The Story of Zahra by Hanan al-Shayk was first published in Arabic in 1980 during the Lebanese Civil War. An English edition was later published in 1986. Al-Shayk is a Lebanese writer who was born in Beirut and witnessed the beginning of the country’s civil war before escaping to London. The novel is set in Beirut prior to and in the beginning years of the conflict and follows the life of Zahra as she navigates... Read The Story of Zahra Summary

“The Story-Teller” is a humorous short story by British author Hector Hugh Munro, best known by the pen name Saki. The story first appeared in the Morning Post (a London newspaper) and was later collected in the 1914 anthology Beasts and Super-Beasts. Munro is perhaps best known for his short story “The Interlopers,” which is a common entry in high school reading lists and anthologies of British literature. “The Story-Teller” is also a popular and... Read The Storyteller Summary

the sun and her flowers (2017) is Rupi Kaur’s second poetry collection. According to her publisher Andrews McMeel, this and her previous collection milk and honey (2014) have together sold eight million copies and been translated into over 40 languages. the sun and her flowers appeals mainly to a young audience who may have first become acquainted with Kaur’s work on Instagram, the social media site where many of her poems, including those in the... Read the sun and her flowers Summary

Aiden Thomas’s young adult fantasy novel, The Sunbearer Trials (2022), is the first book in The Sunbearer duology. Set in a world inspired by Meso-American mythology and contemporary Mexican culture and geography, the story follows Teo, the transgender son of Quetzal, god of birds, who is chosen to compete in a deadly competition held every 10 years. In The Sunbearer Trials, demigods (known as semidioses) compete in a series of challenges until a winner emerges... Read The Sunbearer Trials Summary

The Tail of Emily Windsnap (2003) by Liz Kessler is the first in a series of children’s fantasy novels about a young half-mermaid girl struggling to accept her identity while fighting against the oppressive powers that forced her family apart. The Emily Windsnap books have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list and been translated into over 25 languages, with over 5 million copies sold worldwide. The Tail of Emily Windsnap was British author... Read The Tail of Emily Windsnap Summary

The Terrible Two, published in 2015, is a middle-grade novel that follows Miles Murphy’s attempts to become the predominant prankster at his new school, despite some competition from presumed teacher’s pet, Niles Sparks. The Terrible Two is the first book in a four-book series co-authored by Mac Barnett and Jory John. Barnett is the New York Times best-selling author of Extra Yarn, illustrated by Jon Klassen, which won the 2013 Caldecott Honor and the 2012... Read The Terrible Two Summary

“The Train from Rhodesia” is a short story by Nadine Gordimer, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. The story originally appeared in The Soft Voice of the Serpent, her first collection of stories, published in 1953 and used as the basis for this study guide.The story takes place in a train station in an unnamed African village. The station is surrounded by beggars and by vendors selling carved wooden animals. A stationmaster... Read The Train From Rhodesia Summary

The Truth About Forever (2004) is a young adult contemporary romance by Sarah Dessen. The novel follows Macy Queen, a teen girl struggling to heal from the tragic death of her father, only to find that the answers lie not in chasing perfection and control but embracing the unpredictable and chaotic joys of life. The Truth About Forever is Sarah Dessen’s sixth published novel and won the 2004 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Urban... Read The Truth About Forever Summary

In The Tyranny of Merit: Can We Find the Common Good?, Michael Sandel argues that the American experiment of wholesale meritocracy has failed, and that a new paradigm needs to be found and implemented if human flourishing is truly the goal of society. Sandel sets out in The Tyranny of Merit to dismantle a host of common misconceptions and assumptions about the system of meritocracy that has ruled American public life for more than a... Read The Tyranny of Merit Summary

Written by Rick Riordan, The Tyrant’s Tomb (2019) is a young-adult fantasy novel and the fourth installment in the five-part The Trials of Apollo series. The story follows the god Apollo, who has been banished to earth as the mortal teenager Lester Papadopoulos and is bound to obey the commands of the young Meg McCaffrey, the daughter of Demeter. In this installment, the two travel to Camp Jupiter, the Roman demigod training ground, in order... Read The Tyrant's Tomb Summary

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath: Transcribed from the Original Manuscripts at Smith College collects Sylvia Plath’s private diaries, tracing her development from a driven teenage writer into a major mid-20th-century literary voice. These surviving notebooks, dating 1950-1962, move through her college years, time abroad, early marriage to fellow poet Ted Hughes, and early motherhood. They offer the day-to-day texture of her thoughts, cycling through observation, self-rebuke, desire, ambition, and exhaustion. As Plath measures herself... Read The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath Summary

The Unteachables by Gordon Korman is a contemporary middle grade novel that follows a special class of “troubled” kids and their teacher at Greenwich Middle School as they learn what it means to be different, reform, and resolve a 27-year-old scandal.Published in 2019, the book won the Red Cedar Award (BC Young Readers' Choice for 2021) and was shortlisted for several others. Gordon Korman has written over 70 titles for teens and young readers, including... Read The Unteachables Summary

The Unworthy is a dystopian horror novel by Argentinian author Agustina Bazterrica. Translated from Spanish by Sarah Moses and published in English in 2025, the novel follows Bazterrica’s critically acclaimed Tender Is the Flesh, which is also a work of feminist, post-apocalyptic literary fiction. Told through fragmented diary entries, The Unworthy tells the story of an unnamed woman living in the isolated, sadistic cult known as the House of the Sacred Sisterhood. Society has collapsed... Read The Unworthy Summary

The Vanishing Half, published in June 2020, is the second novel by author Brit Bennett. It became a New York Times bestseller and was selected as a Good Morning America Book Club Pick. The novel explores the themes of female family bonds and the Black experience in America. Bennett covered similar material in her debut novel, The Mothers (2016), which also became a New York Times bestseller. HBO has purchased the film rights to The... Read The Vanishing Half Summary

Widely considered the first true Western novel, The Virginian, published in 1902 by Owen Wister, is historical fiction. The saga of the Wyoming Territory of the 1870s centers on a young cowboy known only as the Virginian, who uses intelligence, toughness, and integrity to help tame the land, vanquish its worst criminals, and win the heart of a headstrong woman. One of the 50 biggest-selling novels of all time, The Virginian was reprinted in 2009;... Read The Virginian Summary

The Viscount Who Loved Me is the second installment in Julia Quinn’s series about the Bridgerton family. The novels are set in Regency-era London, England, and each entry in the series follows a Bridgerton sibling’s romantic journey. The Viscount Who Loved Me focuses on Anthony Bridgerton, the eldest son and Viscount, as he finally decides to leave his bachelor days behind and declare his intentions to marry.The novel was recently adapted as the second season... Read The Viscount Who Loved Me Summary

“The Vision of Sir Launfal” is an epic narrative poem by American poet James Russell Lowell. This very popular poem was published in 1848 and is considered one of the poet’s best works, while many of his later works were less well-received. The poem is based on the legend of the medieval English King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Sir Launfal was King Arthur’s steward. Despite the original English setting, Lowell’s poem contains a great... Read The Vision of Sir Launfal Summary

The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free (2024) by Pete Hegseth examines the ideological and cultural shifts within the US military, arguing that “woke” policies, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and political overreach have compromised combat readiness and traditional warrior values. Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, draws on his military experience as well as his platform as... Read The War on Warriors Summary

The Wayward Bus, published in 1947, was American author John Steinbeck’s 16th book. The Wayward Bus is a character-driven narrative that follows a bus journey to the fictional San Juan de la Cruz, California. The preparations and the journey itself keep characters in the throes of internal crises, which they are eager to keep hidden from the other passengers. In this novel, multiple characters grapple with their pasts and the unpredictability of their futures. The... Read The Wayward Bus Summary

Voiced within the lines of Claude McKay’s 1919 sonnet “The White House” is the smoldering rage and bitter discontent of a generation of Black Americans compelled to live and work in an America that excluded them. Black Americans were routinely denied even the most basic civil rights through a coordinated system of harsh and discriminatory local, state, and federal laws known collectively as Jim Crow legislation. Black citizens were at once Americans and not Americans... Read The White House Summary