Teaching Literature

american literature

british literature

multicultural/world literature

poetry

drama/speech

shakespeare

young adult literature

mythology/fantasy/sci-fi

nonfiction

critical approaches

literary criticism

story response/writing

assessment

censorship

professional development

media/technology

chapter activities    further reading    web links    literary texts    home

How to use this site

CHAPTERS

1

What does it mean to teach literature?

2

Who are our kids?

3

How do I decide what to teach?

4

How do I help kids read?

5

How do I get them to talk and write (about) literature?

6

What’s the (use of) story?

7

How does the shape of a text change the shape of my teaching?

8

Do I have to teach Shakespeare? Okay, how do I survive it?

9

Other ways of seeing (critical lenses)

10

How do I stay in control and out of trouble?

11

What else is a text and how do I teach it?

12

How do I know what they’ve learned?

13

How can I keep developing, evolving, and having fun as a teacher?

home

Literary texts

Achebe, C. (1994). Things falls apart. Anchor.

 

Alexie, S. (2004). The Lone Ranger and Tonto fistfight in Heaven. Grove Press.

 

Allen, P. G. (1990). Spider Woman’s granddaughters: Traditional tales and contemporary writing by Native American Women. Ballantine Books.

 

Allison, D. (1992). Bastard out of Carolina. Dutton.

 

Al-Shaykh, H. (1996). The story of Zahra. Anchor.

 

Alvarez, J. (1995). In the time of the butterflies. Plume.

 

Anaya, R. (1999). Bless me Ultima. Warner Books.

 

Angelou, M. (1991). All God's children need traveling shoes. Vintage.

 

Angelou, M. (2002). A song flung up to Heaven. Random House.

 

Baldwin, J. (1980). Go tell it on the mountain. Laurel.

 

Baldwin, J. (2001). Giovanni's room. Penguin Books.

 

Benitez, S. (1995). A place where the sea remembers. Touchstone.

 

Bradbury, R. (1984). The Martian chronicles. Spectra.

 

Burns, O. A. (1984). Cold sassy tree. Houghton Mifflin.

 

Butler, O. (2004).  Kindred. Beacon Press.

 

Cao, L. (1998). Monkey Bridge. Penguin Books.

 

Card, O. S. (2002). Ender's game. Starscape.

 

Chopin, K. (2004). The awakening. Pocket.

 

Cisneros, S. (2000). The house on Mango Street. Mcgraw-Hill College.

 

Collins, B. (1998).  Picnic, lightning. University of Pittsburg Press.

 

Conrad, J. (2003).The heart of darkness. Hesperus Press.

 

Cushman, K. (1995). Catherine, called Birdy. Harper Collins Publishers.

 

Dangarembga, T. (2002). Nervous conditions. Seal Press.

 

Danticat, E. (1996). Krik? Krak? Vintage.

 

Deloria, E. C. (1990). Waterlily. University of Nebraska Press.

 

Dickey, J. (1994). Deliverance. Delta.

 

Divakaruni, C. (1998). The mistress of spices. Anchor.

 

Doty, M. (1997).  Heaven's Coast. Harper Perennial.

 

Ellison, R. (2002). Invisible man. Random House.

 

Emecheta, B. (1994). The joys of motherhood. Heinemann.

 

Erdrich, L. (2004). Tracks. Harper Perennial.

 

Erdrich, L. (2005). Love medicine. Harper Perennial Modern Classics.

 

Faqir, F. (1987). Nisanit. Aidan Ellis.

 

Farah, N. (2006). Sweet and sour milk. Graywolf Press.

 

Faulkner, W. (1970). As I lay dying. Chatto & Windus.

 

Frank, E. R. (2000). Life is funny. DK Publishing.

 

Frazier, C. (1997). Cold Mountain. Vintage.

 

Gaines, E. (1997). A lesson before dying. Knopf.

 

Garcia, C. (1993). Dreaming in Cuban. Ballantine Books.

 

Gilman, C. P. (1989). The yellow wallpaper. Bantam Classics.

 

Goldberg, M. (2001). The bee season. Anchor.

 

Guterson, D. (2004). Snow falling on cedars. Chelsea House Publications.    

 

Haruf, K. (2000). Plainsong. Vintage.

 

Hegi, U. (1997). Stones from the river. Touchstone.

 

Hemingway, E. (1996). In our time. Scribner.

 

Hinton, S. E. (1997). The outsiders. Puffin.

 

Hogan, L. (1994). Solar storms. Scribner.

 

Holthe, T. U. (2003). When the elephants dance. Penguin.

 

Howe, L. (2001). Shell shaker. Aunt Lute Books.

 

Hurston, Z. N. (2000).  Their eyes were watching God. Harper Collins.

 

Jackson, S. (1984). We have always lived in the castle. Penguin.

 

Jin, H. (2000). Waiting. Vintage.

 

Jordan, J. (1997). Kissing God goodbye. Anchor.

 

Kincaid, J. (1998). My brother. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

 

King, L. R.(1994). The beekeeper's apprentice, or, on the segregation of the Queen. St. Martin's Minotaur.

 

King, T. (1994). Green grass, running water. Bantam.

 

Kingsolver, B. (1998). The bean trees. Harper Torch.

 

Kingsolver, B. (2005). The Poisonwood Bible. Harper Perennial Modern Classics.

 

Kingston, M. H. (1989). Woman Warrior. Vintage.

 

Knowles, J. (1984). A separate peace. Chelsea House Publications.

 

Koestler, A. (1984). Darkness at noon. Bantam. 

 

Kogawa, J. (1993). Obasan. Anchor.

 

Kushner, T. (1993). Angels in America. Theatre Communications.

 

Lorde, Z. (1983). A new spelling of my name. Crossing Press.

 

Lowry, L. (1990). Number the stars. Bantam.

 

Mahfouz, N. (1993). The journey of Ibn Fattouma. Anchor.

 

Marquez, G. (2004). One hundred years of solitude. Harper Perennial.

 

Martel, Y. (2006). Life of Pi. Seal Books.

 

McCullers, C. (2004). The heart is a lonely hunter. Mariner.

 

Monette, P. (2004). Becoming man. Harper Perennial Modern Classics.

 

Morrison, T. (1999). Beloved. Columbia University Press.

 

Morrison, T. (2000). The bluest eye. Plume.

 

Morrison, T. (2002). Sula. Plume.

 

Mukherjee, B. (1999). The middleman and other stories. Grove Press.

 

Naylor, G. (1989). Mama Day. Vintage.

 

Ninh, B. (2002). The sorrow of war. Rugged Land.

 

Nye, N. S. (2002). 19 varieties of gazelles. Greenwillow.

 

O'Brien, T. (1998). The things they carried: A work of fiction. Broadway.

 

O'Brien, T. (1999). Going after Cacciato. Broadway.

 

Otsuka, J. (2002). When the Emperor was divine. Knopf.

 

Paley, G. (1985). Enormous changes at the last minute. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

 

Power, S. (1995). The grass dancer. Berkley.

 

Roy, A. (1998). The God of small things. Harper Perennial.

 

Rulfo, J. (1994). Pedro Paramo. Grove Press.

 

Senna, D. (1999). Caucasia. Riverhead Trade.

 

Sijie, D. (2002). Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress. Anchor.

 

Silko, L. M. (1986). Ceremony. Penguin.

 

Silko, L. M. (2000). The gardens in the dunes. Simon & Schuster.

 

Smith, B. (1998). A tree grows in Brooklyn is an American novel. Perennial Classics. 

 

Steinbeck, J. (1996). The winter of our discontent. Penguin Classics. 

 

Styron, W. (2002). Sophie’s choice. Chelsea House Publications.

 

Tan, A. (1990). The joy luck club. Ivy Books. 

 

Tan, A. (1993). Kitchen God's wife. Vintage.

 

Troung, M. (2004). The book of salt. Mariner Books.

 

Vonnegut, K. (1991). Slaughterhouse-five. Laurel. 

 

Walker, A. (1990). The color purple. Pocket.

 

Watson, L. (1995). Montana 1948. Washington Square Press.

 

Wicomb, Z. (2000). You can't get lost in Cape Town. The Feminist Press at CUNY.

 

Winterson, J. (1997). Oranges are not the only fruit. Grove Press.

 

Yamamoto, H. (1998). Seventeen syllables. Rutgers University Press.

 

Yolen, J. (1993). Briar Rose. Tor Books.

chapter activities    further reading    web links    literary texts    home

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