Words Amount to Pages

1. Animal Farm - George Orwell: relevancy = control of the people by the government; overthrowing of the government; social hierarchy/ caste system

2. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes: relevancy = mental health patient rights; informed consent to medical treatment; human and animal experimentation; important psychological themes/ questions

The Dating Game - Kiley Roache

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger 

Zone One - Colson Whitehead

1. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Collins: Young Scout lives in the south during a time of racial persecution. She is raised by her father, Atticus Finch (a lawyer representing a young black man in a high profile state case) and her older brother Jem. This is a coming of age tale in which Scout learns that you can’t always judge a book by its cover. It sometimes turns out that what people say about others isn’t always true, and you have to keep your head high or risk being dragged below your level. 

2. The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd: Lily Melissa Owens suffered the loss of her mother when she was three years old and is left in the hands of her anger-ruled father, T. Ray, who owns a peach farm. Her nanny, Rosaleen, is a black woman and in 1964 she tries to register to vote in a primarily white town. When Rosaleen runs into trouble with local racists and Lily is tired of her father’s anger being taken out on her, they flee to Tiburon, NC where they find a family in the most unexpected place. 

3. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford: Jamie Ford tells the tale of two Chinese Americans. One young man’s story takes place during WW2, and the other is the story of his grandson. Deals with interracial relationships, American prejudice, concentration camps, and other social issues. Ford tells the two stories side by side and shows that we are not so different from generation to generation.

4. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck: This novel takes place during the Great Depression and deals with a family who lost their farm and their livelihood and had to move to California to work for less than nothing to survive. Deals with poverty, robber barons, heartlessness of those who have towards those who have not, and the dehumanization of the lower class. These are things that are affecting American society today, as people walk past the homeless in the streets without even making eye contact.