A booklist
Novels seem like a natural choice when following the IB Language B guide requirements for HL. However, short stories, drama, and poetry. See below for a summary from the guide pages 22-23:
- They must be originally written in the target language - in our case, English
- HL students are expected to understand the fundamental elements of the literary works studied, including themes, plot, and characters.
- Literary Criticism is not the objective. We can leave that to Group 1 - Language A
- Students' interests and language level should be taken into consideration
- Literature should take into account the aims and objectives of the course and should connect to one of the 5 themes
- The chosen works should “be culturally relevant to the target language” or connect to the Anglophone world for English B
- Easy Readers or works in translation should be avoided.
- Avoid works that are too linguistically complex or use arcane language.
Choosing texts is a tricky business. To start with, there are numerous possible texts out there - and they are so rich and varied - so where do you begin? Then, what balance should there be between what you enjoy and what that particular group of students will enjoy? It is surely vital that you should be enthusiastic about the chosen text, in order to transmit enthusiasm to the class, but it is also essential that the text should be reasonably accessible and relevant to adolescent tastes and interests.
Categories
The first, obvious category is 'Classics'. This does not necessarily mean 'classics' in the literary canon sense, but rather texts that have been used by so many teachers, so often, so successfully, that they may be seen as forming a canon of excellence for the language teacher's purposes.
The second grouping is simply 'Recomended'. I have not myself taught most of the books in this section, but all have been warmly recommended by someone at one of my workshops. I have sub-grouped these by apparent audience: 'Adult' and 'Young adult' (or 'adolescent'), using these two terms to raise the issue of why we choose a text for study in class:-
Adults... Do we choose books that expand the students' view of the world beyond their own experience and concerns, which are still necessarily limited? This has the advantages of challenging the students to expand their vision, of developing in them a taste for artistically complex writing, and of avoiding the risk of patronising them ("Here's a book about kids like you").
'Young adult' ... Or do we choose books that are set in and explore the kind of world of the age group we teach? This has the advantage of being 'relevant' to the students, of raising issues which may concern them directly, and so of having a good chance of eliciting an enthusiastic response.
In terms of teaching reading skills, I am sure that good adolescent fiction is as useful as Serious Adult novels. Metaphor and metonymy, for instance, occur just as often in good novels written for 16-year-olds as in novels written for 'grown-ups' - and may even be more accessible, in that a good novelist writing for the adolescent market will consciously avoid references that are obscure or over-sophisticated.
Finally, there is 'Miscellaneous', which contains materials that don't fit into the other categories.
Text in italics + green are David's personal comments.
Classics
The Giver, Lois Lowry
"... The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. " - according to Goodreads…
Lord of the Flies William Golding
Is this superb novel now perhaps a little dated? Certainly the black and white film by Peter Brook is slightly creakingly stuck in the 1950s, and perhaps the dialogue rings elderly to today's internet-fed young people, but the themes and the essential relationships between the characters remain valid and gripping.
The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald
An absolute winner, in my view ... it has never failed to interest with any group I have taught ... and it also has three film versions, including the latest starring Leo DiCaprio. Here are links to a couple of pages on this site which relate to 'Gatsby'...
Gatsby's Party ... a passage of brilliantly evocative description, for analysis and discussion - a short extract or the full-length version, both with guiding questions
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
A moving and tragic plot - but the regular objection is that Steinbeck's evocation of working class US language (of the first half of the last century) may prove difficult for many 2nd language learners. Try a sample on the students, and see...
The Pearl John Steinbeck
(“...old but brilliant for stimulus for various text-types incl. newspaper article, descriptive, diary, poem + also metaphor / simile usage ...)
Animal Farm George Orwell
Short, with quite accessible language, and apparently a simple tale ... but of course it's not that simple! A classic example of how a good narrative has different levels of meaning - the explicit and the implicit. In addition to the sophisticated reading skills that can be taught and practised, the novel is useful for teaching about context (historical and political), and about researching background.
1984 George Orwell
More complex than Animal Farm, and also grimmer and more depressing. Teaches the ideas of speculative fiction, of dystopias and alternative histories; and also valuable for exploring the ways that societies can be controlled (after all 'Big Brother' has become a stock emblematic phrase for repression). Look at the page Newspeak for Orwell's ideas about language and cultural control.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon
First-person novel about a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome (i.e. ‘mild’ autism).
See the whole section devoted to this novel - The Curious Incident... Teaches students to (1) decipher, explore and appreciate a hugely different view of the ‘normal’ world .... through (2) working out the protagonist’s sometimes strange or distorted perceptions via inference / gap-filling skills. Good narrative drive; accessible language; moving; and it raises a number of important ideas about language and reality.
Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw
Popular with many teachers and successful. It has the advantage of being a play, as a change from novels, and of dealing head-on with the ideas of language and social class, and how these two interact. It might be considered a little dated or 'historical' ... but surely that could open up possibilities of imaginative projects about how the ideas of the play might be updated in terms of language use today...
Recomended
Adult
The Hate You Give , Angie Thomas
" Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl's struggle for justice. " says Goodreads ... also a popular film version
Room Emma Donoghue
The first person narrator is a five year old boy, and we gradually become aware that he is living in a very strange situation: as the blurb on the back says, succinctly "He lives in a single, locked room with his Ma". Why?
An enthusiasm of mine - ROOM is a featured text with a range of pages and teaching materials... Encourages sophisticated inferential reading skills + provides a fascinating view of the world of childhood + brilliant evocation of childhood language + gradually, more and more issues about the adult world are raised.
The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins
See my review. ... and also the extract developed for classroom studies in Exploring Hunger Games . Not just good for 'coming of age' purposes, but has a lot to say about manipulation in media and politics, and has enough violent drama to keep even the most restless of the boys involved! There's a film - see the trailer - and have a look at The Guardian review…
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
Popular among English teachers because, by proposing a future world in which books are distrusted and burned, it raises the question of the importance of reading. The Wikipedia article provides a useful synopsis, as well as some interesting background about the film treatments. Have a look at this clip on YouTube - conveys the idea (and also the dated quality of the Truffaut film!)
The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
A dystopia created by a combination of religious fundamentalism and a 'plague' of declining fertility - so women are basically enslaved... challenging in terms of interpretation and inference ... personally, I would only use this with pretty capable students (there is the TV adaptation, of course)
Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes [Also an Oscar-winning film - Charly ]
‘Charlie Gordon, IQ68, is a floor sweeper and the gentle butt of everyone’s jokes, until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. But then Algernon, the mouse whose triumphal experimental transformation preceded his, fades and dies, and Charlie has to face the possibility that his salvation was only temporary.’ (Publisher's blurb)
The Wikipedia article is sound and informative, and supplies a lot of useful links.
Teaches (1) varieties of language from simple to sophisticated; (2) relationship between grasp of language and perception of reality; (3) the nature of intelligence; (4) a range of human relationships; (5) mortality and tragedy.
You can see a sample of the style and approach in the page Charlie's thoughts
Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut
See the synopsis on a Vonnegut fan's website. You could even try the movie trailer on the students (not great, actually).
Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut
Again, try the VonnegutWeb synopsis, which comes alongside a quite thoughtful analysis, and some useful links; and the Wikipedia page is competently done. This movie trailer is suitably engimatic and intriguing.
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
The Wikipedia article is a clear introduction, with summary of themes and issues of the book. An extract from the African TV series of the book gives something of the feel of the setting ... but I don't find it very impressive. There's an interesting lesson plan which shows what can be done at a sophisticated level with the book, although it seems to concentrate more on a Lang & Lit theme of context and background not really suitable for Lang B I would have thought.
(By the way, one participant recommended the novel in general terms, but confessed "my students hated it ..." !)
Being There Jerzy Kosinski
This short and accessible novel is also available as a film (starring Peter Sellars in, I think, his last role) + and you can find a draft of the film script in www.dailyscript.com. There is a brief summary in the interesting Wikipedia article on Jerzy Kosinski; and more helpfully, a fairly thoughtful article about the novel 'Understanding Society ...' In general, the novel fits very well with the Media & Communication Core topic in the new Subject Guide.
[The theme of the Innocent Abroad, or Holy Fool, could be developed through the film 'Forrest Gump']
The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
Complex saga about growing up amid the grim realities of Afghanistan - and extended consequences. Moving, quite gripping and stimulating - but long (more suitable for A2 students ?) Have a look at the WikiSummaries synopsis - the WikiSummaries site seems like a useful reference tool for teachers (suggests essay titles, for instance), but one to avoid telling the students about !
The Road Cormac McCarthy
Father & son struggle to survive in a destroyed world. Brilliant writing, and compelling narration, but ... a bit stark, grim? Level of language varies between accessible and obscure.
Twelve Angry Men play & film (cf also Runaway Jury ... modern parallel version)
I recently revisited the black and white film starring Henry Fonda, and consider it a classic. Well worth viewing it very slowly, asking students to consider very carefully what each section of dialogue tells us ... apart from anything else, it is a superb TOK text, insisting on critical thinking and the value of questioning what you think you know ...
"Master Harold"...and the boys Athol Fugard
Recommended by Claudia Martinez (see Comments, below) - award-winning play about apartheid
From Cradle to Grave a selection of short stories from Oxford Bookworms
’These stories explore the trials of life from youth to old age: the idealism of young people, the stresses of marriage, the anxieties of parenthood, and the loneliness and fears of older people. The wide variety of writing styles includes black humour, satire, and compassionate and realistic observation of the follies and foibles of humankind. This collection contains stories by Evelyn Waugh, Roald Dahl, Somerset Maugham, Saki, Frank Sargeson, Raymond Carver, H.E. Bates, and Susan Hill.’ (Publisher's blurb)
'The number one Ladies Detective Agency' Alexander McCall Smith
First novel of a lively and accessible detective series set in Botswana, combining the narrative interest of the whodunit with an intriguing glimpse of a very different culture. The Wikipedia entry gives the minimal facts, but has some useful and informative links. The BBC site linked to the TV series is more stimulating.
I found it charming and entertaining, and so should most students with reasonably open minds…
'Young adult'
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie
Recommended by Liesbeth van Wichen (Comments) - " Reading and working on The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie has been a huge success in year 4. In the practice individual oral my students often mentioned that the way in which Alexie manages to use irony and humor to deal with the quite heavy themes in the book made the reading more doable for them." ... Have a look at the Wikipedia entry for more detail.
The Sun is also a Star Nicola Yoon
Recommended by Dominic St Pierre (Comments) who says "... It is very compelling for all of the themes for the new guide and offers an interesting look into mixed identity in Anglophone culture. It has well-divided sections/chapters which can be easily adapted for the new IOA. It is also very amenable to the current 2019 assessment curriculum as there are multiple opportunities for modern text-types for the WA from multiple perspectives. Finally, it lends itself to very interesting discussions concerning Theory of Knowledge questions and development. ..."
The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros ... now has its own page - The House on Mango Street
Unwind Neal Schusterman
"...very thought-provoking dystopian fiction. The main characters are aged 16-18, so students identify easily, and then wish they didn't as the story-line progresses. Even reluctant readers race through it and can't wait to talk about it." (Gaynor Dindorf Comments)
The Outsiders S.E. Hinton
"... Language-wise, it is highly accessible for Language B HL students but it also contains enough 1960s US slang to give students a challenge. Students usually respond with interest to the themes in the novel, especially the socs v. greaser fight and the relationship between Cherry and Ponyboy. There is certainly enough material in the book for HL students to generate a number of creative assignments...." (from Plke Anne's Comment)
Shizuko's daughter Jap. culture gender differences / generational issues (orig. written in Eng.)
Bend it like Beckham ... movie, so it can't count as one of the 'literary works' - but it can certainly be used in class as an illustration of sophisticated and engaging narrative about important issues.
Young Indian girl growing up in the UK wants to be a football star. In a clash of generational and cultural values, her family doesn’t approve. Funny and well-observed, if a bit of a fairy story.
Star Girl Jerry Spinelli [ see ... http://www.amazon.com/ ]
Stargirl Caraway, a new 10th grader at Arizona's Mica Area High School who wears pioneer dresses and kimonos to school, strums a ukulele in the cafeteria, laughs when there are no jokes, and dances when there is no music. The whole school, not exactly a "hotbed of nonconformity," is stunned by her – story of a girl told from the point of view of a 16 yr old boy
Whale Rider (+Movie) ... New Zealand
Coming of age novel, Maori.
Holes Sacher Louis
Two stories are being told simultaneously. The story of Stanley Yelnats' adventures at Camp Green Lake and the story of Kissing Kate Barlow twisted adventures at Camp Green Lake. But, there is no lake at Camp Green Lake. Stanley makes many new friends while digging 5-foot holes in the hot Texas sun.
Rabbit-Proof Fence: The True Story of One of the Greatest Escapes of All Time, Doris Pilkington
Stolen Generation of Aboriginal children in Australia
Boy Roald Dahl (Author), Quentin Blake (Illustrator)
"...Great example of autobiography..."
Hating Alison Ashley Robin Klein
“Although peppered with Australian slang, Hating Alison Ashley is a solid school story with characters and situations to which all readers will relate...”
AND ... ? Do you have a suggestion to add to the list ? If so, why not use the 'Comment' box below ?