, E. M. Howards End.
# Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying. 1993. When Jefferson’s attorney states, "I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this," disillusioned teacher Grant Wiggins is sent into the penitentiary to help this slow learner gain a sense of dignity and self-esteem before his execution.
# Gibbons, Kaye. Ellen Foster. 1987. Casting an unflinching yet humorous eye on her situation, eleven-year-old Ellen survives her mother’s death, an abusive father, and uncaring relatives to find for herself a loving home and a new mama.
# Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. 1942. Gods and heroes, their clashes and adventures, come alive in this splendid retelling of the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths.
# Hayakawa, S. I. Language and Thought in Action.
# Hersey, John. Hiroshima. 1946. Six Hiroshima survivors reflect on the aftermath of the first atomic bomb.
# Kendall, Elizabeth. Where She Danced. 1979. The contributions of major innovators and the conditions of their times are the basis for this history of modern American dance.
# Keneally, Thomas. Schindler’s List. 1982. Oskar Schindler, a rich factory owner, risks his life and spends his personal fortune to save Jews listed as his workers during World War II.
# Mason, Bobbi Ann. In Country. 1985. After her father is killed in the Vietnam War, Sam Hughes lives with an uncle whom she suspects suffers from the effects of Agent Orange, and struggles to come to terms with the war’s impact on her family.
# McPhee, John. In Suspect Terrain. 1983. Traveling along I-80 with geologist Anita Harris, McPhee describes the geologic features that reveal the history of the Appalachians.
# Mori, Kyoko. Shizuko’s Daughter. 1993. In the years following her mother’s suicide, Yuki develops the inner strength to cope with her distant father, her resentful stepmother, and her haunting, painful memories.
# Morrison, Toni. Sula.
# Paton, Alan. Cry the Beloved Country.
# Shaara, Michael. Killer Angels. 1974. Officers and foot soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy steel themselves for the bloody Battle of Gettysburg.
# Sheehan, Neil. A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. 1988. A soldier exposes the corruption undermining the American war effort in Vietnam.
# Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein.
# Wright, Richard. Native Son. 1940. For Bigger Thomas, an African American man accused of a crime in the white man’s world, there could be no extenuating circumstances, no explanations and only death.
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