Required Reading Lists

Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures is a middle-grade magical realism novel written by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by K. G. Campbell, and originally published in 2013. DiCamillo is a renowned middle-grade author who also wrote Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux, among other books. Flora and Ulysses was the recipient of the John Newbery Medal for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American Literature for Children in 2014. It was also adapted into a... Read Flora And Ulysses Summary

A choreopoem is a work of art that combines dance, music, and poetry. Because the medium focuses as much on nonverbal communication as the written word, choreopoems are performance pieces. Ntozake Shange originated this format in 1974, when for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf debuted in San Francisco, California. Later, the choreopoem made its Broadway debut in December 1976, a move that Shange describes as “either too big for... Read For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf Summary

... Read Freedom Summer Summary

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006) is a graphic novel memoir written and illustrated by underground cartoonist Alison Bechdel. The book centers on Bechdel’s relationship with her late father Bruce Allen Bechdel, who died in what she believes was a death by suicide. Fun Home is a non-linear narrative that rehashes events from Alison Bechdel’s youth and adolescence. Her memories are presented in the comic panels, overlayed with her prosaic, retrospective musings in text boxes... Read Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic Summary

... Read Gate A-4 Summary

Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” was first published on June 26, 1978 in The New Yorker and was later included in Kincaid’s debut 1983 short story collection, At the Bottom of the River. According to Kincaid, her works, including “Girl,” can be considered autobiographical. Kincaid grew up on the Caribbean island of Antigua and had a strained relationship with her mother before Kincaid moved to New York City. These same cultural and familial contexts are present in... Read Girl Summary

John Gardner’s 1971 novel Grendel is a retelling of the story of Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic poem from the 6th century, from the perspective of the villain, the monster Grendel. In Grendel, the monster Grendel is an anti-hero, challenging the conventions of traditionally heroic behavior as he tries to understand the world in which he lives. In 1982, an animated Australian film adaptation of the novel called Grendel Grendel Grendel was released in major cities... Read Grendel Summary

Gulliver’s Travels is a 1726 novel written by Jonathan Swift. It is both an early English novel and a seminal satirical text in British Literature, remaining Swift’s best-known work and spawning many adaptations in both print and film. The targets of Swift’s satire range from political structures in early 18th-century England to the national rivalry between England and France during the same period. Swift also lampoons science and educational trends that lean towards more speculative... Read Gulliver's Travels Summary

... Read Hanging Fire Summary

... Read Heart to Heart Summary

Herland (1915) is the second installment of The Herland Trilogy by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, but it is typically read as a standalone novel. Gilman was an American humanist, feminist activist, and author of both fiction and nonfiction. Her most famous work is “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892), a short story that depicts the late 1800s “rest cure”: a popular treatment for women’s mental health that Gilman underwent herself. Herland follows three men—Van, Jeff, and Terry—who find... Read Herland Summary

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Ernest Hemingway’s 1927 short story “Hills Like White Elephants” was published first in the periodical transitions and then in his short story collection Men Without Women. One of his most well-known short stories, it utilizes many of the techniques that typify Hemingway’s writing, such as minimalism, direct dialogue, and indirect characterization. The story consists almost entirely of dialogue, with only sparse, sporadic narrative description. Please note that this story concerns discussions of abortion and may... Read Hills Like White Elephants Summary

How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us Versus Them is a nonfiction book published in 2018 by the American philosopher and Yale University professor Jason Stanley. In it, the author discusses ten mechanisms by which fascist politicians gain and consolidate power in democratic states, potentially yielding a fascist state with an absolute leader. Drawing on examples that range from Nazi Germany to the contemporary United States, Stanley explains the appeal of fascist ideology during times... Read How Fascism Works Summary

... Read How Should One Read a Book? Summary

Content Warning: Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body describes and references rape and sexual violence, emotional abuse, and verbal abuse.Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body (2017) is a memoir by Roxane Gay that addresses the emotional, physical, and psychological effects of sexual assault—and how they tie into self-image. Though Gay’s memoir centers her body, food, and self-image, she also confronts society’s fatphobia—the world’s unwillingness to accept fat people as they are due to assumptions about... Read Hunger Summary

... Read I Am the People, the Mob Summary

... Read Identity Summary

... Read If— Summary