Clock Dance (2018) is Anne Tyler’s 22nd domestic literary fiction novel that explores the smaller details of the human condition. Clock Dance, which spans time periods from 1967 to 2017, follows Willa, a woman who’s always made herself useful to those around her without any regard for her own needs. Through Willa’s life, Clock Dance explores themes of self-fulfillment, appreciation, passivity, and community to show how people do (or don’t) change throughout time. This novel... Read Clock Dance Summary

Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter, published in 1853 by former slave William Wells Brown, is considered the first African-American novel. Drawing on what were, in the 19th century, rumors that Thomas Jefferson had children with his slave Sally Hemings, the novel follows the slave Clotel and her family as they are sold to different masters. The novel is more than the story of a fictional slave, however: Brown includes newspaper articles, advertisements, and real-life anecdotes... Read Clotel Summary

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Written by the best-selling author Ann Patchett, Commonwealth was published in 2016 and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Commonwealth tells the story of two families: the Keatings and the Cousins. In a nonlinear fashion, the novel follows their stories over fifty years from multiple points of view, although the dominant point of view comes from Franny Keating. The novel explores the burdens and joys of children and old... Read Commonwealth Summary

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Published in 2000, Confessions of a Shopaholic was the breakout success of British novelist Sophie Kinsella (the pen name of Madeleine Wickham), a former financial journalist from London. Before adopting the Kinsella pseudonym, Wickham published several traditional novels, but she gained international recognition through the Shopaholic series, along with later stand-alone works such as Can You Keep a Secret? and The Undomestic Goddess.The novel follows Rebecca Bloomwood, a journalist whose compulsive spending habits clash comically... Read Confessions of a Shopaholic Summary

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“Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket,” a short story by American author Jack Finney, was first published in Collier’s magazine in October 1956. The story subsequently was published in literature anthologies, including the one referenced in this study guide: the Heritage edition of Adventures in Appreciation, published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1980.As a novelist and short story writer, Finney is noted for his artistry in creating suspense and heightening tension until the plot resolves... Read Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket Summary

Neil Gaiman’s Coraline is a 2002 middle-grade horror novel that follows the titular character through a strange world of wonder and fear. Coraline must use her wit, her bravery, and the help of her allies to survive and escape the strange world. As the story unfolds, it examines What It Means to Be Brave, The Drawbacks of Always Getting What You Want, and The Importance of Having Allies. Coraline is a New York Times bestseller... Read Coraline Summary

Counting by 7s is Holly Goldberg Sloan's first middle-grade novel, published in 2013. A New York Times bestseller, this contemporary story draws upon themes relevant to Sloan's own life. The novel is set in present-day Bakersfield, California, which Sloan says is “emblematic of the characters,” in the sense that it is “often overlooked.” Sloan's subsequent novels include Short (2017) and The Elephant in the Room (2021).Plot SummaryThe novel's protagonist is 12-year-old Willow Chance, a “highly... Read Counting by 7s Summary

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Crazy Rich Asians is a 2013 romance comedy novel by American author Kevin Kwan about a young Asian American woman who travels with her boyfriend to his native Singapore and finds herself suddenly thrust into the cutthroat world of Asia’s uber-rich. Kwan based the novel loosely on his own experiences growing up in Singapore. It is the first novel in a three-book series, followed by China Rich Girlfriend (2015) and Rich People Problems (2017), all... Read Crazy Rich Asians Summary

Crenshaw is Katherine Applegate’s 2015 middle grade novel about Jackson, a young boy whose family is struggling with financial instability, and his imaginary friend, Crenshaw, a human-sized cat with a fondness for bubble baths and doing cartwheels. Narrated by Jackson in the first person, the story explores the impact of poverty on family and community, the need to reconcile fact and fancy, and how to face the unknown and unpreventable productively.Other works by this author... Read Crenshaw Summary

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