Popular Study Guides

The Popular Study Guides Collection brings together a selection of our most-visited Guides in one convenient place. Featuring titles ranging from classic literature with enduring appeal to popular book club picks, this Collection represents a diverse array of literature readers can't get enough of.

The Wreath

by Sigrid Undset

Publication year 1920

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Truth & Lies, Love, Coming of Age

Tags Historical Fiction, Medieval, Scandinavian Literature, World History, Romance, Classic Fiction

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The Yearling

by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Publication year 1938

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Animals, Fathers, Daughters & Sons, Family, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Classic Fiction, Animals, Agriculture, Grief & Death, Children`s Literature, World History

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings published The Yearling in 1938 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. Maxwell Perkins, who also worked with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, edited the novel. The Yearling traces one year in the life of Jody Baxter, chronicling his family’s hardships as they endure floods, plague, and death—and Jody’s tender relationship with an orphaned fawn. The novel became a bestseller in 1938 and has since been translated into 29 languages. In... Read The Yearling Summary

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

by Elena Ferrante

Publication year 2013

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Friendship, Loyalty & Betrayal, Safety & Danger, Fame, Literature, Trust & Doubt, Power & Greed, Nostalgia, Memory, Hate & Anger, Love, Perseverance, Conflict

Tags Historical Fiction, Italian Literature, Gender & Feminism, Relationships, Women`s Studies, Modern Classic Fiction, World History

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2014) is the third book in pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante’s world-acclaimed adult fiction series The Neapolitan Novels. The four-novel series chronicles the friendship between first-person narrator Elena Greco and Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo from childhood to old age in an impoverished neighborhood in Naples, Italy. Translated by Ann Goldstein, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay documents the beginning of middle age, wherein the two women grapple with... Read Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay Summary

Tom Lake

by Ann Patchett

Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Love, Coming of Age, Literature, Memory, The Past, Plants, Place

Tags Realistic Fiction, American Literature, Agriculture, Arts & Culture, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance

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Took

by Mary Downing Hahn

Publication year 2015

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Family, Siblings

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Children`s Literature, Religion & Spirituality

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Tribes

by Seth Godin

Publication year 2008

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Teamwork, Science & Technology, Perseverance, Fear

Tags Self-Improvement, Business & Economics, Psychology, Leadership, Psychology

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Two Roads

by Joseph Bruchac

Publication year 2018

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Politics & Government, Race, Friendship, Self Discovery, Justice, Family

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Children`s Literature, Arts & Culture, World History

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Two Wolves

by Tristan Bancks

Publication year 2014

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Fathers, Daughters & Sons, Family, Self Discovery, Justice, Good & Evil

Tags Realistic Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, Modern Classic Fiction

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Uglies

by Scott Westerfeld

Publication year 2005

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Beauty, Community, Truth & Lies

Tags Science Fiction, Children`s Literature, Romance, Action & Adventure, Fantasy

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is a young adult dystopian/science fiction novel and the first book of the Uglies Quartet. Published in 2005, Uglies was awarded the ALA 2006 Best Books for Young Adults award, the ALA 2006 Popular Paperback for Young Adults award, the Kirkus Editor’s Choice award, and the SLJ Best Book of the Year award. Uglies is followed by Pretties, Specials, and Extras.This guide uses the May 2011 Simon & Schuster BFYR paperback... Read Uglies Summary

Undefeated

by Steve Sheinkin

Publication year 2017

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Perseverance, Indigenous Identity, Colonialism

Tags US History, Sports, Diversity, Race & Racism, Children`s Literature, World History, Biography

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