Study Guide Library

Explore an ever-expanding selection of titles ranging from classic texts to contemporary works. SuperSummary Study Guides feature detailed summaries plus analyses of major themes, symbols, characters, and important quotes—all written by literature scholars and experts. Browse titles alphabetically or by genre.

There’s more! Find quick synopses of thousands more titles in our Plot Summary Library and check out our Teaching Guide Library for classroom-ready resources.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ#
The Secret Scripture
Sebastian Barry

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008

The Secrets We Kept
Lara Prescott

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

The Secret Zoo
Bryan Chick

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2007

The Seed Keeper
Diane Wilson

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

The Selection
Kiera Cass

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2012

The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1976

The Selfish Giant
Oscar Wilde

Fiction | Short Story | Middle Grade | Published in 1888

The Sellout
Paul Beatty

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015

The Sense of an Ending
Julian Barnes

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011

The Sense of Style
Steven Pinker

Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 2014

The Sentence
Louise Erdrich

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

The September House
Carissa Orlando

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

The Septembers Of Shiraz
Dalia Sofer

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007

The Sequel
Jean Hanff Korelitz

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024

The Serpent and the Wings of Night
Carissa Broadbent

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

The Serpent King
Jeff Zentner

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
Robin Wall Kimmerer

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2024

The Setting Sun
Transl. Donald Keene, Osamu Dazai

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1947

The Setting Sun and the Rolling World
Charles Mungoshi

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1987

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins Reid

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
Shehan Karunatilaka

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

The Seven Sisters
Lucinda Riley

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014

The Seven Storey Mountain
Thomas Merton

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1948

The Seven Tablets of Creation: The Enuma Elish
Leonard William King, ed.

Fiction | Scripture | Adult | BCE

The Seventh Most Important Thing
Shelley Pearsall

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015

The Seventh Veil of Salome
Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024

The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs
Betty G. Birney

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1980

The Seven Year Slip
Ashley Poston

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

The Sexual Contract
Carole Pateman

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1988

The Shack
William P. Young

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007

The Shadow King
Maaza Mengiste

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

The Shadow Lines
Amitav Ghosh

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1988

The Shadow of the Galilean
Gerd Theissen

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1986

The Shadow of the Gods
John Gwynne

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

The Shadow of the Wind
Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001

The Shadows Between Us
Tricia Levenseller

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020

The Shakespeare Stealer
Gary L. Blackwood

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1998

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
Nicholas Carr

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2010

The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
Jonathan Kozol

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005

The Shampoo
Elizabeth Bishop

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1955

The Shape of Thunder
Jasmine Warga

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021

The Shawl
Cynthia Ozick

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1989

The Shawl
Louise Erdrich

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 2001

The Shell Collector
Anthony Doerr

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 2002

The Shell Seekers
Rosamunde Pilcher

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1987

The Sheltering Sky
Paul Bowles

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1949

The Sheriff's Children
Charles W. Chesnutt

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1889

The Shining
Stephen King

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1977

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Naomi Klein

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2007

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League
Jeff Hobbs

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2014

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
Ernest Hemingway

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1936

The Sicilian Inheritance
Jo Piazza

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024

The Sick Rose
William Blake

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1794

The Signal-Man
Charles Dickens

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1866

The Signature of All Things
Elizabeth Gilbert

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

The Significance of the Frontier in American History
Frederick Jackson Turner

Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 2009

The Sign of the Beaver
Elizabeth George Speare

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1983

The Sign of the Four
Arthur Conan Doyle

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1890

The Silence Between Us
Alison Gervais

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019

The Silence Of The Lambs
Thomas Harris

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1988

The Silent Boy
Lois Lowry

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2003

The Silent Companions
Laura Purcell

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

The Silent Patient
Alex Michaelides

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

The Silent Wife
A. S. A. Harrison

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Peter Frankopan

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2015

The Silmarillion
J. R. R. Tolkien

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1977

The Silver Chair
C. S. Lewis

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1953

The Silver Linings Playbook
Matthew Quick

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008

The Silver Sword
Ian Serraillier

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1956

The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life
J. L. Collins

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016

The Simple Wild: A Novel
K. A. Tucker

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

The Singer Solution to World Poverty
Peter Singer

Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1999

The Singularity Is Near
Ray Kurzweil

Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 2005

The Sirens
Emilia Hart

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2025

The Sirens' Call
Chris Hayes

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2025

The Sirens of Titan
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1959

The Sisters
James Joyce

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1904

The Sisters Brothers
Patrick Dewitt

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011

The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis
George Stephanopoulos

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2024

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (2014)
Elizabeth Kolbert

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014

The Skeleton Tree
Iain Lawrence

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2016

The Skin I'm In
Sharon G. Flake

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1998

The Skin of Our Teeth
Thornton Wilder

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1942

The Sky Is Gray
Ernest J. Gaines

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1963

The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South
John W. Blassingame

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1979

The Slave Ship: A Human History
Marcus Rediker

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2007

The Sleeper and the Spindle
Neil Gaiman

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | YA | Published in 2014

The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness
Jeff Olson

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005

The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, From the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement
Sharon McMahon

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2024

The Smallest Dragonboy
Anne McCaffrey

Fiction | Short Story | Middle Grade | Published in 1973

The Smallest Woman in the World
Clarice Lispector

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1960

The Smell of Apples
Mark Behr

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1993

The Smell Of Other People's Houses
Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016

The Sniper
Liam O'Flaherty

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1923

The Snow Child
Eowyn Ivey

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012

The Snowman
Jo Nesbø

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007

The Snow Queen
Hans Christian Andersen

Fiction | Novella | Middle Grade | Published in 1844

The Social Contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1762

The Society of the Spectacle
Guy Debord

Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 1967

The Sociological Imagination
C. Wright Mills

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1959