Unit Overview: This unit introduces students to the historical and cultural foundations of the English language and its literature. Students will explore early works of English literature (ex. Epic poetry, drama) in an effort to understand how language has evolved over time and how works representative of a time period reflect both the shifts in language and societal beliefs, practices, and values. The chosen texts will enable students to trace significant elements (ex. themes) in earlier literature, then apply this knowledge to their analyses and interpretations. This knowledge will help students understand the ever evolving relationships between language, culture and the human experience.
Anchor Texts: Selected by teacher from this list. Whole class will read/listen, interpret, discuss & analyze.
Book Club Books:
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Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations
Tale of Two Cities
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
A Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
A Light in the Darkness by Albert Martin
Maus, Vol. I and II by Art Spiegelman
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Mystic Masseur by V.S. Naipaul
The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Contagious by Jonah Berger
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
The Power by Naomi Alderman
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Classics & Remixes: Modern retellings & the books that inspired them!
Novels in Verse: Looks like a poem; reads like a story! A verse novel is a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose.
Print & Digital Collections: Even more options!
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Print books
E-Books & A