#4: Required Reading for High School English
Having recently plunked out my series list caused me to wonder about creating other lists. Yes, I am a confessed list maker. I have Post-It squares tacked all over the place of To-Dos, Epiphanies, Story Starts, Poem Parts, and Lesson Plan Pundits. The Cricket List will be an on-going project. Today’s offering is #4: Required reading in high school English. I encourage your suggestions:
The Cricket List:
1. Children’s authors and selected titles
2. YA authors and selected titles
3. Picture books
4. Required reading in high school English:
- The Outsiders(teens haven’t changed too much in the thirty years this has been out)
- The Miracle Worker (Helen Keller is a hero favorite and goes a long way in learning about overcoming adversity)
- Pride and Prejudice (all man/woman hate-at-first sight movies stem from this gem)
- Sherlock Holmes (the original, to understand why Robert Downey and Jude Law’s version is pure entertainment)
- Frankenstein (a riveting read and shows the fallacy of Hollywood’s meddling)
- Jules Verne (original science fiction master storyteller)
- Julius Caesar (politics gone wrong)
- Hamlet (love-revenge-hate-murder-intrigue-dueling-witty wordplay–who could ask for more in a plot)
- Taming of the Shrew (Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus four hundred years ago)
- Othello (Shakespeare was ahead of his time with this tale)
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream (a light-hearted romp which shows not all is tragedy on Shakespeare’s plate)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (timeless classic which showcases the South both in a positive and negative way)
- The Once and Future King (or some version of King Arthur–I like John Steinbeck‘s version)
- Stargirl (beautiful story of not conforming to peer pressure or the consequences when one does)
- John Donne‘s Holy Sonnet X (Death Be Not Proud)
- She Walks in Beauty (timeless appreciation of beauty)
- Rime of the Ancient Mariner (To understand Pirates of the Caribbean better)
- Beowulf (so you can boo/hiss at the animated version and hope it will be done correctly someday)
- Canterbury Tales (when you rewatch A Knight’s Tale you will laugh at the inside jokes)
- Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath, of course)
- Mark Twain (American Lit wouldn’t be the same without him)
- The Odyssey (understanding the epicness of heroes and their journey)
- Romeo and Juliet (umm, how could one not read R&J?)
5. Beach Reads
6. Must reads
7. Saw the movie, then read the book
8. Read the book, wish it were a movie
9. Poems to know and grow on
10. GoodRead gotta-get-to-someday reads
Pam Webb 
Nice list! I would also add The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (Swordfights! Revenge! Mystery! Romance! Swordfights!) and Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.
This is a great list! You have many of my favorites: P&P, Othello, TKAM, Donne, and Coleridge. Like Water For Chocolate is another good one– magical realism, lust versus love, women’s roles, and self-actualization.
I’ve heard of Like Water for Chocolate. There are so many books I need to read!
Thanks for stopping by,
Blue Skies,
CricketMuse
I adore lists. They are even better when I can check things off. I remember some of your list items very vividly. The others are more because I didn’t pay attention in class, and others still we did not cover. This list makes me want to take a literature class again now that I am grown up and can appreciate it.
I know I didn’t appreciate the classics until I reread them on my own later in life. Delayed gratification?
You just inspired my next blog post, I think. Hah! Thanks, Cricketmuse!
I look forward to reading it!
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