School Book List Titles

Browse a Collection of texts frequently assigned in literature classrooms, including well-studied classics and contemporary literature. Representitive of the breadth of the literary tradition, the School Book List Titles Collection features texts for readers of all age levels, from children's literature to plays and novels centered on adult themes.

Moll Flanders

by Daniel Defoe

Publication year 1722

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Femininity, Good & Evil, Marriage, Social Class, Colonialism, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies, Gender Identity

Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, British Literature, World History

Published in 1722, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe tells the life story of a woman who carves her own path through late 17th-century England and North America. Like Defoe’s first novel, Robinson Crusoe, this work also tells the tale of a singular individual who overcomes adversity—in her case, extreme poverty—to become considerably wealthy. Moll Flanders is a wife, a thief, a sex worker, and an impresario. She is... Read Moll Flanders Summary

Mother Courage and Her Children

by Bertolt Brecht

Publication year 1939

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes War, Mothers, Power & Greed

Tags Drama, German Literature, Education, Education, World History, Dramatic Literature, Classic Fiction

Mother Courage and Her Children (1939) is a play by German author Bertolt Brecht (1898-1980). It tells the story of Anna Fierling, nicknamed Mother Courage, a peddler who travels across Europe during the Thirty Years’ War. It is a drama that questions the justification of warfare, revealing the hypocrisy of a war fought on religious grounds. As the war unfolds, Mother Courage struggles to keep her business afloat and her three children safe. The play... Read Mother Courage and Her Children Summary

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

by Robert C. O'Brien

Publication year 1971

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Community, Science & Technology, Grief, Aging, Death, Place, Friendship, Safety & Danger, Mothers, Animals, Family, The Past, Future, Education, Perseverance, Conflict, Hope

Tags Fantasy, Children`s Literature, Classic Fiction, Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, Animals, Technology, Grief & Death, Agriculture, Parenting, Science & Nature, Philosophy, Sociology

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is a children’s science fiction novel written in 1971 by Robert C. O’Brien. It tells the story of a field mouse whose son becomes ill as moving day approaches, so she enlists the help of a group of highly intelligent experimental rats for help. Robert C. O’Brien was inspired to write the Rats of NIMH after a visit to the National Institute of Mental Health’s experimental rat compound... Read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Summary

My Antonia

by Willa Cather

Publication year 1918

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Memory, Coming of Age, Immigration

Tags American Literature, Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction

IntroductionMy Ántonia, first published in 1918, is the third novel in what reviewers sometimes refer to as “The Prairie Trilogy” or “The Great Plains Trilogy” by celebrated American author Willa Cather (1873-1947). The other two books, O Pioneers! (1913) and The Song of the Lark (1915) also feature strong female characters from immigrant families in a Great Plains setting but are otherwise unrelated. My Ántonia is considered one of Cather’s most outstanding novels for its... Read My Antonia Summary

My Father's Dragon

by Ruth Stiles Gannett

Publication year 1948

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Animals, Childhood & Youth, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance

Tags Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature, Classic Fiction, Animals

In Ruth Stiles Gannett’s classic children’s adventure, My Father’s Dragon (1948), nine-year-old Elmer Elevator runs away to rescue a baby dragon held captive by the animals of Wild Island. Elmer must navigate a dense jungle and outwit fearsome adversaries, including tigers, a rhinoceros, and a lion in his expedition and, hopefully, realize his own dream of flying. As Elmer follows his quest, Gannett explores themes of courage, cleverness, and social sensitivity. My Father’s Dragon received... Read My Father's Dragon Summary

Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

by Edith Hamilton

Publication year 1942

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Literature, Justice, Art

Tags Mythology, Classical Period, Education, Education, World History, Fantasy, Classic Fiction, Religion & Spirituality

Originally published in 1942, Mythology is primarily a compendium of Greek and Roman myths, with a brief final section on Norse mythology, written by American educator and classicist Edith Hamilton. Hamilton engages with the myths as both a storyteller and a literary critic. She organizes and retells the myths narrated in ancient sources, and she assesses those ancient sources as works of literature. Her approach is grounded in the assumptions that Greek and Roman civilizations... Read Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes Summary

Nana

by Émile Zola, Transl. Gerhard Krüger

Publication year 1880

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Gender Identity, Social Class, Nation, Fame, Beauty, Power & Greed, Femininity, Masculinity

Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Love & Sexuality, Realism, Realistic Fiction, Naturalism, Social Class, European History, French Literature

... Read Nana Summary

Nathan the Wise

by Gotthold Lessing

Publication year 1779

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Family, Power & Greed

Tags Historical Drama, Religion & Spirituality, Relationships, Elizabethan Era, Dramatic Literature, Philosophy, Philosophy, Classic Fiction

... Read Nathan the Wise Summary

Nature

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Publication year 1836

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Beauty, Literature

Tags Philosophy, Science & Nature, American Literature, Transcendentalism, Education, Education, World History, Philosophy, Classic Fiction

... Read Nature Summary

Nausea

by Jean-Paul Sartre

Publication year 1938

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Fear, Loneliness, Mental Health, Self Discovery

Tags Existentialism, Philosophy, French Literature, Classic Fiction, World History, Philosophy

Nausea is a philosophical novel by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Originally published in 1938, the novel was first translated to English in 1949. Nausea takes place in the fictional French city of Bouville (“Mud Town”) and follows the day-to-day life of the reclusive historian Antoine Roquentin. Antoine lives completely alone, without friends or family, as he researches and writes a book on an 18th-century French aristocrat, the Marquis de Rollebon. Antoine’s daily interactions with... Read Nausea Summary

New from Here

by Kelly Yang

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Forgiveness, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Hope, Love, Shame & Pride, Appearance & Reality, Environment, Place, Equality, Justice, Order & Chaos, Power & Greed, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Science & Technology, Safety & Danger, Race, Mothers, Siblings, Daughters & Sons, Fathers, Friendship, Marriage, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Social Class, Community, Nation, Regret

Tags Race & Racism, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read New from Here Summary

News from Nowhere

by William Morris

Publication year 1890

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Future, Politics & Government, Beauty

Tags Science Fiction, Classic Fiction, Politics & Government, Victorian Period, World History, Philosophy, Philosophy, Victorian Era

News From Nowhere by William Morris (1834-1896) is a work of speculative science fiction and socialist utopian imagination. The narrator, William Guest, is mysteriously transported from 1890 to the 21st century. As he travels through a version of London that is both familiar and strange, he records his impressions of the socialist society that has come to replace the industrialized, capitalist one of his own time. Through conversations with a number of 21st-century Londoners, Guest... Read News from Nowhere Summary

Nicholas Nickleby

by Charles Dickens

Publication year 1839

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Justice, Power & Greed

Tags Classic Fiction, Victorian Period, Historical Fiction, British Literature, World History, Victorian Era

Nicholas Nickleby is Victorian writer Charles Dickens’s third novel. Published through serialization in 1838, it first appeared in its novel form in 1839. The novel has been adapted for the stage and for the screen several times, the first theatrical version appearing in 1838, before the novel was even finished. Dickens wrote Nicholas Nickleby with the intention of exposing the abuses of for-profit boarding schools in England. In focusing on the titular hero, Nicholas, Dickens’s... Read Nicholas Nickleby Summary