The powerful forces of group pressure that pervaded many historic movements such as Nazism are recreated in the classroom when history teacher Burt Ross introduces a "new" system to his students. And before long "The Wave," with its rules of "strength through discipline, community, and action, " sweeps from the classroom through the entire school. And as most of the students join the movement, Laurie Saunders and David Collins recognize the frightening momentum of "The Wave" and realize they must stop it before it's too late.
Really Really Easy Classics
Twenty Great American Short Stories Short stories are classics, too!
The Importance of Being Ernest
Two men who are trying to get away with pulling a fast one on their girlfriends and two women who think they know what's going on. Throw in a misplaced bag with a baby inside, an overbearing British matriarch, and a Governess with a past and you have a laugh out loud comedy. Who knew the British could be so funny...when written about anyway. This one reads like a Seinfeld episode: all fluff and comedy.
The Things They Carried --Tim O'Brian
The Things They Carried has been called a novel, a short story collection, a short story cycle, and almost everything else. One critic comments, “The Things They Carried, is a series of interconnected stories about the war and its victims--and about the whole business of concocting stories” (Bruckner). Of course, the most pertinent opinion on this subject is the author’s. He said, “The Things They Carried is sort of half novel, half group of stories. It's part nonfiction, too: some of the stuff is commentary on the stories, talking about where a particular one came from” (Naparsteck).
Animal Farm-- George Orwell
Animals get sick of the farmer and have a revolution. But have matters truly improved under the new government?
The Declaration of Independence-- Believe it or not, wonderful as an example on essays. And it's only a page long!
The Gettysburg Address is just a paragraph.
Also, the lesser-known Senneca Falls Convention wrote their own Declaration of Rights for Women.
The House on Mango Street --Sandra Cisneros
Esperanza Cordero, a girl coming of age in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, uses poems and stories to express thoughts and emotions about her oppressive environment.
*The Wave --Todd Strasser
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The Wave is based on a true incident that occured in a high
school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969.
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The Aeneid for Boys and Girls, Told From Virgil in Simple Language (New York: Macmillan, 1942) by Alfred John Church, contrib. by Virgil (HTML at Baldwin Project)
A Christmas Carol --Charles Dickens
Around the World in Eighty Days --Jules Verne
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea --Jules Verne
The Miracle Worker --William Gibson
The Good Earth --Pearl S. Buck
All Quiet on the Western Front --Erich Maria Remarque
Shane --Jack Schaefer
A stranger rode out of the heart of the great glowing West, into the small Wyoming valley in the summer of 1889. It was Shane, who appeared on the horizon and became a friend and guardian to the Starrett family at a time when homesteaders and cattle rangers battled for territory and survival. Jack Schaefer"s classic novel illuminates the spirit of the West through the eyes of a young boy and a hero who changes the lives of everyone around him. Renowned artist Wendell Minor provides stunning images and a moving introduction to this new edition of Shane, the ultimate tale of the Western landscape.
The Hobbit --J.R.R Tolkien
The Outsiders -- S.E. Hinton
Rip Van Winkle & The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving (Short story)
Jim Smily and His Jumping Frog, by Samuel L. Clemens (Short story)
*The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Tales from the Thousand and One Nights by Anonymous
Any Greek mythology collection Online Mythology
such as Bulfinch's Mythology (see also The Age of Fable) by Thomas Bulfinch
- Bulfinch's Mythology: Legends of Charlemagne by Thomas Bulfinch (Gutenberg text)
- Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Chivalry by Thomas Bulfinch (Gutenberg text)
- Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable (revised by editor) by Thomas Bulfinch, ed. by Edward Everett Hale (Gutenberg text)
Easy Classics
1984 --George Orwell
*The Sword in the Stone --T.H. White
Beowulf --Anonymous
Their Eyes Were Watching God --Zora Neale Hurston
The Handmaid's Tale --Margaret Atwood
The Crucible --Arthur Miller
Oedipus Rex --Sophocles
Unknowingly, Oedipus kills his father, King Laius of Thebes, and marries his mother, Jocasta. Uh oh!
Antigone --Sophocles
Creon, the king of Thebes, forbids the burial of those who rebelled against his rule. Antigone, soon to marry Creon's son, disobeys this edict to bury her brother Polyneices.
The Collected Works of Edgar Allen Poe. (Short story)
Creepy, nasty, scary, and sometimes disgusting. Gothic tales of murders, mysteries, and mayhem.
The Pearl --John Steinbeck
Kino, a poor Mexican pearl fisher, finds a valuable pearl. Yet instead of bringing blessings, the pearl acts as a harbinger of misfortune to Kino and his wife, Juana. Ultimately, it is returned from whence it came. Steinbeck's parable, originally published in 1947, is a well-written retelling of an old Mexican folktale.
Of Mice and Men --John Steinbeck
Novella by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The tragic story, given poignancy by its objective narrative, is about the complex bond between two migrant laborers. The plot centers on George Milton and Lennie Small, itinerant ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small farm. George acts as a father figure to Lennie, who is large and simpleminded, calming him and helping to rein in his immense physical strength.
Like Water for Chocolate --Laura Esquivel
The Great Gatsby --F. Scott Fitzgerald
Uncle Tom's Cabin --Harriet Beacher Stowe
Though overly mushy and sentimental, this book helped alert the United States to the evils of slavery as kindly slaves try to escape their cruel masters.
Dracula --Bram Stoker
"I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the super sensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. I closed my eyes in languorous ecstasy and waited, waited with beating heart." (Dracula)
The Call of the Wild --Jack London
This was the time of the gold rush and strong dogs such as Buck were at a premium. He is worked to the bone and brutalised with a pack of dogs pulling a sled but is rescued from this dire cruelty by John Thornton who shows him care as his master once had. When he returns free to the wild, Buck has learnt skills of self-defense and survival that are respected by other beasts and he becomes in his way a great leader. This is an extremely moving and heartening book that affects both children and adults.
White Fang --Jack London
In White Fang we follow the offspring of an Indian wolf-dog and a wolf. White Fang, this crossbreed, grows up to be the greatest fighter known and - drawn to the ways of the Wild - he responds to vicious behavior with violence and savagery of his own, following the laws of mimicry enforced by danger and hostility. Yet he is humbled by Grey Beaver and in time and with the intervention of humans he is given the opportunity to respond appropriately to kindness instead of the anger that has trapped him after every conflict.
The Sea Wolf --Jack London
Humphrey Van Weyden, an amateur literary critic, finds himself picked up by the sealing schooner Ghost. A new central character emerges in the form of Wolf Larson. Larson is a fierce, strong and ruthless industrialist. After the Ghost rescues some refugees near Japan on its sealing expedition, Larson and Van Weyden come into conflict over the poet Maude Brewster. In time Brewster and Van Weyden manage to escape to a desert island together. However, in time, the Ghost finds itself drawn to them half-wrecked and without a sail.
*Denotes less respected classics
Read Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: The Unauthorized Harry Potter Parody