For Mr. Spear’s ELA course, all graduating seniors must read at
least four novels. Two novels will be read as a class; the other two
are of your choice.
•This presentation contains a few that are suggested in the MPS
curriculum framework.
•
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
A monster
assembled by a
scientist from
parts of dead
bodies develops
a mind of his
own as he
learns to loathe
himself and hate
his creator.
Copper Sun by Sharon Draper
This poignant story of two
fifteen-year-old girls
describes the shocking
realities of the slave trade
and plantation life of 18th
century America. Amari, a
slave, and Polly, an
indentured servant,
escape a cruel life and try
to reach safety in Florida.
Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Beguiled by the
prophesies of the
"weird sisters,"
and urged on by
his wife, Macbeth
acts on his
intense political
ambition, with
tragic
consequences.
A Lesson Before Dying
by Ernest Gaines
Two black
men--one a
teacher, the
other a deathrow inmate-struggle to live
and die with
dignity.
George Orwell’s 1984
Eternal
warfare is the
price of bleak
prosperity in
this satire of
totalitarian
barbarism.
More on 1984
1984 remains an important novel, in part for
the alarm it sounds against the abusive
nature of authoritarian governments, but
even more so for its penetrating analysis of
the psychology of power and the ways that
manipulations of language and history can
be used as mechanisms of control.
Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
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
A black man fervently
searches for his identity.
The nameless narrator of
the novel describes growing
up in a black community in
the South, attending a
Negro college from which
he is expelled, moving to
New York and becoming the
chief spokesman of the
Harlem branch of "the
Brotherhood", and
retreating amid violence
and confusion to the
basement lair of the
Invisible Man he imagines
himself to be.
The Bean Trees
by Barbara Kingsolver
Taylor Greer grew
up poor in rural
Kentucky with two
goals: to avoid
pregnancy and to
get away. She
succeeds on both
counts when she
buys a 1955
Volkswagen and
heads west.
The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
This is a story told
by the wife and four
daughters of Nathan
Price, a fierce,
evangelical Baptist
who takes his family
and mission to the
Belgian Congo in
1959.
Beowulf: A New Telling
by Robert Nye
This book is not a
literal translation,
but a retelling of
the old epic that
captures the spirit
of the original in
language
accessible to
young readers.
Black Boy by Richard Wright
At four years of age, Richard
Wright set fire to his home; at
five his father deserted the
family; and by six Richard
was temporarily an alcoholic.
Moved from home to home,
from brick tenement to
orphanage, he had had, by
the age of twelve, only one
year's formal education. It
was in saloons, railroad yards
and streets that he learned
the facts about life under
white subjection, about fear,
hunger and hatred. Gradually
he learned to play Jim Crow
in order to survive.
A Doll’s House
by Henrik Ibsen
The story of Nora and
her husband, Torvald,
is told just as the
secret Nora has been
hiding for years is
finally revealed. In the
process, Nora
discovers her
importance as a
person.
Summary: A Doll’s House

Nora Helmer once secretly
borrowed a large sum of money so
that her husband could recuperate
from a serious illness. She never
told him of this loan and has been
secretly paying it back in small
installments by saving from her
household allowance.

Her husband, Torvald, thinks
her careless and childlike, and
often calls her his doll. When he is
appointed bank director, his first act
is to relieve a man who was once
disgraced for having forged his
signature on a document. This
man, Nils Krogstad, is the person
from whom Nora has borrowed her
money.
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
It is then revealed that she
forged her father's signature in
order to get the money. Krogstad
threatens to reveal Nora's crime
and thus disgrace her and her
husband unless Nora can
convince her husband not to fire
him. Nora tries to influence her
husband, but he thinks of Nora
as a simple child who cannot
understand the value of money
or business.
Thus, when Torvald discovers
that Nora has forged her father's
name, he is ready to disclaim his
wife even though she had done it
for him. Later when all is solved,
Nora sees that her husband is