Common Books in English Curriculums

Of Mice and Men

Romeo and Juliet

Macbeth

Frankenstein

1949

Lord of the Flies

The Outsiders

The Giver

Common Books in English Curriculums

Hamlet

1597

1623

1623

1818

1925

The Great Gatsby

1937

1984

1954

To Kill a Mockingbird

1960

1967

1993

Romeo and Juliet is a play by English author William Shakespeare published in 1597. Commonly assigned in high school English classes, the play follows two teenagers from rival families as their tragic romance unfolds.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare, first published in 1623, follows a Scottish military man, Macbeth, and his wife, Lady Macbeth, as they scheme to assume power over the kingdom.

1623's Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, is set in Denmark and brings to the stage a story about Prince Hamlet's late father and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death.

Frankenstein, written in 1818 by Mary Shelley, tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a creature in a gruesome experiment.

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, follows Nick Carraway as he becomes more involved and obsessed with Jay Gatsby's glamorous lifestyle.

John Steinbeck's famous 1937 novella, Of Mice and Men, details the lives of George Milton and Lennie Small. The story follows them as they move around California, looking for jobs during the Great Depression.

The 1949 novel 1984 by George Orwell is set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world, created as a prediction of what the year 1984 would look like. The plot follows Winston as he discovers mysterious information about Big Brother and the government.

William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies is a narrative about British schoolboys who get stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. Following the accident, the boys must create a society for life on the island, and tensions ensue.

To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee in 1960, follows a young girl named Scout through her childhood in a sleepy southern town and details the events of a trial on race and justice that left lasting impacts.

S.E. Hinton's award-winning novel, The Outsiders, commonly read in middle school English classes, details the life of a fourteen-year-old boy named Ponyboy Curtis and his experiences as a member of a greaser gang in a city heavily divided by class.

The Giver, written in 1993 by Lois Lowry, is set in a society deemed utopian at first glance, but once the main character, Jonas, discovers more about his society, it seems more and more dystopian.