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guitarnan
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| Posted: Aug 21 2009 at 12:44am | IP Logged
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Okay, so I have a hyper-ambitious plan for American Lit - for a 12th grader who is already feeling overwhelmed by college applications, Eagle Scout project, etc. I am happily rereading Bartleby the Scrivener and discovering that it's much better than I thought it was in 11th grade, and Emily Dickinson's poetry, same thing...I'm sure you can see where I'm going.
I need to pare down my son's reading list so he will actually enjoy reading it. He doesn't have to love everything on the list, but I definitely want him to have enough time to read and analyze the selections.
We're working on 1st-semester lit - colonial period up to Civil War.
What were your (or your children's) favorite and most-despised reading selections from this period? Are some authors (Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson) indispensable, or not? Can you go through high school and college without reading any Melville? (Bartleby is fascinating to me now...but he was so, so incredibly dull when I was 16!)
Have at it...tell me your favorites and most-despised...
(Confession: My American Lit class went on strike. We refused to finish reading The Last of the Mohicans. Our teacher caved.)
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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ekbell
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Between no two people having the same taste in literature and there being more good books then time to read them this is what I do.
If you already have a list I would suggest figuring out the minimum amount of reading you want your son to do, have the books available and let your son choose.
Just knowing of the existence of the books will help him if he later wishes to read the other ones while being able to choose the ones he's most interested in will make the best (and least stressful) use of the time he has now.
[I do this all the time, due to the readings lists I have and can find, the wealth of books available through our library and my wish not to overwhelm my children. The older the child the freer the choice.]
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stacykay
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I know, as mentioned above, that tastes vary, but I have heard from more than one person, including ds who has read a huge assortment of books, that Moby Dick was not very high on their lists (my apologies to all who may love that book!)
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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lapazfarm
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I have to admit that I hated my Am Lit class in high school. I had a really bad teacher and I think that colored my view of the subject for quite a while.(As opposed to British Lit class where I had a wonderful enthusiastic teacher and her enthusiasm rubbed off on all of us) It wasn't until I was much older that I began to appreciate some of the American lit works I had been introduced to. I think back and cannot believe how much I hated To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, and anything by Carl Sandburg, all thanks to really bad teacher.
That being said, I do remember a few things I enjoyed despite her: Mark Twain, Poe (of course! What teenager doesn't love Poe?LOL!), Robert Frost, and some really excellent short stories, amongst them-
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
The Monkey's Paw
The Gift of the Magi
The Most Dangerous Game
Ransom of Red Chief
To Build a Fire
So, I suppose if I remember liking these despite my teacher they must have been the cream of the crop for me.LOL!
I hope that helps!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Aug 22 2009 at 10:15am | IP Logged
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To Build a Fire is a joke around here...after I described the story to my children, my dd (grade 7) demanded to be assigned the story. The entire premise struck her as, well, a little odd...how do you write pages and pages about a fire?
We'll see how she likes it... 
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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SuzanneG
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I remember "To Build A Fire" from Junior Great Books......
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Suzanne in ID
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SuzanneG
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**Keep in mind we're all FEMALE here, so our enjoyed-reads will probably be much different than a MALE favorite/s. Those with older boys.....maybe the question could be posed to them as well.
I think I would divide the time periods into sections.....colonialism, post-independence, american frontier, realism, etc. Consider what he's drawn to.......if he's not really into politics and his eyes glaze over, then make an effort to pick something a bit easier politics-wise, and then a meatier fiction work for that time period or era, that is quite political in nature.
If you and he don't think he can "do" Moby Dick......and you think it's important.....maybe look at it like he needs to know ABOUT Moby Dick....your planting the seed for later. I think you CAN go through high school and not read Moby Dick.....but I think he should know ABOUT Moby Dick......what it is, why it's important, what influence it had, how it reflected the time period, etc....Maybe reading a bit about Melville instead in order to plant that little seed, so that when he's 30, he'll pick it off the shelf and read it and really enjoy it. Even if this just comes up in conversation.
I'll be back later with my favs.....and maybe my dh's favorites too........
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JodieLyn
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Don't forget to ask your dh about what he liked to read.
My dh likes Jack London, so he recommends some of those.
"To Build a Fire" is good. I read it in 8th grade and never forgot the story it was very vivid to me. Recently reread it and I still like the story and want to read it outloud to my kids.
I enjoyed "The Grapes of Wrath" when I skippped the chapters that were mainly description and was able to follow the story without interuption better. I might be inclined to break that book up.. assign the story and then maybe some of the descriptions (they're neat to read just they broke up the story and drove me nuts )
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Bookswithtea
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Well, I don't know if it needs to be a "must read" but it was definitely part of my honors Am. Lit to read Steinbeck...both Of Mice and Men and also The Grapes of Wrath. Both of which I absolutely hated. I found them to be tedious and sooooooooooooooo slllllooooooooowwww. I'm debating whether or not to put them on my own dd's American Lit. list, or just to talk about Steinbeck and call it good. 
I also read Walden and Disobedience. I hated both of them, as well, but I had a hard time understanding the concept of Transcendentalism. I just wasn't ready at 16, I think.
High on my list of books I enjoyed was The Crucible.
Oh, and ds read House of Seven Gables (Hawthorne) last year and gave it two thumbs up for boy-interest. He also liked Old Man and the Sea (Hemmingway), and anything by Poe.
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Karen T
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I'm kind of in the same boat looking at this year with ds16. So many of the books I read in high school literature I hated at the time, that it totally turned me off to that particular author - The Scarlet Letter - I've never read any more Hawthorne, Grapes of Wrath - never tried any other Steinbeck, A Tale of Two Cities - thought I hated Dickens until I tried him this year, in my late 40's, and have read several that I have loved (I know we're talking American lit here but just making a point). On the one hand, I don't want to cause associations like that and turn him to good literature (it took me 30 yrs to get back to the classics!) but I also think at least having some exposure to a wide variety of the more commonly read classics is a good thing b/c so many things refer to phrases or events that are in those books. I mean, despite hating the book, I can instantly recognize "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" (and I do plan to try it again, just as soon as I finish Little Dorrit)
We need to focus heavily on writing this year so I'm actually going to delay heavy reading for a month or two while we get started with our IEW SICC and I'm also going to use Teaching the Classics to work on *how* to analyze a story. yes, we are behind on language arts; I've focused much more heavily on math, science and history the last few years and accepted minimal/mediocre writing. He did do a lot of reading last year for SL's Core 300 - 20th century history.
Oh, as far as writers I did like in high school, one that springs to mind that hasn't come up yet is Somerset Maugham- oops, not American, oh well. I keep meaning to reread some of his works and see if I still like them b/c I really don't remember at all what they were about.
Karen t in Md
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SuzanneG
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Here are my dad's favorites and ones he'd recommend for a HS boy/man:
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Washington Irving
Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales
Poe: The Pit and the Pendulum
Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher
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Michiel
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I'm chiming in late here, but I used to teach hs American Lit, and frankly don't like most of what the schools teach. Taste, again, matters. I think my most successful book was To Kill a Mockingbird. In my junior year in hs, my teacher assigned 2000 pages of "college bound" material to be read per quarter. I totally loved that assignment. I could choose whatever I wanted as long as it was considered challenging enough. That is how I would like to teach.
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MichelleW
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I loved Anne Bradstreet, but that could be a girl thing.
DH loved "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles.
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Michelle
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stellamaris
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I find this chronological list of American authors helpful to jog the failing memory  . What about some of the poems of Phyllis Wheatley for the colonial period? Also, remember that the American documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution) fall under "literature". "Common Sense" and excerpts from "Poor Richard's Alamanac" might be considered. Washington Irving is wonderful for this period, as is Nathaniel Hawthorne. I'd definitely include The Scarlet Letter. Poe, of course!, and especially for poetry "The Raven" and "The Bells" (totally creepy when read aloud!) For pre-Civil War, Uncle Tom's Cabin was influential, and you also might consider Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Fin. James Fenimore Cooper (Last of the Mohicans) and Thoreau (Walden) wrote during this period. During the Civil War, the poetry of Walt Whitman was very popular ("O Captain, My Captain"). Just thrying to remember what's in this period of history....rambling here!
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teachingmom
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| Posted: Sept 30 2009 at 10:29pm | IP Logged
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See this very late, Karen, but I was completely turned of off Melville by being required to read Billy Budd.
Absolutely. Hated. It.
So I never read Melville again. I guess I'd be in the camp that says you can have a well-rounded education without Melville.
By the way, I took a look at the list of authors that Caroline linked to and realized that I haven't read nearly enough American lit. I remember a few titles that were required in high school, and I took one American lit class in college. There are lots on that list that I really ought to visit now.
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guitarnan
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Irene, LOL!
I totally disliked Billy Budd as well. I did reread Bartleby the Scrivener this summer and found it hilarious in a weird way. Much more interesting than it was in high school, too.
I have yet to read Moby-Dick and probably never will.
So far we've done the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and are moving forward from there.
All suggestions welcome - we have two semesters of American Lit fun!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: High School American Lit Best and Worst
