Purpose

This project is designed to supplement the traditional anthology used for American literature and to encourage students to do independent reading and critical thinking. It is designed for college-bound juniors and addresses these standards.

• Option One: Students will read three works by the same author. The author must be a recognized canon writer. See sample author studies.
• Option Two: Students will read three works by different writers from the same time period. See sample time period studies.
• Option Three: Students will read three works with a common theme from different time periods. See sample thematic studies.
• Option Four: Students will read three works from the same genre and study the development of the genre. See sample genre studies.
• Option Five: Students will read biographies of three Americans who have something in common. See sample biography studies.

Each of the three works chosen will be one of the outside reading choices for each six weeks. Students will complete a creative project and a writing assignment related to the individual work. The fourth project will be a paper exploring the common thread to these works.

For the purposes of this project, a "work" is defined as a novel, two or three plays, a volume of poetry, an autobiography, a collection of short stories, a collection of essays/other nonfiction.

• pre-Columbus – 1800
• 1800 – Civil War
• Civil War – 1900
• 1900 – 1930
• 1930 – 1960
• 1960 – present

• Works selected must be of a reading level appropriate for high school students.
• Authors must be American and must be canon writers (no Danielle Steele, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, Nicholas Sparks, or Jodi Picault). Exceptions may be made for specific titles at the teacher’s discretion.
• Works must be at least 200 pages long. Exceptions will be made when good cause is shown. Example: if your first book is Grapes of Wrath (619 pages in paperback), we might negotiate something shorter for your second work. Second example: if your copy of The Great Gatsby is only 189 pages long, I will approve it anyway because of the very high status of the work.
• Content must be such that your parents do not object.
• You must not have read the work before. Exception: you may re-read ONE book for this project, but you must actually re-read it — you can't work from memory.