AP English Literature: Exam Format and Question Types The AP Literature Exam is a three-hour exam that contains two sections. First is an hour-long, 55-question multiple choice section, and then a two hour, three question free-response section. The exam tests your ability to analyze works and excerpts of literature and also cogently communicate that analysis in essay form. Read on for a breakdown of the two different sections and their question types. Multiple Choice Section The multiple-choice section, or Section I of the exam, is 60 minutes long and has 55 questions. You can expect to see 4-5 excerpts of prose and poetry. You will, in general, not be given an author, date, or title for these works, although occasionally the title of a poem is given. Unusual words are also sometimes defined for you. The date ranges of works could fall from the 16th to the 21st century. Most works will be originally written in English, although you may occasionally see a passage in translation. There are, generally speaking, eight kinds of questions you can expect to see on the AP English Literature and Composition test. I’ll break each of them down here and give you tips on how to identify and approach them. The 8 Multiple-Choice Question Types on the AP Literature Exam Without further ado, here are the eight question types you can expect to see on the AP lit exam. All questions are taken from the sample questions on the “AP Course and Exam Description.” Reading Comprehension These are questions that test your ability to understand what the passage is saying on a pretty basic level. They don’t require you to do a lot of interpretation—you just need to know what is actually going on. You can identify these from words and phrases like “according to,” “asserting,” “mentioned,” and so on. Basically, words that point to a fairly concrete register of meaning. You can succeed on these questions by careful reading of the text. You may have to go back and re-read parts to make sure you understand what the passage is saying. Example: Inference These questions ask you to infer something—a character or narrator’s opinion, an author’s intention, and so forth—based on what is said in the passage. It will be something that isn’t stated directly or concretely, but that you can assume based on what is stated clearly in the passage. You can identify these questions from words like “infer,” and “imply.” The key to these questions is to not be tripped up by the fact that you are making an inference—there will be a best answer, and it will be the choice that is best supported by what is actually found in the passage. In many ways, inference questions are like second-level reading comprehension questions—you need to know not just what a passage says, but what it means. Example: Identifying and Interpreting Figurative Language These are questions in which you have to either identify what word or phrase is figurative language or provide the meaning of a figurative phrase. You can identify these as they will either explicitly mention figurative language (or a figurative device like simile or metaphor) or will include a figurative language phrase in the question itself. The meaning of figurative language phrases can normally be determined by the phrase’s context in the passage—what is said around it? What is the phrase referring to? Example 1: Identifying Example 2: Interpreting Literary Technique These questions involve identifying why an author does what they do: from using a particular phrase to repeating certain words. Basically, what techniques is the author using to construct the passage/poem and to what effect? You can identify these questions by words like “serves chiefly to,” “effect,” “evoke,” and “in order to.” A good way to approach these questions is to ask yourself, so what? Why did the author use these particular words or this particular structure? Example: Character Analysis These questions will ask you to describe something about a character. You can spot them because they will refer directly to characters’ attitudes, opinions, beliefs, or relationships with other characters. This is, in many ways, a special kind of inference question since you are inferring the broader personality of the character based on the evidence in a passage. Also, these crop up much more commonly for prose passages than poetry ones. Example: Overall Passage Questions Some questions will ask you to identify or describe something about the passage/poem as a whole: its purpose, tone, genre, etc. You can identify these by phrases like “in the passage,” and “as a whole.” To answer these questions, you need to think about the excerpt with a bird’s-eye view. What is the overall picture created by all the tiny details? Example: Structure Some questions will ask you about specific structural elements of the passage—a shift in tone, a digression, the specific form of a poem, etc. Often these questions will specify a part of the passage/poem and ask you to identify what that part is accomplishing. Being able to identify and understand the significance of any shifts—structural, tonal, in genre, etc—will be of key importance for these questions. Example: Grammar/Nuts & Bolts Very occasionally you will be asked a specific grammar question, such as what word an adjective is modifying. I would also include in this category very specific questions like the meter of a poem (i.e. iambic pentameter). These questions are less about the literary artistry and more about the fairly dry technique involved in having a fluent command of the English language. Example: That covers the 8 question types! The AP Literature Free-Response Section Section II of the exam is two hours long and involves three free-response essay questions—so you'll have roughly 40 minutes per essay. Note, though, that no one will prompt you to move from essay to essay, so you can theoretically divide up the time how you want (but be sure to leave enough time for each essay). The first two essays are literary analysis essays of specific passages, with one poem and one prose excerpt—and the final is an analysis of a given theme in a work selected by you, the student. Essays One and Two - Literary Passage Analysis For the first two essays, you’ll be presented with an excerpt and directed to analyze the excerptfor a given theme, device, or development. One of the passages will be poetry, and one will be prose. You will be provided with the author of the work, the approximate date, and some orienting information (i.e. the plot context of an excerpt from a novel). Sample Questions (from 2011 Free Response Questions) Poetry: Prose: Essay Three - Thematic Analysis For the third and final essay, you’ll be asked to discuss a particular theme in a work that you select. You will be provided with a list of notable works that address the given theme below the prompt, but you can also choose to discuss any “work of literary merit.” So you DO have the power to choose which work you wish to write an essay about, but the key word here is “literary merit.” So no genre fiction! Stick to safe bets like authors in the list on pages 10-11 of the Course and Exam Description. (I know, I know—lots of ‘genre’ fiction works DO have literary merit, and Shakespeare actually began as low culture, and so on and so forth. You may well find academic designations of “literary merit” elitist and problematic, but the time to rage against the literary establishment is not your AP lit test.) Here’s a sample question (from 2011): As you can see, the list of works provided spans many different time periods and countries: there are ancient Greek plays (Antigone), modern literary works (like Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin or Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible), Shakespeare plays (The Merchant of Venice), 19th-century Russian lit (Crime and Punishment), and so on. How Is the AP Literature Test Graded? The multiple-choice section of the exam comprises 45% of your exam score. The three essays comprise the other 55%. Each essay, then, is worth about 18%. As on other AP exams, your raw score will be converted to a score from 1-5. You don’t have to get every point possible to get a 5 by any means—but the AP English Literature test does have one of the lowest 5 rates of all APs, with only 5.6% of students receiving 5s in 2018. But how do you get raw scores at all? Multiple-Choice Scoring For the multiple-choice section, you receive a point for each question you answer correctly.There is no guessing penalty, so you should answer every question—but guess only after eliminating any answer that you know is wrong to up your chances of choosing the correct one. Free-Response Scoring Scoring for multiple choice is pretty straightforward. However, essay scoring is a little more complicated. Each of your essays will receive a score from 0-9 based on the College Board rubric. You can actually find question-specific rubrics for all of the released free-response questions for AP English lit (see “scoring guidelines”). While all of the rubrics are broadly similar, there are some minor differences between each of them. I’ll go over the rubrics now—both what they say and what they mean for you. Poetry Passage Analysis Rubric Score What the College Board Says What it Means 9-8 These essays persuasively address the assigned task. These essays offer a range of interpretations; they provide a convincing reading and analysis of the poem. They demonstrate consistent and effective control over the elements of composition appropriate to the analysis of poetry. Their textual references are apt and specific. Though they may not be error-free, these essays are perceptive in their analysis and demonstrate writing that is clear and sophisticated, and in the case of a 9 essay, especially persuasive. Your argument is convincing and it addresses all elements of the prompt. You interpret the language of the poem in a variety of ways (i.e. your analysis of the poem is thorough). Your essay is particularly well-written and wellorganized. You appropriately reference specific moments in the poem to support your argument. A 9 essay is particularly persuasive. 7-6 These essays reasonably address the assigned task. They are less thorough or less precise in the way they address the task, and their analysis is less convincing. These essays demonstrate an ability to express ideas clearly, making references to the text, although they do not exhibit the same level of effective writing as the 9-8 papers. Essays scored a 7 present better-developed analysis and more consistent command of the elements of effective composition than do essays scored a 6. You address all elements of the prompt, but your analysis is not as complete or convincing as a 9-8 essay. You do make specific references to the poem and your writing is clear and effective, but not necessarily masterful. 5 These essays respond plausibly to the assigned task, but they tend to be superficial in their analysis. They often rely on paraphrase, which may contain some analysis, implicit or explicit. Their analysis may be vague, formulaic, or minimally supported by references to the text. There may be minor misinterpretations of the poem. These essays demonstrate some control of language, but they may be marred by surface errors. These essays are not as well conceived, organized, or developed as 7-6 essays. You answer the prompt in a way that is not implausible or unreasonable, but your analysis of the poem is surface-level. You may paraphrase the poem instead of making specific references to its language. You may not adequately support your analysis of the poem, or you may misinterpret it slightly. Your essay is not a total mess, but not necessarily particularly well-organized or argued. These lower-half essays fail to offer an adequate analysis of the poem. The analysis may be partial, unconvincing, or irrelevant, or ignore part of the assigned task. Evidence from the poem may be You do not adequately address the prompt. Your analysis of the poem is incomplete or incorrect, or you do not reference any specific language of the poem. Your essay is 4-3 slight or misconstrued, or the essays may rely on paraphrase only. The essays often demonstrate a lack of control over the conventions of composition: inadequate development of ideas, accumulation of errors, or a focus that is unclear, inconsistent, or repetitive. Essays scored a 3 may contain significant misreading, demonstrate inept writing, or do both. undeveloped, unclear, or poorly organized. A 3 essay either significantly misinterprets the poem or is particularly poorly written. These essays compound the weaknesses of the papers in the 4–3 range. Although some attempt has been made to respond to the prompt, the student’s assertions are presented with little clarity, organization, or support from the poem. These essays may contain serious errors in grammar and mechanics. They may offer a complete misreading or be unacceptably brief. Essays scored a 1 contain little coherent discussion of the poem. Only minimal attempt is made to respond to the prompt. Essay is disorganized or not supported by evidence from the poem. May contain numerous grammar and mechanics errors. May completely misinterpret the poem or be too short. A 1 essay barely mentions the poem. 0 These essays give a response that is completely off topic or inadequate; there may be some mark or a drawing or a brief reference to the task. No real attempt is made to respond to the prompt. - These essays are entirely blank You didn’t write anything! 2-1 Prose Passage Analysis Rubric Score 9-8 What the College Board Says What it Means These essays persuasively address the assigned task. These essays make a strong case for the student’s interpretation. They may consider a variety of literary devices, and they engage the text through apt and specific references. Although these essays may not be error-free, their perceptive analysis is apparent in writing that is clear and effectively organized. Essays scored a 9 reveal more sophisticated analysis Your argument is convincing and addresses all parts of the prompt. You discuss a number of literary devices in your analysis and use specific and appropriate excerpts from the text as evidence in your argument. Your writing is clear, focused, and well-organized. A 9 essay has a particularly well-developed interpretation of the text and is better-written than an 8. and more effective control of language than do essays scored an 8. 7-6 These essays reasonably address the task at hand. The writers provide a sustained, competent reading of the passage, with attention to a variety of literary devices. Although these essays may not be error-free and are less perceptive or less convincing than 9–8 essays, they present ideas with clarity and control and refer to the text for support. Essays scored a 7 present better developed analysis and more consistent command of the elements of effective composition than do essays scored a 6. You address all elements of the prompt. Your interpretation is coherent and you reference multiple literary devices in your analysis. You do reference specific moments in the text for support. Your essay is adequately organized and focused. However, your argument may be less convincing or insightful (i.e. more obvious) than a 9-8 essay. 5 These essays respond to the assigned task with a plausible reading of the passage but tend to be superficial or thin. While containing some analysis of the passage, implicit or explicit, the way the assigned task is addressed may be slight, and support from the passage may tend toward summary or paraphrase. While these essays demonstrate adequate control of language, they may be marred by surface errors. These essays are not as well conceived, organized, or developed as 7–6 essays. You address the prompt, but your argument may be surface-level. You rely too much on summary or paraphrase of the text in your argument instead of using specific moments in the text. Your essay does have some elements of organization and focus but has some distracting errors. 4-3 These lower-half essays fail to offer an adequate analysis of the passage. The analysis may be partial, unconvincing, or irrelevant; the writers may ignore part of the assigned task. These essays may be characterized by an unfocused or repetitive presentation of ideas, an absence of textual support, or an accumulation of errors. Essays scored a 3 may contain significant misreading, demonstrate inept writing, or do both. You do not adequately address the prompt, whether because your argument is partly unrelated to the task at hand or simply ignores elements of the prompt. Your essay is poorly focused and/or repetitive and has little textual support. A 3 essay significantly misinterprets the passage and/or is very poorly written. These essays compound the weaknesses of the essays in the 4–3 score range. They may feature persistent misreading of the passage or be unacceptably brief. They may contain pervasive Essay does not adequately address the assigned task. It may be very short or repeatedly misinterpret the passage. May be poorly written enough that it is hard to understand. 2-1 errors that interfere with understanding. Although some attempt has been made to respond to the prompt, the student’s ideas are presented with little clarity, organization, or support from the passage. Essays scored a 1 contain little coherent discussion of the passage. These essays may be unfocused, unclear, or disorganized. 0 These essays give a response that is completely off topic or inadequate; there may be some mark or a drawing or a brief reference to the task. No real attempt is made to respond to the prompt. - These essays are entirely blank You didn’t write anything! Student Choice Rubric Score 9-8 7-6 What the College Board Says What it Means These essays offer a well-focused and persuasive analysis of the assigned theme and how it relates to the work as a whole. Using apt and specific textual support, these essays address all parts of the prompt. Although these essays may not be error-free, they make a strong case for their interpretation and discuss the literary work with significant insight and understanding. Essays scored a 9 reveal more sophisticated analysis and more effective control of language than do essays scored 8. Your essay convincingly addresses the task in a way that is clear and focused. You reference many specific moments in the text in support of your argument. You build a strong case—with lots of evidence—in support of your interpretation of the text. Your argument shows a deep understanding of the text. A 9 essay has more complex analysis and is better-written than an 8. These essays offer a reasonable analysis of the work of the assigned theme and how it relates to the work as a whole. These essays address all parts of the prompt. While these essays show insight and understanding, their analysis is less thorough, less perceptive, and/or less specific in supporting detail than that of the 9– 8 essays. Essays scored a 7 present better developed analysis and more consistent Your essay addresses the task adequately. Your interpretation of the text is apt and shows that you generally understood it, although your analysis may be more conventional or include less specific textual evidence than a 9-8 essay. command of the elements of effective composition than do essays scored a 6. 5 These essays respond to the assigned task with a plausible reading, but they tend to be superficial or thinly developed in analysis. They often rely upon plot summary that contains some analysis, implicit or explicit. Although these essays display an attempt to address the prompt, they may demonstrate a rather simplistic understanding and support from the text may be too general. While these essays demonstrate adequate control of language, they may be marred by surface errors. These essays are not as well conceived, organized, or developed as 7–6 essays. Your essay addresses the prompt, but your argument may be very basic and/or rely too much on plot summary instead of true analysis of the text. Your essay may reveal that you do not thoroughly understand the text. Your essay may have some grammar/linguistic errors. Your essay is not especially well-organized or focused. 4-3 These lower-half essays fail to adequately address the assigned task. The analysis may be partial, unsupported, or irrelevant, and the essays may reflect an incomplete or oversimplified understanding of how a given theme functions in the text, or they may rely on plot summary alone. These essays may be characterized by an unfocused or repetitive presentation of ideas, an absence of textual support, or an accumulation of errors; they may lack control over the elements of collegelevel composition. Essays scored a 3 may contain significant misreading and/or demonstrate inept writing. Your essay does not address the prompt. Your analysis shows that you either do not understand how to address the prompt, cannot build support for your interpretation, or do not understand the text. Your essay may be poorly organized, poorly written and/or repetitive. A 3 essay significantly misinterprets the chosen work and/or is very poorly written. 2-1 Although these essays make some attempt to respond to the prompt, they compound the weaknesses of the papers in the 4–3 score range. Often, they are unacceptably brief or incoherent in presenting their ideas. They may be poorly written on several counts and contain distracting errors in grammar and mechanics. Remarks may be presented with little clarity, organization, or supporting Your essay does not address the prompt. It may be too short or make little sense. These essays may be unfocused, poorly organized, completely unsupported, and/or riddled with grammatical errors evidence. Essays scored a 1 contain little coherent discussion of the text. 0 These essays give a response that is completely off topic or inadequate; there may be some mark or a drawing or a brief reference to the task. No real attempt is made to respond to the prompt. - These essays are entirely blank You didn’t write anything! As you can see, the rubric for the poetry essay is focused more on poetic devices, and the rubric for the prose essay is focused more on literary devices and techniques. Both of those essays are very specifically focused on the analysis of the poem/prose excerpt. By contrast, the student choice essay is focused on how your analysis fits into the work as a whole. To get a high-scoring essay in the 9-8 range, you need to not only come up with an original and intriguing argument that you thoroughly support with textual evidence, your essay needs to be focused, organized, clear, and well-written. And all in 40 minutes per essay! If getting a high score sounds like a tall order, that’s because it is. The mean scores on each of the essays last year was around a 4 out of 9. That means, most essays were scored lower than a 5. So even getting a 7 on these essays is an accomplishment. Skill-Building for Success on the AP Literature Exam There are several things you can do to hone your skills and best prepare for the AP Lit exam. Read Some Books, Maybe More Than Once One of the most important things you can do to prepare yourself for the AP Literature and Composition exam is to read a lot, and read well. You’ll be reading a wide variety of notable literary works in your AP English Literature course, but additional reading will help you further develop your analytical reading skills. You might check out the College Board’s list of “notable authors” on pages 10-11 of the “Course and Exam Description.” In addition to reading broadly, you’ll want to become especially familiar with the details of 4-5 books with different themes so that you’ll be sure to be prepared to write a strong student choice essay. You should know the plot, themes, characters, and structural details of these 4-5 books inside and out. See my AP English Literature Reading List for more guidance. Read (and Interpret) Poetry One thing students may not do very much on their own time, but that will help a lot with exam prep, is to read poetry. Try to read poems from a lot of eras and authors to get familiar with the language. When you think you have a grip on basic comprehension, move on to closereading (see below). Hone Your Close Reading and Analysis Skills Your AP class will likely focus heavily on close reading and analysis of prose and poetry, but extra practice won’t hurt you. Close-reading is the ability to identify which techniques the author is using and why they are using them. You’ll need to be able to do this both to gather evidence for original arguments on the free-response questions and to answer analytical multiple-choice questions. Here are some helpful close-reading resources for prose: The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s writing center has a guide to close-reading. You can also check out this close-reading guide from the Harvard College Writing Center. The Purdue OWL has an article on steering clear of close-reading “pitfalls.” And here are some for poetry: The University of Wisconsin-Madison also has a poetry-reading guide. There’s also an excellent guide to reading poetry at Poets.org, complete with two poetry close-readings. Learn Literary and Poetic Devices You’ll want to be familiar with literary terms so that any questions that ask about them will make sense to you. Again, you’ll probably learn most of these in class, but it doesn’t hurt to brush up on them. Here are some comprehensive lists of literary terms with definitions: About.com Literary Glossary Literary-Devices.Com list, which even has examples! Practice Writing Essays The majority of your grade on the AP English Lit exam comes from essays, so it’s critical that you practice your timed essay-writing skills. You of course should use the College Board’s released free-response questions to practice writing complete timed essays of each type, but you can also practice quickly outlining thorough essays that are well-supported with textual evidence. #6: Manage your time on essays closely. One strategy is to start with the essay you think will be the easiest to answer. This way you’ll be able to get through it while thinking about the other essays. Here are some things you can do to prepare for the exam: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Read books, and be particularly familiar with 4-5 works for the student-choice essays Read poetry Work on your close-reading and analysis skills Learn literary devices Practice writing essays Take practice tests! On test day, be sure to really look closely at all of the passages and closely interact with them by marking the text in a way that makes sense to you. This will help on multiple-choice questions and the free-response essays. Be sure also to outline your essays before you write them! Ancient Works Title Author Genre Date Euripides play 431 BC Homer epic poem (no date) Antigone Sophocles play 441 BC Oedipus Rex Sophocles play 429 BC Medea The Odyssey 1500-1799 Title Author Genre Date Miguel de Cervantes novel 1605 Tom Jones Henry Fielding novel 1749 As You Like It Shakespeare play 1623 Julius Caesar Shakespeare play 1599 King Lear Shakespeare play 1606 A Midsummer Night’s Dream Shakespeare play 1605 The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare play 1605 Othello Shakespeare play 1604 The Tempest Shakespeare play 1611 Voltaire novel 1759 Author Genre Date Jane Austen novel 1815 Don Quixote Candide 1800-1899 Title Emma Mansfield Park Jane Austen novel 1814 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen novel 1813 Charlotte Bronte novel 1847 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte novel 1847 The Awakening Kate Chopin novel 1899 The Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane novel 1895 Bleak House Charles Dickens novel 1853 David Copperfield Charles Dickens novel 1850 Great Expectations Charles Dickens novel 1861 Oliver Twist Charles Dickens novel 1837 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens novel 1859 Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel 1866 Gustave Flaubert novel 1856 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy novel 1895 The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy novel 1886 Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy novel 1891 Nathaniel Hawthorne novel 1850 A Doll’s House Henrik Ibsen play 1879 The American Henry James novel 1877 The Portrait of a Lady Henry James novel 1881 Herman Melville novel 1851 Mary Shelley novel 1818 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy novel 1877 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain novel 1885 Jane Eyre Crime and Punishment Madame Bovary The Scarlet Letter Moby-Dick Frankenstein The Queen of AP Literature surveys her kingdom. 1900-1939 Title Author Genre Date Willa Cather novel 1918 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov play 1904 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad novel 1902 Theodore Dreiser novel 1900 T.S. Eliot play 1935 Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner novel 1936 As I Lay Dying William Faulkner novel 1930 Light in August William Faulkner novel 1932 The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner novel 1929 F. Scott Fitzgerald novel 1925 My Ántonia Sister Carrie Murder in the Cathedral The Great Gatsby A Passage to India E.M. Forster novel 1924 Lillian Hellman play 1939 Zora Neale Hurston novel 1937 Brave New World Aldous Huxley novel 1931 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce novel 1916 Herman Melville novel 1924 George Bernard Shaw play 1905 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck novel 1939 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton novel 1920 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton novel 1911 The House of Mirth Edith Wharton novel 1905 Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf novel 1925 Author Genre Date Chinua Achebe novel 1958 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee play 1962 Another Country James Baldwin novel 1962 Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett play 1953 The Plague Albert Camus novel 1947 Invisible Man Ralph Ellison novel 1952 William Golding novel 1954 Lorraine Hansberry play 1959 Joseph Heller novel 1961 Ken Kesey novel 1962 John Knowles novel 1959 The Little Foxes Their Eyes Were Watching God Billy Budd Major Barbara 1940-1969 Title Things Fall Apart Lord of the Flies A Raisin in the Sun Catch-22 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’ s Nest A Separate Peace To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee novel 1960 The Crucible Arthur Miller play 1953 Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller play 1949 House Made of Dawn N. Scott Momaday novel 1968 Wise Blood Flannery O’Connor novel 1952 George Orwell novel 1949 Alan Paton novel 1948 Robert Penn Warren novel 1946 Chaim Potok novel 1967 Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys novel 1966 The Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger novel 1951 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard play 1966 Cat’s Cradle Kurt Vonnegut novel 1963 The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams play 1945 A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams play 1947 Black Boy Richard Wright memoir 1945 Native Son Richard Wright novel 1940 1984 Cry, the Beloved Country All the King’s Men The Chosen Don't get trapped in a literature vortex! 1970-1989 Title Author Genre Date Rudolfo Anaya novel 1972 Sandra Cisneros novel 1984 Athol Fugard play 1982 David Henry Hwang play 1988 John Irving novel 1989 Maxine Hong Kingston memoir 1976 Obasan Joy Kogawa novel 1981 Beloved Toni Morrison novel 1987 The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison novel 1970 Song of Solomon Toni Morrison novel 1977 Sula Toni Morrison novel 1973 Bless Me, Ultima The House on Mango Street “Master Harold” . . . and the boys M. Butterfly A Prayer for Owen Meany The Woman Warrior Jasmine Bharati Mukherjee novel 1989 The Women of Brewster Place Gloria Naylor novel 1982 Going After Cacciato Tim O’Brien novel 1978 Peter Shaffer play 1973 Leslie Marmon Silko novel 1977 Sophie’s Choice William Styron novel 1979 The Color Purple Alice Walker novel 1982 Fences August Wilson play 1983 The Piano Lesson August Wilson play 1987 Author Genre Date Reservation Blues Sherman Alexie novel 1995 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood novel 2000 Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood novel 2003 Kim Edwards novel 2005 Cold Mountain Charles Frazier novel 1997 Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson novel 1994 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini novel 2003 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini novel 2007 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro novel 2005 Barbara Kingsolver novel 1998 Jumpa Lahiri novel 2004 Cormac McCarthy novel 1992 Ian McEwan novel 2001 Chang Rae-Lee novel 1995 Equus Ceremony 1990-Present Title The Memory Keeper’s Daughter The Poisonwood Bible The Namesake All the Pretty Horses Atonement Native Speaker The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy novel 1997 Jane Smiley novel 1991 The Bonesetter’s Daughter Amy Tan novel 2001 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle David Wroblewski novel 2008 A Thousand Acres