College Bound Reading List


Baldwin, James Go Tell It On The Mountain
Semi-autobiographical novel about a 14-year old black youth’s religious conversion.

Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451
Readin g is a crime and firemen burn books in this futuristic society.

Cather,Willa My Antonia
Immigrant pioneers strive to adapt to the Nebraska prairies.

Cormier, Robert The Chocolate War
Jerry Renault challenges the power structure of his school when he refuses to sell chocolates for the annual fund raiser.

Crane, Stephen The Red Badge of Courage
During the Civil War, Henry Fleming joins the army full of romantic visions of battle which are shattered by combat.

Fitzgerald, Scott F. The Great Gatsby
A young man corrupts himself and the American Dream to regain a lost love.

Gaines, Ernest The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
In the 100 years, Miss Jane Pittman experiences it all, from slavery to the civil rights movement.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel The Scarlet Letter
An adulterous Puritan woman keeps secret the identity of the father of her illegitimate child.

Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird
At great peril to himself and his children, lawyer Atticus Finch defends an African-American man accused of raping a white woman in a small Alabama town.

London, Jack Call of the Wild
Buck is a loyal pet dog until cruel men make hima pawn in their search for Klondike gold.

Melville, Herman Moby-Dick
A complex novel about a mad sea captain’s pursuit of the White Whale.

Steinbeck, John The Grapes of Wrath
The desperate flight of tenant farmers from Oklahoma during the Depression.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The classic tale that awakened a nation about the slave system.

Twain, Mark The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Huck and Jim, a runaway slave, travel down the Mississippi in search of freedom.

Wells, H. G. The Time Machine
A scientist invents a machine that transports him into the future.

Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice
Love and marriage among the English country gentry of Austen’s day.

Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre
An intelligent and passionate governess falls in love with a strange, moody man tormented by dark secrets.

Carroll, Lewis Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
A fantasy in which Alice follows the White Rabbit to a dream world.

Cervantes, Miguel de Don Quixote
An eccentric old gentleman sets out as a knight “tilting at windmills” to right the wrongs of the world.

Defoe, Daniel Robinson Crusoe
The adventures of a man who spends 24 years on an isolated island.

Dickens, Charles Great Expectations
The moving story of the rise, fall, and rise again of a humbly-born young orphan.

Dostoevski, Feodor Crime and Punishment
A psychological novel about a poor student who murders an old woman pawnbroker and her sister.

Golding. William Lord of the Flies
English schoolboys marooned on an uninhabited island test the values of civilization when they attempt to set up a society of their own.

Orwell, George Animal Farm
Animals turn tables on their masters.

Remarque, Erich Maria All Quiet on the Western Front
A young German Soldier in World War I experiences pounding shell fire, hunger, sickness, and death.

Scott, Sir Walter Ivanhoe
Tale of Ivanhoe, the disinherited knight, Lady Rowena, Richard the Lion-Hearted, and Robin Hood at the time of the Crusade.

Shelley, Mary W Frankenstein
A gothic tale of terror in which Frankenstein creates a monster from corpses.

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksander One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Ivan Denisovich endures one more day in a Siberian prison camp and finds joy in survival.

Swift, Jonathan Gulliver’s Travel
Gulliver encounters dwarfs and giants and has other strange adventures when his ship is wrecked in distant lands.

Weisel, Elie Night
A searing account of the Holocaust as experienced by a 15-year-old boy.

Alcott, Louisa May Little Women
Meet the March family with daughters Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth. A classic story of a connected family featuring love, sadness and courage.

Cushman, Karen Catherine, Called Birdy
A tale of courage and hope set in the medieval period.

Richter, Conrad The Light in the Forest
A young boy is captured by Indians; discover what he learns.

Shakespeare, William Hamlet
Revenge, madness, poison, ghosts, and the interaction between friends are aspects of this classic tragedy.

Angelou, Maya I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
An African-American writer traces her coming of age.

Brown, Dee Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
A narrative of the white man’s conquest of the American land as the Indian victims experienced it.

Frank, Anne The Diary of a Young Girl
The story of a Jewish family forced by encroaching Nazis to live in hiding.

Mathabane, Mark Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa A tennis player breaks down racial barriers and escape to a better life in America

Hemingway, Ernest The Old Man and the Sea
Hemingway’s story of a fisherman and the fish that he catches is far more than the story.

Herriot, James All Creatures Great and Small
Follow Herriot as he makes his veterinary rounds in rural England. An animal lover.

Hesse, Herman Siddhartha
The classic coming of age novella traces the journey of a young man as he attempts to discover the meaning of life through prayer and sacrifice.

Hilton, James Lost Horizon
A mysterious utopia high in the Himalayan Mountains is the setting for this famous story. Part mystery, part philosophy, this tale takes you to the into the “Shangri-La” as this adventure romance unfolds.

Speare, Elizabeth George The Witch of Blackbird Pond
It is 1687, and a young teen that has moved to the Connecticut Colony from the Caribbean is accused of being a witch. Will she survive the witch hysterical times?

Shakespeare, William Romeo and Juliet
A romantic tragedy about teen romance and feuding families.

Shakespeare, William Midsummer Night’s Dream

Lowry, Lois The Giver
This fascinating book explores the themes of freedom and justice. The setting of a far distant future in a utopian society; the tales raises many questions about human responsibility and courage.

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