Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 1 Book Title: Cather in the Rye

Grade Level and Audience / Age Appropriateness:

12th grade College Readiness and Career Readiness

Plot Summary: Holden Caulfield writes his tale from a private home in

California where he is being psychoanalyzed. His narrative begins on the

Saturday before school lets out at Pencey Prep. Holden has been kicked out of

Pencey Prep for failing every class except for English. He gets into a fight with

his roommate and decides to go to New York for a few days before going

home. Holden has several psychological problems: he is immature, isolated,

longs for companionship, hates everybody, cries frequently, smokes a lot and

is having a mental breakdown. Despite his declaration of independence, he

goes to great lengths to find companionship. While in New York, he meets

three older women at a night club, hires a prostitute to talk to, gets beat up

by a pimp, goes to a blues bar, goes on a date, meets an old friend, gets really

drunk, breaks into his own house, stays at a former teacher’s house, and has

many other interesting things happen to him. The cause of his trouble is his

unwillingness to grow up and his desire to protect children from losing their

innocence (brighthubeducation.com)

Literary Merit: A coming of age novel of Literary Realism that exposes

students to everyday struggles and depicts them as commonplace. Students

will examine the struggle with identity and alienation with which the main

character deals. Students will examine the impact of first person narration

and unreliable narration. Salinger creates a timeless character with teenage

challenges and angst that students can relate to on some level.

Sensitive Subject in the Text/Possible Objections: Smoking, underage

drinking, mature language, sexual references

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:

Sensitive Subjects and how they will be handled:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal

with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned about the

subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be

taught in the class (phone or in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the

students will read an alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the

student with rigorous and high quality work, the student will miss

opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and

collaboration. Students working with alternative texts will be working

independently; therefore, they will miss group instruction around the novel

being taught to the whole class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out

of the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful

consideration.

Learning Goals:

Examine how lack of identity or the search for identity impacts one’s choices.

Examine the stigma of mental illness in CIR and in society.

Examine how Salinger creates the character of Holden and makes him relatable.

Alternative Texts Must:

Be selected by parent and child and approved by the teacher

Be an age appropriate coming of age novel in the realistic fiction genre of at least 200 pages.

Address the following thematic ideas: coming of age, loss of innocence, struggle for identity, alienation, mental illness.

Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 2 Book Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Current ISBN: 978-1-59448-385-1

Grade Level and Audience / Age Appropriateness:

12th grade College Readiness and AP Literature and Composition

Plot Summary:

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family,

Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss

and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them—in

their home as well as in the streets of Kabul—they come to form a bond that

makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will

ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next

generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how

a woman’s love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of

self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is

often the key to survival.

A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting,

heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship,

and an indestructible love (khaledhosseini.com).

Literary Merit: Multicultural text that exposes students to a culture and area

that is very different from their own. Students will learn about the politics,

religion and social customs that are central to Afghani life. Students will gain a

deeper understanding of the violence and oppression that the Soviets,

Mujahideen and Taliban imposed on its citizens, particularly women.

Likewise, comparing these differences to the political and religious cultures of

their own country to better appreciate the freedoms and privileges they

have. (http://athousandsplendidsuns403.weebly.com/introduction.html)

Sensitive Subject in the Text/Possible Objections:

War scenes, domestic violence, some adult language

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:

Sensitive Subjects and how they will be handled:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal

with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned about the

subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be

taught in the class (phone or in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the

students will read an alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the

student with rigorous and high quality work, the student will miss

opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and

collaboration. Students working with alternative texts will be working

independently; therefore, they will miss group instruction around the novel

being taught to the whole class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out

of the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful

consideration.

Learning Goals:

History and evolution of Afghani politic and how it parallels the journeys of Mariam and Laila

How the actions, choices, and defiance affect character outcomes

How the varying belief systems in the novel impact the decisions and actions of the characters

Alternative Texts Must:

Be selected by parent and child and approved by the teacher

Be an age appropriate historical fiction novel of at least 250+ pages

Represent Middle Eastern Culture

Address the following thematic ideas: Suffering and Perseverance; shame and reputation; love, loyalty, and belonging; gender relations; and female friendship

Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 3 Book Title: Devil in the White City

Current ISBN: 978-0-375-72560-9

Grade Level and Audience / Age Appropriateness:

12th grade College Readiness

Plot Summary:

Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied

an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward

the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's

brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most

important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union

Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young

doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel"

just west of the fairgrounds--a torture palace complete with dissection table,

gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame

tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick

Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy

Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the

great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their

deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived,

walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake (buffalolib.org).

Literary Merit:

Though it risks turning into a random compendium, ''The Devil in the White

City'' is given shape and energy by the author's dramatic inclinations. He

succeeds in affirming the historical and cultural importance of the 1893

exhibition, which, he says, may have helped to spawn such other wonders as

Disneyland and Oz. And he unearths a crime story of enduring interest, if only

because Holmes, in the words of The Chicago Times-Herald, was ''so

unthinkable that no novelist would dare to invent such a character.'' A smart

nonfiction writer did it instead (newyorktimes.com).

Sensitive Subject in the Text/Possible Objections:

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:

sensitive Subjects and how they will be handled:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal

with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned about the

subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be

taught in the class (phone or in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the

students will read an alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the

student with rigorous and high quality work, the student will miss

opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and

collaboration. Students working with alternative texts will be working

independently; therefore, they will miss group instruction around the novel

being taught to the whole class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out

of the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful

consideration.

Learning Goals:

Alternative Texts Must:

Be selected by parent and child and approved by the teacher

Be an age appropriate nonfiction novel of at least 300+ pages

Represent an actual historical event

Address some of the following thematic ideas: sanity and insanity; men and women; ego; civic pride and American patriotism; modernity and anonymity

Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 4 Book Title: The Importance of Being Earnest

Current ISBN: 978-1-58-049580-6

Grade Level and Audience / Age Appropriateness:

12th grade College Readiness and AP Literature

Plot Summary:

John Worthing, a carefree young gentleman, is the inventor of a fictitious

brother, “Ernest,” whose wicked ways afford John an excuse to leave his

country home from time to time and journey to London, where he stays with

his close friend and confidant, Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon has a cousin,

Gwendolen Fairfax, with whom John is deeply in love. During his London

sojourns, John, under the name Ernest, has won Gwendolen’s love, for she

strongly desires to marry someone with the confidence-inspiring name of

Ernest. But when he asks for Gwendolen’s hand from the formidable Lady

Bracknell, John finds he must reveal he is a foundling who was left in a

handbag at Victoria Station. This is very disturbing to Lady Bracknell, who

insists that he produce at least one parent before she consents to the

marriage.

Returning to the country home where he lives with his ward Cecily Cardew

and her governess Miss Prism, John finds that Algernon has also arrived under

the identity of the nonexistent brother Ernest. Algernon falls madly in love

with the beautiful Cecily, who has long been enamored of the mysterious,

fascinating brother Ernest.

With the arrival of Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen, chaos erupts. It is

discovered that Miss Prism is the absent-minded nurse who twenty years ago

misplaced the baby of Lady Bracknell’s brother in Victoria Station. Thus John,

whose name is indeed Ernest, is Algernon’s elder brother, and the play ends

with the two couples in a joyous embrace (thebard.org).

Literary Merit:

The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde's most well-known and best

loved play, as well as being an enormous success in his lifetime. For many

people it is the apogee of the playwright's work. Like Wilde, the play is the

very embodiment of fin de sieclé [end of 19th Century Britian].

However, this seemingly frivolous play has a much darker side

Its critique of Victorian society--though delivered in a velvet glove--is every

inch a clunking-iron fist. The play is a satire both of the hypocrisies of the

society in which Wilde lived, and the damaging effect that these hypocrisies

can have on the souls of those live under their rule. Wilde was to become one

of those souls shortly after the first performance of the play when he initiated

a libel trial that was to lead to his imprisonment for being a homosexual

(classlitabout.com).

Sensitive Subject in the Text/Possible Objections: N/A

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:

Sensitive Subjects and how they will be handled:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal

with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned about the

subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be

taught in the class (phone or in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the

students will read an alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the

student with rigorous and high quality work, the student will miss

opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and

collaboration. Students working with alternative texts will be working

independently; therefore, they will miss group instruction around the novel

being taught to the whole class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out

of the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful

consideration.

Learning Goals:

Alternative Texts Must:

Be selected by parent and child and approved by the teacher

Victorian Age Satirical play of at least 100 pages

Address some of the following thematic ideas: lies and deceit;

marriage; respect/reputation; society/class; gender; love; foolishness

and folly

Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 6 Book Title: Bell Jar

Current ISBN: 978-0-06-083702-0

Grade Level and Audience:

12th grade College Readiness and AP Literature and Composition

Plot Summary: Sylvia Plath was an excellent poet but is known to many for this largely autobiographical novel which was first published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The Bell Jar has become a classic of American literature. The book is based on her own experience yet one has to be careful not to confuse this novel with an autobiography, it has been written with a certain audience and effect in mind, 10 years after the actual events.

Esther, an A-student from Boston who has won a guest editorship on a

national magazine, finds a bewildering new world at her feet. Her New York

life is crowded with possibilities, so that the choice of future is overwhelming,

but she can no longer retreat into the safety of her past. Deciding she wants

to be a writer above all else, Esther is also struggling with the perennial

problems of morality, behaviour and identity. In this compelling

autobiographical novel, a milestone in contemporary literature, Sylvia Plath

chronicles her teenage years - her disappointments, anger, depression and

eventual breakdown and treatment - with stunning wit and devastating

honesty. --Penguin Books

Literary Merit: The style in which Sylvia Plath writes has aesthetic value. Her

use of vivid imagery and figurative language allows the reader into the main

character’s psyche in a way readers may have yet to be exposed. In addition,

the structure of her writing mimics the way her mind works due to her mental

illness. During this 60’s and even before mental illness was not discussed

freely and many women were coined “crazy” simply when they chose not to

follow traditional gender roles. The stigma surrounding mental illness still

exists today which makes this novel relatable in our current time period. The

Bell Jar does not conform to a particular genre; it is fiction, but also partially

autobiographical. Due to the way Plath articulates what it is like to live in

Esther Greenwood’s mind and world, the reader gets a different look into

what it is like to suffer from a mental illness.

Sensitive Subject in the Text

The Bell Jar revolves around the topic of depression and the stigma

surrounding it as well as attempted suicide and suicide.

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:

Sensitive Subjects and how they will be handled:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal

with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned about the

subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be

taught in the class (phone or in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the

students will read an alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the

student with rigorous and high quality work, the student will miss

opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and

collaboration. Students working with alternative texts will be working

independently; therefore, they will miss group instruction around the novel

being taught to the whole class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out

of the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful

consideration.

Learning Goals:

1. Students will identify the elements of Existentialism. 2. Students will discuss existentialism and how it is evident in The Bell

Jar 3. Students will discuss Plath’s use of symbolism and imagery to

illustrate her depression 4. Students will analyze author’s craft.

Alternative Texts Must:

Be selected by parent and child and approved by the teacher

Be an age appropriate coming of age novel in the realistic fiction genre of at least 200 pages.

Address the following thematic ideas: coming of age, loss of innocence, struggle for identity, alienation, mental illness.

Rationale (used for novels only)

Unit 8 Book Title: Inferno –The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Current ISBN: 978-0-451-53139-1

Grade Level and Audience:

12th grade College Readiness and AP Literature and Composition

Plot Summary:

Plot Overview

Inferno opens on the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300. Traveling

through a dark wood, Dante Alighieri has lost his path and now wanders

fearfully through the forest. The sun shines down on a mountain above him,

and he attempts to climb up to it but finds his way blocked by three beasts—a

leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. Frightened and helpless, Dante returns to the

dark wood. Here he encounters the ghost of Virgil, the great Roman poet,

who has come to guide Dante back to his path, to the top of the mountain.

Virgil says that their path will take them through Hell and that they will

eventually reach Heaven, where Dante’s beloved Beatrice awaits. He adds

that it was Beatrice, along with two other holy women, who, seeing Dante

lost in the wood, sent Virgil to guide him.

(Sparknotes.com)

Literary Merit:

The aesthetic value of Inferno lies in the beautiful poetic imagery. There are

also many references to historical and mythical characters such as the Roman

poet Virgil, Julius Caesar, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and characters in Ancient

and Medieval European and Arabic history. The long poem also discusses

ethics, politics, religion and love.

Sensitive Subject in the Text

How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:

Sensitive Subjects and how they will be handled:

Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal

with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned about the

subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:

read the novel in its entirety

meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be

taught in the class (phone or in person)

If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the

students will read an alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the

student with rigorous and high quality work, the student will miss

opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and

collaboration. Students working with alternative texts will be working

independently; therefore, they will miss group instruction around the novel

being taught to the whole class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out

of the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful

consideration.

Learning Goals:

1. The students will be able to read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inference from it.

2. The students will be able to cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions from the text.

3. The student will be able to analyze how complex characters develop over the course of the text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot and theme.

4. The student will be able to identify a theme and how it emerges and use details as support.

5. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or event using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured even sequences.

Alternative Texts Must:

Be selected by parent and child and approved by the teacher

Be a 14th century poem of at least 250 pages.

Address some of the following thematic ideas: man and natural world; lies and deceit; justice; language and communication; wisdom and knowledge; compassion and forgiveness; love; time; respect and reputation