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.

Wildfire

by Rodman Philbrick

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Friendship, Perseverance, Environment, Climate, Self Discovery

Tags Action & Adventure, Survival Fiction, Natural Disaster, Children`s Literature, Horror & Suspense, Realistic Fiction

... Read Wildfire Summary

Wild Wings

by Gill Lewis

Publication year 2011

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Nature Versus Nurture, Love, Animals, Community, Family

Tags Animals, Realistic Fiction, Action & Adventure, Grief & Death, Children`s Literature, Science & Nature

... Read Wild Wings Summary

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Publication year 1795

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Love, Art

Tags Philosophy, German Literature, Coming of Age

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship (1795-96) is a foundational bildungsroman (novel of education) that follows a merchant’s son, Wilhelm, as he tries to exchange bourgeois security for a life shaped by the theater. The novel moves from private romance and theatrical apprenticeship into a wider world of traveling performers, aristocratic patronage, and secretive educational networks and explores themes of The Gradual Formation of Character Through Experience, The Tension Between Artistic Aspiration and Bourgeois... Read Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship Summary

Winesburg, Ohio

by Sherwood Anderson

Publication year 1919

Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction

Themes Community, Loneliness, Memory, Regret, Coming of Age, Place, Family, Social Class, Religion & Spirituality

Tags Classic Fiction, American Literature, Modernism, US History, World History

Originally published in 1919, Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life, is a short story cycle by American author Sherwood Anderson. Anderson drew inspiration from the Ohio town of Clyde, where he spent his childhood. By the late 20th century, many scholars considered Winesburg, Ohio a seminal text of American Modernist literature.Winesburg, Ohio focuses on the people who inhabit the eponymous town at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Among them... Read Winesburg, Ohio Summary

Women

by Alice Walker

Publication year 1973

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Mothers

Tags Parenting, African American Literature, Women`s Studies, Gender & Feminism, World History, Arts & Culture, Politics & Government, Religion & Spirituality

... Read Women Summary

Women In Love

by D. H. Lawrence

Publication year 1920

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, Sexual Identity, Femininity, Masculinity

Tags Romance, Classic Fiction, Relationships, British Literature, World History

IntroductionWomen in Love by D. H. Lawrence was written from 1913-1917 and published in America in 1920, though it wasn’t published in Britain until 1921. The novel’s publishing was delayed due to its prequel, The Rainbow, being banned. The Rainbow and Women in Love were originally intended to be two parts of one novel, but the publisher ultimately decided to publish them separately. Both novels feature conversations about sexuality that were considered explicit in their... Read Women In Love Summary

Women of Trachis

by Sophocles

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Masculinity, Fate

Tags Classic Fiction, Tragedy, Ancient Greece, Religion & Spirituality, Dramatic Literature, Classical Period, Fantasy

Women of Trachis is a classical Greek tragedy composed by Sophocles (circa 496-406 BCE). The play’s precise dating is unknown, but it is believed to have been produced sometime during the 440s, among Sophocles’ earliest surviving plays, and to have been performed at the City Festival of Dionysus, held in March in Athens. The play itself subverts traditional heroic themes, notably the homecoming hero, the unknowability of the gods, and the importance of pity.Sophocles is... Read Women of Trachis Summary

Young

by Anne Sexton

Publication year 1962

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Appearance & Reality, Family, Religion & Spirituality, Conflict

Tags Lyric Poem, Confessional, Science & Nature

... Read Young Summary

Zadig

by Voltaire

Publication year 1747

Genre Novella, Fiction

Themes Fate, Good & Evil, Religion & Spirituality

Tags Philosophy, Life-Inspired Fiction, Classic Fiction

... Read Zadig Summary

Zoobreak

by Gordon Korman

Publication year 2009

Genre Novel, Fiction

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

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Action & Adventure, Humor, Animals, Children`s Literature, Realistic Fiction

... Read Zoobreak Summary