American Literature

The purpose of this class is to introduce students to a variety of American authors and works. Rather than a traditional chronological survey, I’ve chosen books, short stories, and poetry that embody key ideas in American life or share themes that we can compare across books. Students will practice reading attentively and analyzing literature with the ultimate goal of delight and enjoyment in reading.

Writing is an essential part of thinking well about literature and so students will be expected to write weekly written narrations about the assigned reading, 2 longer essays, and keep a commonplace book of quotations from their reading. Homework will average 3-4 hours a week.

Film is one of the great American art forms, so we’ll also plan to watch film adaptations of at least two of the works we’re reading. These may happen outside of class at my home, depending on the schedule.

The course is intended for students in 9th-12th grades. Students should be mature enough to handle the content of the selected books.

The course fee is $375. An early bird discount of $25 will be applied if registration is completed by May 31. A non-refundable $100 deposit is required in order to complete your registration. Instructions for submitting that payment will be emailed to you after you submit your registration. The balance of the course fee is due by August 13, unless a payment plan has been arranged with the teacher.

Required supplies: The proposed (but not final) book list is below, I've included the ISBN for the copy I intend to use, which is helpful for being on the same page (literally), but to save costs, if you own a book already, use that one. Students should have a notebook for commonplacing quotations and a folder or binder for class handouts.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain ISBN-13: 978-1953649805
Shane by Jack Schaefer ISBN-13: 978-0544239470
Mama’s Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes ISBN-13: 978-0156563772
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee ISBN-13: 978-0060935467
The Chosen by Chaim Potok ISBN-13: 978-1501142468
Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri ISBN-13: 978-1646142729
Additional short stories and poetry will be supplied in class.