Hamlet by: William Shakespeare

Hamlet, is a TRAGEDY by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in the KINGDOM OF DENMARK, recounts how PRINCE HAMLET exacts revenge on his uncle CLAUDIUS for murdering the old KING HAMLET, Claudius's own brother and Prince Hamlet's father, and then succeeding to the throne and marrying GERTRUDE, the King Hamlet's widow and mother of Prince Hamlet. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seething rage—and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.

Black Like Me by: John Howard Griffin

The deep south of the late 1950’s was another country: a land of lynchings, segregated lunch counters, whites-only restrooms, and a color line etched in blood across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. White journalist John Howard griffin, working for the black-owned magazine Sepia, decided to cross that line. Using medication that darkened his skin to deep brown, he exchanged his privileged life as a southern white man for the disenfranchised world of an unemployed black man. What happened to John Howard Griffin -from the outside and within himself- as he made his way through the segregated deep south is recorded in this searing work of nonfiction. Educated and soft-spoken, John Howard Griffin changed only the color of his skin. It was enough to make him hated... enough to nearly get him killed. His audacious, still chillingly relevant eyewitness history is a work about race and humanity that every American must read.

Of Mice And Men by: John Steinbeck

They are an unlikely pair: George is “Small an quick and dark of face”; Lennie is a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a “Family,” clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California’s dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work where they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be in their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor the consequences of Lennie’s unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.    

Grapes of Wrath by: John Steinbeck

At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbecks fictional chronicle of the dust bowl migration of the 1930’s is perhaps the most American of American classics.

To Kill A Mockingbird by: Harper Lee

“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel- a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the deep south of the 1930’s. The Conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man’s struggle for justice- but the weight of history will only tolerate so much. One of the best loved classics of all time, To Kill A Mockingbird has earned many distinctions since its original publication in 1960. It has won the Pulitzer Prize, been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, and been made into an enormously popular movie. Most recent librarians across the country gave the book the highest of honors by voting it the best novel of the century. 

The Great Gatsby by: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Since it’s publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s account of the American dream gone awry, has established itself as one of the most influential and widely read novels in the english language. 

Nectar in a Sieve by: Kamala Markandaya

Married as a child bride to a tenant farmer she had never seen, she worked side by side in the field with her husband to wrest a living from land that was ravaged by drought, monsoons, and insects. With remarkable fortitude and courage, she sought to meet the challenge of changing times and to fight poverty and disaster. She saw one of her infants die of starvation, her daughter become a prostitute and her sons leave the land to find jobs that she distrusted. And somehow she survived.... This beautiful and eloquent story tells of a simple peasant woman in a primitive village in india whose whole life was a constant and persistent battle to care for those she loved- an unforgettable novel that will wring your heart out.

The Giver by: Lois Lowry

Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.