Step One:
SIGN UP FOR AN AUTHOR IN
CLASS ON ___________
You’ll first have to
choose a writer. The only requirements are:
---he or she needs to be
an American writer
---he or she CAN be a
writer we have studied in class; however, you can not choose a work that we
have studied in class (must chose different piece)
CAUTION: If you pick
someone that is obscure, it is going to be difficult for you to find research
relevant to your writer and his or her work. If you want to make it easy on
yourself, choose a writer that is well-known, celebrated, renowned, and
recognized. Avoid unknown, unheard of, new writers.
Step Two:
Second, you will have to
choose a work by that writer. It can NOT be one we have or will read in this
class. You may NOT choose a piece that you have studied in another class.
Requirements (all works
must be approved by your teacher):
---one novel by the writer
---a play by the writer
---a collection of his or
her poems (10 -20)
---a collection of his or
her short stories (5-10)
---a collection of his or
her speeches, sermons, or lectures
---a collection of his or
her nonfiction works
After you have completed
these two steps, you will need to be approved by your teacher before you begin
reading. No one in the class can chose the same author.
Return to the “What is
American Literature?” page for ideas.
Ms.
McArdle recommends...
Alice Walker
- The Color Purple*
Sandra
Cisneros - The
House on Mango
Street
Willa Cather
- My
Antonia
Ken Kesey - One
Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*
Malcolm X - The
Autobiography of Malcolm X*
Stephen King
- Carrie*
Herman
Melville - Moby-Dick
Mark Twain -
Huckleberry Finn
Henry James -
The Turn of the Screw
Stephen Crane
- The Red Badge of Courage
Ray Bradbury
- Fahrenheit
451 (if you did not read in 9th grade)
Margaret
Atwood - The
Handmaid's Tale
Pat Conroy - The
Prince of Tides
Richard Adams
- Watership
Down
Barbara
Kingsolver - The
Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees
Edith Wharton
- The Age of Innocence
Sylvia Plath
- The
Bell
Jar*
Toni Morrison
- Beloved
Chuck
Palahniuk - Fight
Club*
F. Scott
Fitzgerald - The
Beautiful and the Damned, Tender is the Night
Maya Angleou
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings*
Amy Tan - The
Joy Luck Club
Anne Rice - Interview
With a Vampire*
Jack Kerouac
- On
the Road
Hunter S.
Thompson - Fear
and Loathing in Las
Vegas
*
Richard
Wright - Invisible
Man
Ernest
Hemingway - The
Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms
John
Steinbeck - The
Grapes of Wrath
Margaret
Mitchell - Gone
With the Wind
* May contain
some graphic scenes that students/parents would find offensive
* Check with
your parents to make sure you have made an appropriate choice