American Literature

Get all the lesson plans and teaching helps you need to effectively teach Literature and Language Arts for the entire year.

The year is 1795, and deep in the jungles of Burma hundreds of tribesmen rush out to a clearing to greet a white-skinned stranger. Could he be the one to bring the book their forefathers lost so many centuries ago-the book that tells the secrets of Y'Wa, the Supreme God? Astonishingly, Yes!

Booker T. Washington was a devoutly Christian man who, as a former slave, treaded a dangerous middle ground in a time of racial backlash and disfranchisement.

During World War II, two students at a New England boarding school experience the dark, tragic side of adolescence. Intense, mesmerizing, and compelling coming-of-age tale. Powerful.

A powerful tale of one woman's life. Set in black communities in the Deep South in the early 19s, and told with a stunning, deeply moving, almost poetic prose. Hurston breathes life into her characters and lets them speak for themselves. A true literary classic.

The thrilling tale of Ender, a child genius in training to become Earth's top military commander. Aliens have already attacked twice. Now, Ender must complete his training and be ready to command against the final invasion. The tender-hearted child brilliantly maneuvers through training school and leads his young teammates through increasingly-complex war games. But one question looms in everyone's mind: Is Ender Wiggin smart enough to save the planet?

Continuing a quest to explain us to ourselves, best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell turns his inquiring mind to outliers —those individuals whose achievements surpass that of the masses. What, if anything, do they have in common? Can certain principles applied allow us to duplicate their success? A fascinating and provocative examination of human potential!

The true story of a young American missionary's courage and faith deep in the jungles of New Guinea during World War II, her imprisonment in a Japanese prison camp and miraculous survival.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Annie Dillard explores the natural world and human meaning in this compilation of deceptively simple essays reminiscent of Emily Dickinson and Thoreau.

First performed onstage in 1949, author Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize winning drama continues to ask its audience some of life's most important questions, not the least of these, what is success? Through Willy Loman, an aging salesman and seeming failure at his vocational endeavors, the author paints the portrait of an American dreamer and tragic hero ... which may ultimately help each of us face our own hopes, dreams and losses.

Five stories set in the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky, reveal the author's deep love of and concern for nature and the land. Through his writings, we learn about the cyclic rhythms of the agrarian world, and about the interconnectedness of farm families to their past, to one another and to the soil that supports their living.

Originally published in 1940, now completely revised and updated, How to Read a Book is "the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension." Learn how to achieve the various levels of reading — from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Discover different techniques for reading practical books, plays, poetry, history, science, mathematics, philosophy and more.

"Notice. Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. -By order of the Author."

In this masterful work of narrative history, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author with a gift for storytelling opens a window to the world, past and present, with a series of profiles about exceptional men and women whose lives reveal much that is timeless about the human condition.

It's the "little book" that can have a BIG impact on your writing! The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is a classic manual that remains relevant today, it conveys the principles of English style with clear and concise explanations and examples. From elementary rules of usage and composition, to the most commonly misused words and expressions, it's a must-have reference tool for every writer's bookshelf.

This collection offers for readers' delight the thirty-eight . Henry stories honored almost unanimously by anthologists and that represent, in variety and balance, the best work of America's favorite storyteller.

In 1940s Brooklyn, an accident throws Reuven Malther and Danny Saunders together. Despite their differences (Reuven is a secular Jew with an intellectual, Zionist father; Danny is the brilliant son and rightful heir to a Hasidic rebbe), the young men form a deep friendship.

Nobel Prize winner "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. "One of the greatest and most socially significant novels of the twentieth century."

Louise knows that she should be proud of her beautiful twin Caroline. But she is convinced that, ever since they were born, Caroline has done nothing but take from her: their parents' love, Louise's hopes for an education, even her best and only friend.

H.L. Mencken once wrote, "No romantic novel ever written in America, by man or woman, is one half so beautiful as My Antonia."

This book on poetry includes some of the best-loved English and American verse of all time -- Rudyard Kipling's "If," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith," John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and many other classics that ensure hours of enjoyment whether read to oneself or shared aloud with one's family. Includes authors' pictures.

Pulitzer Prize. One of the most popular American dramas of all time, Our Town recalls three time periods in the life of residents of a small Connecticut town. It calls us to focus on the "little things" of life.

Poe was perhaps the most melancholy and deeply brooding author in American history.

A study of the tension between public and private morality, The Scarlet Letter carved new paths in American literary technique and substance.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser is the bible for anyone who wants to learn how to write and write well. Before you put pen to paper, pick up the classic guide to nonfiction writing. Learn the fundamental principles and gain insights from a distinguished writer, editor and teacher.