This collection brings together texts that explore the beauty and often redemptive power of music, from classical compositions in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus and Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, to gospel songs and spirituals in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.
Publication year 2024
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Gratitude, Emotions/Behavior: Joy, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Identity: Femininity, Life/Time: The Past, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Teams, Values/Ideas: Art, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Values/Ideas: Fame, Values/Ideas: Music
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Gratitude, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Joy, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Values/Ideas: Art, Values/Ideas: Music, Values/Ideas: Literature, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Friendship, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Siblings, Society: Community, Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Food, Natural World: Place
Tags Realistic Fiction, Children's Literature, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Urban Development, Holidays & Occasions, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Music, Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies
Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Music, Race / Racism, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 1972
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Music
Tags Education, Education, Southern Literature, History: World, Classic Fiction, Biography
First published in 1972, novelist Pat Conroy’s book, The Water Is Wide: A Memoir, recounts his experiences teaching on an island off the South Carolina coast. Plot SummaryA young teacher, Pat considers the Vietnam War to be unjust and intends to join the Peace Corps in order to avoid being drafted. When he does not hear back about his application, he volunteers to teach on Yamacraw Island instead. In his first week, Pat is shocked... Read The Water Is Wide Summary
Publication year 1934
Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Music
Tags Harlem Renaissance, Race / Racism, American Literature, Historical Fiction, Social Justice, Classic Fiction
Published in 1934, The Ways of White Folks is Langston Hughes’s collection of 14 short stories focusing on race relations in the United States. With somber tales of struggle and violence, as well as moments of irony and humor, the collection addresses racism, economic disparity, and hope. This study guide quotes and obscures Hughes’s use of the n-word.Plot Summary“Cora Unashamed” tells the story of Cora Jenkins, who works as a maid for a cruel White... Read The Ways of White Folks Summary
Publication year 1926
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Music
Tags Lyric Poem, Race / Racism, African American Literature, American Literature, History: World, Music, Classic Fiction
Publication year 2017
Genre Essay Collection, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Music, Identity: Race, Emotions/Behavior: Grief
Tags Music, Race / Racism, Politics / Government, African American Literature
Publication year 1993
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Music, Values/Ideas: Fame
Trainspotting is Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh’s 1993 work of fiction. Set in the late 1980s, the novel follows the “Skag Boys,” who are involved in Edinburgh, Scotland’s heroin scene, particularly in the neighborhood of Leith. Most of the novel portrays a Scottish English dialect, though some portions are in British English. Separated into seven parts, the 43 chapters are from different character’s perspectives, and some are in third person, making for a disjointed narrative that... Read Trainspotting Summary
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Music
Tags Realistic Fiction, Women's Studies (Nonfiction), Modern Classic Fiction
Trampoline is an illustrated novel written by Robert Gipe. Ohio University Press published the novel in 2015. The story takes place in the fictional Canard County, located in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. The narrator, Dawn Jewell, tells the story of the holiday season when she was 15 years old. Dawn is intelligent, creative, and thoughtful. She lives with her grandmother, whom she calls Mamaw, because her own mother, Momma, is too addicted to drugs... Read Trampoline Summary
Publication year 1998
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Gender, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Identity: Race, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Music, Identity: Sexuality
Tags Historical Fiction, LGBTQ, Music, Grief / Death, Race / Racism, Love / Sexuality, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2010
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Gratitude, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Apathy, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Flora/plants, Natural World: Food, Society: Community, Society: Economics, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Literature, Values/Ideas: Art, Values/Ideas: Music, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Friendship, Relationships: Grandparents, Relationships: Mothers
Tags Historical Fiction, Action / Adventure, Children's Literature, Great Depression, Animals, Realistic Fiction, History: World
Turtle in Paradise is a 2010 historical fiction children’s novel by Jennifer L. Holm. Set in the Florida Keys during the Great Depression, the novel follows an 11-year-old girl’s struggles and successes as she visits her aunt and cousins in the town where her mother grew up. The novel won the Golden Kite Award and is a Newbery Honor Book as well as a Junior Library Guild selection.This guide refers to the 2010 Random House... Read Turtle in Paradise Summary
Publication year 1896
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Music
Tags Humor, Play: Comedy / Satire, Absurdism, French Literature, Education, Education, Drama / Tragedy, History: World, Classic Fiction
Ubu Roi, a play by Alfred Jarry, debuted in Paris in December 1896. The play’s opening night at the Théâtrede l’Oeuvre was also its closing night, as a commotion—often described as a “riot”—broke out amongst the audience, who were accustomed to naturalist theatre and were horrified by the play’s shocking and crude nature. Nonetheless, the play has gone on to be seen as a deeply-influential work of theatre, and is cited as one of the precursors to modernism and... Read Ubu Roi Summary
Publication year 2015
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Identity: Language, Identity: Race, Life/Time: The Future, Life/Time: The Past, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Friendship, Self Discovery, Society: Community, Society: Education, Society: Immigration, Society: Nation, Society: War, Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Music, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt
Tags Historical Fiction, Romance, Play: Drama, Play: Comedy / Satire, Education, Education, History: World, Drama / Tragedy, Humor
Publication year 2005
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Values/Ideas: Music
Tags Children's Literature, Education, Education, Inspirational, Biography
We Beat the Street: How A Friendship Pact Led to Success is a New York Times best-selling nonfiction work published in 2005 that examines the lives and choices of three friends and now-doctors Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt, and George Jenkins. The book was co-authored with the help of award-winning children's author Sharon M. Draper. Plot SummarySampson, Rameck, and George hail from dangerous and underprivileged neighborhoods in Newark, NJ. Though the boys come from loving families... Read We Beat the Street Summary
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Music
Tags Historical Fiction, WWII / World War II, Military / War, History: World
We Were the Lucky Ones, written by Georgia Hunter and published in 2017, is a historical novel based on the actual experiences of the author’s family during World War II. Hunter’s grandfather, Addy Kurc, came from a family of Jews in Radom, Poland. The book follows the story of Addy, his parents Nechuma and Sol, and his siblings Genek, Mila, Jakob, and Halina, along with their spouses, as they struggle to survive the Holocaust and... Read We Were the Lucky Ones Summary
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Siblings, Self Discovery, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Fame, Values/Ideas: Music
Tags Romance, New Adult
Publication year 1993
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Music, Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Coming of Age
Tags Immigration / Refugee, American Literature, Race / Racism, Education, Education, Biography
The memoir When I Was Puerto Rican recounts author Esmeralda Santiago’s early years. It is the first of her three memoirs chronicling her childhood in Puerto Rico to her eventual residence in the United States. It is a coming of age story, but mines richer material than that. Questions of identity—national identity, hereditary identity, familial identity, female identity, spiritual identity, and semantic labels—underpin the stories Santiago tells.The book begins in Puerto Rico, when Esmeralda is... Read When I Was Puerto Rican Summary
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Music
Tags Romance, Contemporary Literature, Western, Music
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Relationships: Friendship, Values/Ideas: Music, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Self Discovery
Tags Romance, Holidays & Occasions
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: The Past, Relationships: Friendship, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Values/Ideas: Music, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality
Tags Romance, Magical Realism, Drama / Tragedy, Grief / Death, Modern Classic Fiction, Fantasy, Religion / Spirituality