The Wonderful World of Literature!

Introduction

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Literature! You'll have the opportunity to explore American, British, and World literature throughout this module. Like poetry? You'll get to explore some! Novels? Yes, those too! Short stories, plays, or nonfiction? We'll explore those as well! You'll also get to create a list of things you'd like to read.

You'll be reading about examples of literature from each category that I chose, but these are not the only works within those categories! There are plenty more great works that I haven't included in this activity, and you will get the chance to find some of those yourself.

Though we won't be studying all these genres of literature in our class this year, this will show you what to expect in your English classes later on in high school! Remember, you don't have to wait for a teacher to assign it as homework to read something interesting! :p

To get started, click "Task"

Task

You will need to look at the links for the pieces of literature I provided on the "Process" page. 

 Answer the questions and complete the tasks on a separate sheet of paper while you go through the "Process."

At the end of the module, on the same sheet of paper, you will need to choose 1 piece of literature from each category (short story, poem, novel, drama, and nonfiction) that you would like to read and explain why. 

Process

1: American Literature

Short Story: "The Most Dangerous Game" (read the first paragraph at the top of this page.)

Novel: The Great Gatsby (read the paragraph in the center of the page.)

Poem: "Yo Soy Joaquín" (read the three short paragraphs on this page.)

Drama: Death of a Salesman (read the first paragraph of the summary.)

Nonfiction: The Woman Warrior (read the quotes on the back cover of the book.)

Questions

1. Which of these is written by a Chicano author? Whch is written by a Asian-American author?

2. Which of these sounds the most interesting to you? Why?

3. Write down the names and authors of two more dramas (plays) that fall under the "American Literature" category.

2: British Literature

Short story: "The Monkey's Paw" (read the paragraph at the top of the page.)

Novel: Frankenstein (read the first paragraph of the plot overview.)

Poem: "The Second Coming" (read the first paragraph on this page.)

Drama: Hamlet (read the first paragraph)

Nonfiction:

1. Which of these is written by a female author?

2. Which of these works have you heard of before?

3. Which are you most interested in reading? Why?

4. Write down the names and authors of four more poems from British Literature.

3: World Literature

Short story: Interpreter of Maladies (read the first paragraph.)

Novel: Things Fall Apart (read the first paragraph)

Poem: "Spaces" (read the first paragraph about the author.)

Drama: Oedipus The King (read the first paragraph)

Nonfiction: Hiroshima (read the first paragraph)

1. Which of these was written in ancient times?

2. Which of these sounds most interesting to you? Why?

3.. Write down the names and authors of two more novels that fall under the "World Literature" area.

Compiling A Reading List

On your sheet of paper, write down one short story, one novel, one poem, one drama, and one nonfiction work that you would like to read. You can choose these works from the list I gave you, or it can be one that you found on your own. Explain why you're intested in reading these in 2-3 compelete sentences per piece of literature. (You should write 10-15 sentences total.)

You don't actually HAVE to read them all, but we will be reading some in this class! You can read the other ones on your own time, and you will even read some of them in other English classes later in high school.

Credits