Novels
Absent, Betool Khedairi (2007):
Set in Baghdad during the 1990s, Absent is the story of Dalal, a young Iraqi woman, her family and neighbors as the struggle to survive the crippling bombings and international sanctions that make a normal life nearly impossible. Through Dalal, the author examines the devastating affects the absence of civil order can have on the human spirit. (Adapted from the front flap of the first English translation, 2005.)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chap. 21 & 22, Mark Twain (1885):
One of America’s greatest and most frequently banned novels, Twain’s famous story of youthful Huck and his friend Jim, the run-away slave, addresses so many universal themes that it should be required reading for all freedom-loving Americans. For teachers pressed for time, Chapters 21 and 22 allow the reader to see, through Huck’s eyes, the consequences of a world in which the rule of law is defined by individual will and mob justice. (9-12, 5.2)
Animal Farm, George Orwell (1945):
Orwell’s classic fable about farm animals rebelling against their human keepers, shows how a revolution with good intentions quickly falls victim to the despotic pigs who pervert the revolution’s goals and original motto that “All animals are created equal” to “All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Inspired by the Russian Revolution, Orwell expands his tale to attack the evils of all “pig-headed” totalitarian regimes. (9-12, 9.0)
Before We Were Free, Julia Alvarez (2004):
Set in the Dominican Republic of the early 1960s, Alvarez’s award-winning novel tells the story of a failed revolution against the infamous dictator Trujillo. Seen through the eyes of Anita de la Torre, the novel’s 12 year old narrator, the story captures the personal and collective fear and sense of confusion that living under a dictator and his secret police create. Sharing many similarities with Anne Frank’s experiences in Nazi Germany, Anita provides a child’s insight to the horror and frustration of freedom denied and demonstrates the strength of the human spirit to survive under such conditions. (6-8, 6.5)
Benito Cereno, Herman Melville (1856):
A perfect companion to the film Amistad, Melville bases his gripping story on a slave mutiny on board an eighteenth century Spanish ship transporting 300 slaves to South America. Told from the perspective of Captain Amasa Delano, a New Englander, we learn how Benito Cereno, the young commander of the ship, and his crew suddenly found themselves “slaves” to their human cargo as a result of destructive storms, disease, and subsequent rebellion. Distraught and dying, Cereno manages to escape his ship and enlist Delano’s assistance in subduing the rebellious slaves and Babo, their leader. In the end, Babo is executed, the remaining slaves returned to bondage, and Cereno enters a monastery where he dies soon after. Blinded by his own Protestant beliefs and unspoken Catholic prejudice, and seeing only the visible tragedy of Cereno and his white crewmen, Delano fails to see the greater tragedy of the situation – the very real horror of slavery and the social and moral disease it represents. (9-12)
Billy Budd, Herman Melville (1891)*:
Melville’s last testament to what he called “the dark necessity of evil,” this complex novella, set on an 18th century British war ship, is simply the story of naturally innocent Billy Budd’s fatal conflict with the “innately depraved” John Claggart. Provoked by Claggart’s false charge of mutiny, Billy accidentally kills the diabolic master-at-arms in front of Captain Vere, the ship’s commander. Left defenseless by a speech impediment, Billy cannot defend himself and is summarily hanged. Billy, Claggart, and Vere become symbols through which Melville raises questions about the nature of good and evil, duty to the law and duty to one’s moral scruples, and life’s ambiguities and injustices. (9-12, 12.0)
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (1932):
Many readers in 1932 found Huxley’s portrait of an Edenesque future where personal freedom is sacrificed for “COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY” terrifying and apocalyptic. Today, however, his world of social conditioning, mind controlling drugs, eugenics, and a caste system has been realized – a mass media market that shapes everything from how we vote to what we buy; medications to alter body, mind, and personality to our liking; genetic science that clones animals; robotic engineering that reduces the labor force; nano-technology that makes communication faster than we can process; and a widening gap between haves and have-nots. Now, as in 1932,Brave New World reminds us, as Huxley said in Brave New World Revisited, “The subject of freedom and its enemies is enormous…” (Huxley, 1958). (9-12, 9.0)
The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier (1986):
“This novel recounts the experiences of a boy…who refuses to sell chocolate bars for a fundraiser. With the tacit support of a teacher, he is subjected to bullying in and out of the classroom. This novel raises vital issues about the duty of a society to protect nonconformists, and examines the consequences to an individual who does not receive that support” (Frey and Fisher, 2007). (9-12, 10.8)
The Confessions of Nat Turner, William Styron (1967)*:
Set in 1831, Styron’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of the only effective slave rebellion in American history. Nat Turner, an educated slave preacher, leads the bloody revolt that results in his capture and subsequent execution. His story, recounted from his prison cell as he awaits his execution, reveals in harsh detail his life as a slave and the suffering, inhumanity, and hope that led him and his followers on the tragic and futile uprising to gain their freedom. (9-12, 8.5)
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (1953)*:
Fahrenheit 451, the temperature at which books burn. What happens when the government bans books and makes all the decisions for the people? This classic story of a dystopian society continues to raise important questions about the relationship between the individual and government, censorship, intellectual and personal freedom, and the power of the human spirit to find ways to keep freedom alive. (9-12, 10.0)
The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993):
“In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community’s Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. …Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price” (www.amazon.com/Giver-Lois-Lowry/dp/0440237688) (7-12)
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (1939):
Set during the Great Depression, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel recounts the odyssey of the Joad family from their dust-bowl Oklahoma farm to the migrants’ promise land of California. Along the way they encounter a series of hardships and family tragedies that leave them defeated but strong in their belief that life goes on, illustrated when Rose of Sharon offers her body’s milk to save a starving man. Through the diverse characters and their unending hardships, Steinbeck examines, sometimes scathingly, American justice, personal property rights, the role of the government in protecting those who can’t protect themselves, and the efficacy of a capitalistic economy. (9-12)
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1985)*:
“Set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the novel presents a totalitarian theocracy that has forced a certain class of fertile women to produce babies for elite barren couples. These "handmaids," who are denied all rights and are severely beaten if they are uncooperative, are reduced to state property. Through the voice of Offred, a handmaid who mingles memories of her life before the revolution with her rebellious activities under the new regime, Atwood has created a terrifying future based on actual events.”
www.randomhouse.com/resources/bookgroup/handmaidstale_bgc.html) (9-12, 5.4)
How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff (2004):
Set in an England of the future, Rosoff’s story follows teenage protagonist Daisy as she struggles to survive an invasion of her country that destroys all personal freedoms. “Her struggle to define what she expects of herself can provide students with insights into the responsibilities of personal freedom when it exists at the expense of others” (Frey and Fisher, 2007). (6-8, 8.5)
Intruder in the Dust, William Faulkner (1948):
Lucas Beauchamp, an elderly black man, is falsely accused of murdering a white store owner. Defiant and too proud to offer a defense, Lucas faces vigilante justice until Chick Mallison, a white teenager; his lawyer uncle; and Miss Habersham, a 70-year old white lady; take up his cause and uncover the real murderer, the dead man’s brother. Suggestive of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill A Mockingbird, Faulkner examines the loss of innocence, the near deadly affects of racism, and the courage to defend the rights of others in the face of bigotry and ignorance. (9-12)
The Jungle, Upton Sinclair (1906):
Young immigrant Jurgis Rudkus has come to America to create a new and better life for himself and his family. Working in one of Chicago’s infamous factory slaughter houses, he finds only inhumane working conditions, oppressive poverty, disease, and despair. Sinclair’s tragic story of his young protagonist’s fate and the public indignation it created paved the way for the Pure Food and Drug Act, about which Theodore Roosevelt commented, “The latter [the meat processors] are better off under the law than they were without it.” The Jungle reflects the power of a dedicated social crusader to impact the government to create laws for the common good of all citizens. (9-12, 8.8)
The Last Town on Earth, Thomas Mullen (2006):
Set against the background of America’s 1918 flu epidemic, Mullen’s novel is a tale of morality in a time of upheaval and a challenge to the assumptions behind the usual critiques of capitalism and democracy. (RHI Magazine, Vol. 2, Issue No. 1, 2007)
Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands, Susan Carol McCarthy (2002):
“This novel is a glimpse into the world of 12-year-old Reesa and her family, a Northern family living in Central Florida during the early ’50s. Based on actual events, the story covers some of the atrocities committed by the KKK in Florida in 1951, beginning with the brutal slaying of Marvin, a dear friend of Reesa’s family, who is African-American, and who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. …Determined to bring Marvin’s murderers to justice, Reesa’s family sets off a string of events that eventually lead to a federal investigation and federal trial of many of the town’s KKK members” (Elaine S. Reitz, 2002). (9-12, 6.0)
Left for Dead, Peter Nelson (2002):
“This book recalls the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis at the end of World War II, the U.S. Navy cover-up and unfair court martial of the ship’s captain, and how a young boy helped the survivors set the record straight fifty-five years later.” (www.arbookfind.com/bookdetail.aspx?q=59211&l=EN&slid=87031771) (9-12, 8.3)
A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines (1993):
Set in a small Cajun community, this national award winning novel focuses on the relationship forged between Jefferson, a young black man unjustly sentenced to hang for a murder he did not commit, and Grant Wiggins, a black teacher who struggles to impart his learning and pride to Jefferson before his death. A Lesson Before Dying is a somber yet hopeful story about patience, individual dignity, courage, and personal belief. As Grant Wiggins questions his own belief in the system that sentenced Jefferson to die, he realizes as the hour of execution passes that only in belief is the mind truly free; and “Only when the mind is free has the body a chance to be free.”
(6-12, 4.4)
Lord of the Flies, William Golding (1955):
A group of boys, survivors of a plane crash, must establish order out of chaos. As natural leaders emerge and try to create social stability, the group slowly replaces civilization’s rules and orderliness with tribal ritual and finally primitive savagery. A popular adventure story for teenagers, Lord of the Flies is highly suggestive in its characters’ loss of innocence, the question of good and evil, and the consequences of living in a world with no controls. (7-12, 5.0)
Monster, Walter Dean Myers (1999):
The prosecutor calls Steve Harmon, the sixteen-year old protagonist, a monster for committing murder. Steve realizes his own defense attorney thinks he’s guilty, but Steve insists that he is innocent. Myers presents Monster in the form of Steve’s handwritten journal with alternating sections of the screen play Steve writes in his head about his incarceration and trial. This technique creates enough ambiguity that the reader is left to wonder if Steve is an innocent victim of circumstance or truly a monster. (9-12, 7.1)
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949):
Like Brave New World, Orwell’s novel depicts a dystopian society in which Winston Smith and Julia, his lover, struggle desperately to evade the “Thought Police” and the “Party” that seeks to destroy all human feelings of love, individuality, and personal freedom. While seemingly a hopeless story, Orwell suggests that “hope can be realized only by recognizing…the danger of a society of automatons who will have lost every trace of individuality, of love, of critical thought, and yet who will not be aware of it because of ‘doublethink’” (Erich Fromm, 1961). (9-12, 8.2)
One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, (1962):
Based on Solzhenitsyn’s experiences in a Russian gulag, this novel fictionalizes that experience through the character of Ivan Denisovich, who is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to ten years of hard labor. Covering a single day in his prison life, we see the daily monotony and tedium of Ivan’s existence, an existence that demeans and dehumanizes every prisoner and the men who guard them. More than a simple attack against Soviet oppression, Solzhenitsyn’s story embraces the very essence of what it means to be human and the lengths to which people will go to maintain their personal dignity and sense of self. (9-12, 9.0)
The Ox-Bow Incident, Walter Van Tilburg Clark (1940):
A classic western tale of mob justice, The Ox-Bow Incident describes the events surrounding the capture and lynching of three wranglers falsely accused of stealing cattle. Against all their protests and a few objections from some members of the posse who want to wait for more evidence and a proper trial, stronger, more violent voices prevail; and, in the end, the three men are hanged. Too late, the posse discovers that the men were innocent. Clark’s novel goes far beyond the typical western tale of good vs. evil. In this situation good and evil are ambiguous concepts and the very nature of justice as attainable is questioned. (9-12, 7.0)
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998):
The Poisonwood Bible tells the story of Nathan Price, an egocentric, evangelical Baptist, who takes his wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo in 1959 to establish a mission. Narrated by his wife and daughters, the story reflects the tragic consequences of an abusive husband and father, the clash of fundamentalist Christianity and the native faith of the Congolese villagers, and the political, economic, and social conflict between colonialism and an emerging spirit of democratic nationalism. (9-12, 7.9)
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (1960):
Seen through the eyes of young Scout Finch, Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel tells the powerful story of her father’s defense of Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of assaulting a white girl in a small southern town. Atticus Finch realizes Tom’s innocence, but faced by the town’s heritage of racial prejudice, his defense proves futile and fatal for his client. As Scout, Jem, her brother, and their friend Dill watch events unfold, they learn that there is more to Atticus than they ever suspected. Not only do they learn to appreciate the depths of his fatherly love, they also see their father become the protector of society from itself as he faces down a lynch mob and, with calm dignity become the guardian of the rule of law. His closing argument to the jury shakes our collective conscience by reminding us that the rule of law and the protection it affords all citizens, while flawed, as is any human institution, is vital to society’s survival. (9-12, 8.1)
The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850):
On the surface, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth would seem to be a simple tale of crime and punishment. However, the story is much more than this as generations of readers have learned, for Hawthorne explores not just a crime of passion and the public punishment that brands Hester with her scarlet A, but questions the very nature of the law that imposes the punishment. He also raises questions about the dichotomy between the public and private self, internal passion and external convention, vengeance, and hidden guilt. (9-12, 11.7)
Seven Days in May, Fletcher Knebel and Charles Waldo Bailey (1962)*:
At the height of the Cold War, an American President more concerned with conscience than popularity, negotiates a controversial treaty with the Soviet Union. As the beleaguered president’s approval rating plummets, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and other senior officers, convinced that the president’s actions threaten national security, plan acoup d’etat to seize the government. Seven Days in May serves as a cautionary tale for all citizens who assume that the rule of law will never allow such events to happen in America. (9-12)
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (1859):
Dickens’ tale of life in London and Paris during the French Revolution examines the irony of rebelling against one form of tyranny only to have it replaced by tyranny in the guise of freedom. (9-12, 9.0)
The Tequila Worm, Viola Canales (2005):
Sofia, an adolescent Latina, “wins a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school in another city. Her experiences with her classmates are colored by differences in social class, language, and culture. …Her story mirrors the experiences of so many young people in the U.S. who must redefine personal freedom and identity as they move between worlds” (Frey and Fisher, 2007). (6-8, 5.4)
Un Lun Dun, China Miéville (2007):
Miéville creates a magical world in which her main characters, Zanna and Deeba face surrealistic creatures as they seek to overcome economic and environmental problems that have timely references to the world of today. The characters, setting, and action raise important and relevant questions about the nature of personal and social progress. (Publishers Weekly vol. 254 issue 7 p. 87 (c) 02/12/2007) (6-8)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852):
Abraham Lincoln described Stowe’s novel as “the book that made” the Civil War. While historians may question its accurate picture of the antebellum South and literary critics may debate its artistic qualities, no one can deny the novel’s contributions to the abolitionist movement of its day or the lasting impact on American culture: Uncle Tom’s name has become both a reminder of the cruelty the oppressed Black race has faced for generations and, simultaneously and ironically, a denigrating label for those members of the race who obsequiously accept a role as second-class citizens; Simon LeGree, on the other hand, has come to symbolize not just the stereotypical cruel overseer of the southern plantation system, but the very embodiment of human depravity and injustice. (9-12, 7.5)
Veil of Roses, Laura Fitzgerald (2007):
This compelling novel follows Tamila Soroush, a spirited young woman from the confines of Iran to the intoxicating freedom of America – where she discovers not only an enticing new country but the roots of her own independence. (RHI Magazine,Vol. 2, Issue No. 1, 2007)
We, Yevgeny Zamyatin (1921):
Set in a dystopian society of the future in which all personal freedoms have been eliminated, We explores “the individual vs. the social order, a celebration of the importance of imagination, and ultimately, a warning regarding the dehumanizing consequences of imagination’s destruction” (www.greemanreview.com/book/book_zamyatin_we.html). In his treatment of these themes, Zamyatin’s novel precedes the work of Huxley, Orwell, and Bradbury and serves as the perfect complement to these authors’ works.
NOTE: (*) Teachers should use discretion in selecting these works for middle school students because of the complex literary style, advanced reading level, and/or age-appropriateness of the content. Remember, only teach what you have read.
Set in Baghdad during the 1990s, Absent is the story of Dalal, a young Iraqi woman, her family and neighbors as the struggle to survive the crippling bombings and international sanctions that make a normal life nearly impossible. Through Dalal, the author examines the devastating affects the absence of civil order can have on the human spirit. (Adapted from the front flap of the first English translation, 2005.)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chap. 21 & 22, Mark Twain (1885):
One of America’s greatest and most frequently banned novels, Twain’s famous story of youthful Huck and his friend Jim, the run-away slave, addresses so many universal themes that it should be required reading for all freedom-loving Americans. For teachers pressed for time, Chapters 21 and 22 allow the reader to see, through Huck’s eyes, the consequences of a world in which the rule of law is defined by individual will and mob justice. (9-12, 5.2)
Animal Farm, George Orwell (1945):
Orwell’s classic fable about farm animals rebelling against their human keepers, shows how a revolution with good intentions quickly falls victim to the despotic pigs who pervert the revolution’s goals and original motto that “All animals are created equal” to “All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Inspired by the Russian Revolution, Orwell expands his tale to attack the evils of all “pig-headed” totalitarian regimes. (9-12, 9.0)
Before We Were Free, Julia Alvarez (2004):
Set in the Dominican Republic of the early 1960s, Alvarez’s award-winning novel tells the story of a failed revolution against the infamous dictator Trujillo. Seen through the eyes of Anita de la Torre, the novel’s 12 year old narrator, the story captures the personal and collective fear and sense of confusion that living under a dictator and his secret police create. Sharing many similarities with Anne Frank’s experiences in Nazi Germany, Anita provides a child’s insight to the horror and frustration of freedom denied and demonstrates the strength of the human spirit to survive under such conditions. (6-8, 6.5)
Benito Cereno, Herman Melville (1856):
A perfect companion to the film Amistad, Melville bases his gripping story on a slave mutiny on board an eighteenth century Spanish ship transporting 300 slaves to South America. Told from the perspective of Captain Amasa Delano, a New Englander, we learn how Benito Cereno, the young commander of the ship, and his crew suddenly found themselves “slaves” to their human cargo as a result of destructive storms, disease, and subsequent rebellion. Distraught and dying, Cereno manages to escape his ship and enlist Delano’s assistance in subduing the rebellious slaves and Babo, their leader. In the end, Babo is executed, the remaining slaves returned to bondage, and Cereno enters a monastery where he dies soon after. Blinded by his own Protestant beliefs and unspoken Catholic prejudice, and seeing only the visible tragedy of Cereno and his white crewmen, Delano fails to see the greater tragedy of the situation – the very real horror of slavery and the social and moral disease it represents. (9-12)
Billy Budd, Herman Melville (1891)*:
Melville’s last testament to what he called “the dark necessity of evil,” this complex novella, set on an 18th century British war ship, is simply the story of naturally innocent Billy Budd’s fatal conflict with the “innately depraved” John Claggart. Provoked by Claggart’s false charge of mutiny, Billy accidentally kills the diabolic master-at-arms in front of Captain Vere, the ship’s commander. Left defenseless by a speech impediment, Billy cannot defend himself and is summarily hanged. Billy, Claggart, and Vere become symbols through which Melville raises questions about the nature of good and evil, duty to the law and duty to one’s moral scruples, and life’s ambiguities and injustices. (9-12, 12.0)
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (1932):
Many readers in 1932 found Huxley’s portrait of an Edenesque future where personal freedom is sacrificed for “COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY” terrifying and apocalyptic. Today, however, his world of social conditioning, mind controlling drugs, eugenics, and a caste system has been realized – a mass media market that shapes everything from how we vote to what we buy; medications to alter body, mind, and personality to our liking; genetic science that clones animals; robotic engineering that reduces the labor force; nano-technology that makes communication faster than we can process; and a widening gap between haves and have-nots. Now, as in 1932,Brave New World reminds us, as Huxley said in Brave New World Revisited, “The subject of freedom and its enemies is enormous…” (Huxley, 1958). (9-12, 9.0)
The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier (1986):
“This novel recounts the experiences of a boy…who refuses to sell chocolate bars for a fundraiser. With the tacit support of a teacher, he is subjected to bullying in and out of the classroom. This novel raises vital issues about the duty of a society to protect nonconformists, and examines the consequences to an individual who does not receive that support” (Frey and Fisher, 2007). (9-12, 10.8)
The Confessions of Nat Turner, William Styron (1967)*:
Set in 1831, Styron’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of the only effective slave rebellion in American history. Nat Turner, an educated slave preacher, leads the bloody revolt that results in his capture and subsequent execution. His story, recounted from his prison cell as he awaits his execution, reveals in harsh detail his life as a slave and the suffering, inhumanity, and hope that led him and his followers on the tragic and futile uprising to gain their freedom. (9-12, 8.5)
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (1953)*:
Fahrenheit 451, the temperature at which books burn. What happens when the government bans books and makes all the decisions for the people? This classic story of a dystopian society continues to raise important questions about the relationship between the individual and government, censorship, intellectual and personal freedom, and the power of the human spirit to find ways to keep freedom alive. (9-12, 10.0)
The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993):
“In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community’s Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. …Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price” (www.amazon.com/Giver-Lois-Lowry/dp/0440237688) (7-12)
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (1939):
Set during the Great Depression, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel recounts the odyssey of the Joad family from their dust-bowl Oklahoma farm to the migrants’ promise land of California. Along the way they encounter a series of hardships and family tragedies that leave them defeated but strong in their belief that life goes on, illustrated when Rose of Sharon offers her body’s milk to save a starving man. Through the diverse characters and their unending hardships, Steinbeck examines, sometimes scathingly, American justice, personal property rights, the role of the government in protecting those who can’t protect themselves, and the efficacy of a capitalistic economy. (9-12)
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1985)*:
“Set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the novel presents a totalitarian theocracy that has forced a certain class of fertile women to produce babies for elite barren couples. These "handmaids," who are denied all rights and are severely beaten if they are uncooperative, are reduced to state property. Through the voice of Offred, a handmaid who mingles memories of her life before the revolution with her rebellious activities under the new regime, Atwood has created a terrifying future based on actual events.”
www.randomhouse.com/resources/bookgroup/handmaidstale_bgc.html) (9-12, 5.4)
How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff (2004):
Set in an England of the future, Rosoff’s story follows teenage protagonist Daisy as she struggles to survive an invasion of her country that destroys all personal freedoms. “Her struggle to define what she expects of herself can provide students with insights into the responsibilities of personal freedom when it exists at the expense of others” (Frey and Fisher, 2007). (6-8, 8.5)
Intruder in the Dust, William Faulkner (1948):
Lucas Beauchamp, an elderly black man, is falsely accused of murdering a white store owner. Defiant and too proud to offer a defense, Lucas faces vigilante justice until Chick Mallison, a white teenager; his lawyer uncle; and Miss Habersham, a 70-year old white lady; take up his cause and uncover the real murderer, the dead man’s brother. Suggestive of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill A Mockingbird, Faulkner examines the loss of innocence, the near deadly affects of racism, and the courage to defend the rights of others in the face of bigotry and ignorance. (9-12)
The Jungle, Upton Sinclair (1906):
Young immigrant Jurgis Rudkus has come to America to create a new and better life for himself and his family. Working in one of Chicago’s infamous factory slaughter houses, he finds only inhumane working conditions, oppressive poverty, disease, and despair. Sinclair’s tragic story of his young protagonist’s fate and the public indignation it created paved the way for the Pure Food and Drug Act, about which Theodore Roosevelt commented, “The latter [the meat processors] are better off under the law than they were without it.” The Jungle reflects the power of a dedicated social crusader to impact the government to create laws for the common good of all citizens. (9-12, 8.8)
The Last Town on Earth, Thomas Mullen (2006):
Set against the background of America’s 1918 flu epidemic, Mullen’s novel is a tale of morality in a time of upheaval and a challenge to the assumptions behind the usual critiques of capitalism and democracy. (RHI Magazine, Vol. 2, Issue No. 1, 2007)
Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands, Susan Carol McCarthy (2002):
“This novel is a glimpse into the world of 12-year-old Reesa and her family, a Northern family living in Central Florida during the early ’50s. Based on actual events, the story covers some of the atrocities committed by the KKK in Florida in 1951, beginning with the brutal slaying of Marvin, a dear friend of Reesa’s family, who is African-American, and who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. …Determined to bring Marvin’s murderers to justice, Reesa’s family sets off a string of events that eventually lead to a federal investigation and federal trial of many of the town’s KKK members” (Elaine S. Reitz, 2002). (9-12, 6.0)
Left for Dead, Peter Nelson (2002):
“This book recalls the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis at the end of World War II, the U.S. Navy cover-up and unfair court martial of the ship’s captain, and how a young boy helped the survivors set the record straight fifty-five years later.” (www.arbookfind.com/bookdetail.aspx?q=59211&l=EN&slid=87031771) (9-12, 8.3)
A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines (1993):
Set in a small Cajun community, this national award winning novel focuses on the relationship forged between Jefferson, a young black man unjustly sentenced to hang for a murder he did not commit, and Grant Wiggins, a black teacher who struggles to impart his learning and pride to Jefferson before his death. A Lesson Before Dying is a somber yet hopeful story about patience, individual dignity, courage, and personal belief. As Grant Wiggins questions his own belief in the system that sentenced Jefferson to die, he realizes as the hour of execution passes that only in belief is the mind truly free; and “Only when the mind is free has the body a chance to be free.”
(6-12, 4.4)
Lord of the Flies, William Golding (1955):
A group of boys, survivors of a plane crash, must establish order out of chaos. As natural leaders emerge and try to create social stability, the group slowly replaces civilization’s rules and orderliness with tribal ritual and finally primitive savagery. A popular adventure story for teenagers, Lord of the Flies is highly suggestive in its characters’ loss of innocence, the question of good and evil, and the consequences of living in a world with no controls. (7-12, 5.0)
Monster, Walter Dean Myers (1999):
The prosecutor calls Steve Harmon, the sixteen-year old protagonist, a monster for committing murder. Steve realizes his own defense attorney thinks he’s guilty, but Steve insists that he is innocent. Myers presents Monster in the form of Steve’s handwritten journal with alternating sections of the screen play Steve writes in his head about his incarceration and trial. This technique creates enough ambiguity that the reader is left to wonder if Steve is an innocent victim of circumstance or truly a monster. (9-12, 7.1)
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949):
Like Brave New World, Orwell’s novel depicts a dystopian society in which Winston Smith and Julia, his lover, struggle desperately to evade the “Thought Police” and the “Party” that seeks to destroy all human feelings of love, individuality, and personal freedom. While seemingly a hopeless story, Orwell suggests that “hope can be realized only by recognizing…the danger of a society of automatons who will have lost every trace of individuality, of love, of critical thought, and yet who will not be aware of it because of ‘doublethink’” (Erich Fromm, 1961). (9-12, 8.2)
One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, (1962):
Based on Solzhenitsyn’s experiences in a Russian gulag, this novel fictionalizes that experience through the character of Ivan Denisovich, who is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to ten years of hard labor. Covering a single day in his prison life, we see the daily monotony and tedium of Ivan’s existence, an existence that demeans and dehumanizes every prisoner and the men who guard them. More than a simple attack against Soviet oppression, Solzhenitsyn’s story embraces the very essence of what it means to be human and the lengths to which people will go to maintain their personal dignity and sense of self. (9-12, 9.0)
The Ox-Bow Incident, Walter Van Tilburg Clark (1940):
A classic western tale of mob justice, The Ox-Bow Incident describes the events surrounding the capture and lynching of three wranglers falsely accused of stealing cattle. Against all their protests and a few objections from some members of the posse who want to wait for more evidence and a proper trial, stronger, more violent voices prevail; and, in the end, the three men are hanged. Too late, the posse discovers that the men were innocent. Clark’s novel goes far beyond the typical western tale of good vs. evil. In this situation good and evil are ambiguous concepts and the very nature of justice as attainable is questioned. (9-12, 7.0)
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998):
The Poisonwood Bible tells the story of Nathan Price, an egocentric, evangelical Baptist, who takes his wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo in 1959 to establish a mission. Narrated by his wife and daughters, the story reflects the tragic consequences of an abusive husband and father, the clash of fundamentalist Christianity and the native faith of the Congolese villagers, and the political, economic, and social conflict between colonialism and an emerging spirit of democratic nationalism. (9-12, 7.9)
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (1960):
Seen through the eyes of young Scout Finch, Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel tells the powerful story of her father’s defense of Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of assaulting a white girl in a small southern town. Atticus Finch realizes Tom’s innocence, but faced by the town’s heritage of racial prejudice, his defense proves futile and fatal for his client. As Scout, Jem, her brother, and their friend Dill watch events unfold, they learn that there is more to Atticus than they ever suspected. Not only do they learn to appreciate the depths of his fatherly love, they also see their father become the protector of society from itself as he faces down a lynch mob and, with calm dignity become the guardian of the rule of law. His closing argument to the jury shakes our collective conscience by reminding us that the rule of law and the protection it affords all citizens, while flawed, as is any human institution, is vital to society’s survival. (9-12, 8.1)
The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850):
On the surface, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth would seem to be a simple tale of crime and punishment. However, the story is much more than this as generations of readers have learned, for Hawthorne explores not just a crime of passion and the public punishment that brands Hester with her scarlet A, but questions the very nature of the law that imposes the punishment. He also raises questions about the dichotomy between the public and private self, internal passion and external convention, vengeance, and hidden guilt. (9-12, 11.7)
Seven Days in May, Fletcher Knebel and Charles Waldo Bailey (1962)*:
At the height of the Cold War, an American President more concerned with conscience than popularity, negotiates a controversial treaty with the Soviet Union. As the beleaguered president’s approval rating plummets, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and other senior officers, convinced that the president’s actions threaten national security, plan acoup d’etat to seize the government. Seven Days in May serves as a cautionary tale for all citizens who assume that the rule of law will never allow such events to happen in America. (9-12)
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (1859):
Dickens’ tale of life in London and Paris during the French Revolution examines the irony of rebelling against one form of tyranny only to have it replaced by tyranny in the guise of freedom. (9-12, 9.0)
The Tequila Worm, Viola Canales (2005):
Sofia, an adolescent Latina, “wins a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school in another city. Her experiences with her classmates are colored by differences in social class, language, and culture. …Her story mirrors the experiences of so many young people in the U.S. who must redefine personal freedom and identity as they move between worlds” (Frey and Fisher, 2007). (6-8, 5.4)
Un Lun Dun, China Miéville (2007):
Miéville creates a magical world in which her main characters, Zanna and Deeba face surrealistic creatures as they seek to overcome economic and environmental problems that have timely references to the world of today. The characters, setting, and action raise important and relevant questions about the nature of personal and social progress. (Publishers Weekly vol. 254 issue 7 p. 87 (c) 02/12/2007) (6-8)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852):
Abraham Lincoln described Stowe’s novel as “the book that made” the Civil War. While historians may question its accurate picture of the antebellum South and literary critics may debate its artistic qualities, no one can deny the novel’s contributions to the abolitionist movement of its day or the lasting impact on American culture: Uncle Tom’s name has become both a reminder of the cruelty the oppressed Black race has faced for generations and, simultaneously and ironically, a denigrating label for those members of the race who obsequiously accept a role as second-class citizens; Simon LeGree, on the other hand, has come to symbolize not just the stereotypical cruel overseer of the southern plantation system, but the very embodiment of human depravity and injustice. (9-12, 7.5)
Veil of Roses, Laura Fitzgerald (2007):
This compelling novel follows Tamila Soroush, a spirited young woman from the confines of Iran to the intoxicating freedom of America – where she discovers not only an enticing new country but the roots of her own independence. (RHI Magazine,Vol. 2, Issue No. 1, 2007)
We, Yevgeny Zamyatin (1921):
Set in a dystopian society of the future in which all personal freedoms have been eliminated, We explores “the individual vs. the social order, a celebration of the importance of imagination, and ultimately, a warning regarding the dehumanizing consequences of imagination’s destruction” (www.greemanreview.com/book/book_zamyatin_we.html). In his treatment of these themes, Zamyatin’s novel precedes the work of Huxley, Orwell, and Bradbury and serves as the perfect complement to these authors’ works.
NOTE: (*) Teachers should use discretion in selecting these works for middle school students because of the complex literary style, advanced reading level, and/or age-appropriateness of the content. Remember, only teach what you have read.