12th Grade Recommended Reading List

Centered around Okonkwo, an Igbo leader who is banished from his community, this novel explores the tension between white missionaries and tribal culture in Nigeria.

After the death of their daughter, Frank McCourt's impoverished immigrant parents decide to return to Ireland. With humor and tenderness, this Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir tells the story of his early life there.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Morrison's novel tells the story of Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman who is haunted by her past.

In this unflinching memoir, Elie Wiesel describes his experience as a young man imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. 2006 Hill and Wang edition.

Pip's life is changed when an anonymous benefactor pays for an expensive education in London, but he quickly discovers that you can't escape who you really are.

A classic of Russian literature, this novel explores the psyche of a poor young man who plots to murder and rob a wealthy pawnbroker.

Jack and Algernon — two bachelors in 19th-century England — use false identities to get what they want — and get into trouble — in this comedy by Oscar Wilde.

This satirical novel imagines a dystopian future in which people have computers implanted in their heads to control their perceptions of reality.

In this comedy, two Athenian couples and a troupe of actors become unwitting pawns in a squabble between a fairy king and queen.

Shakespeare's famous tragedy tells the story of a Danish prince who must decide whether or not to avenge his father's death.

Influenced by the duplicitous Iago, Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army, begins to doubt his wife's faithfulness.

In this play inspired by the Greek myth of Pygmalion, Professor Henry Higgins bets that he can transform Eliza Doolittle, a poor flower seller, into a cultured and genteel lady.

Amanda Wingfield clings to her memories of her youth while living with her two children, Laura and Tom. When Tom brings a friend home for dinner, the family's precarious balance is disrupted.

The title story of Jhumpa Lahiri's collection explores the way people try, and fail, to communicate with one another.

In this novel inspired by his experiences at a utopian commune, Nathaniel Hawthorne describes conflicts within and between intellectuals trying to create a perfect society. Read full text here.

In this groundbreaking book, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking attempts to answer some of the most formidable questions about the universe.

In this powerful memoir, Malcolm X describes the development of his revolutionary consciousness and his transformation into an influential activist and leader.

In this Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Jared Diamond explores how geographical, biological, and environmental factors shaped the development of human societies.

In a groundbreaking work of nonfiction, Truman Capote investigates the brutal murder of a small-town Kansas family and the trial of the killers.

In this engaging work of nonfiction, Bill Bryson explores profound questions about the origins of the universe, the development of life on Earth, and modern civilization.

Published in 1936, this historical novel traces the life of Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara before, during, and after the American Civil War.

In this dystopian novel, San Francisco has become a police state controlled by the Department of Homeland Security — and 17-year-old Marcus is determined to take it down.

Set in Nigeria, this play depicts the destruction and chaos that are unleashed when tribal ritual and the English legal system collide.

Brutus is a trusted confidant of the Roman general Julius Caesar, but when he becomes convinced that Caesar's ambitions are a threat to the republic, he plots his friend's assassination.

Richard, younger brother of King Edward IV, wants to rule England — and he will stop at nothing, including murder, in order to seize the crown.

Two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet become the stars of their own play, a meditation on chance, fortune, and the inevitability of fate.

Originally published as "On the Duty of Disobedience" and based on an 1848 lecture, Thoreau's work is a civil libertarian classic. Questioning the authority of all governments, Thoreau especially challenges both the right of the state to tax him and the morality of a government that allows slavery.

Born to Indian immigrants and legally named after a Russian writer, but familiarly called Nikhil, Gogol Ganguli grows up in Massachusetts struggling with his parents' choices and expectations.

In this award-winning book, civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander argues that the American criminal justice system unfairly targets and penalizes African Americans, resulting in long-term harm to black communities.

Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney translates the Old English epic poem about a warrior's battles with a series of monsters.

First published in 1792, this essay argues that women should have access to the same educational opportunities afforded to men. Read the full text here.

In this groundbreaking novel, Dr. Victor Frankenstein works feverishly to bring an inanimate creature to life — but when he finally succeeds, he is horrified by what he has unleashed.

Jane is a strong-willed young woman who finds employment as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets the mysterious Edward Rochester and learns his darkest secret.

In this retelling, the monster from the Old English epic Beowulf, shares his own story.

In this retelling of the Arthurian legend, a young boy is tutored by the wizard Merlin in preparation for his future as a great king of England.

In this 16th-century book, More imagines an ideal state. More coined the word utopia, which literally means "nowhere."

In the futuristic World State, the genetically altered citizens are happy and free of pain—but they cannot exercise free will. Learn these words from Huxley's influential dystopian novel, first published in 1932.

In this 17th-century treatise, Locke argues that governments are only legitimate when leaders rule with the consent of those who are governed. Read the full text here.

In 1831, French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States. In this book, he records his impressions of the customs and culture of the young nation. Learn these words from the translation of Volume I by Henry Reeve.

Lemuel Gulliver travels to unusual and exotic lands in this unique blend of adventure and satire.

This seven-part poem tells the story of a sailor who brings a curse on his ship after killing an albatross, a giant sea bird considered to be a good omen.

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy instantly loathe one another when they first meet. Can they overcome their first impressions?

Catherine Earnshaw's father takes in an orphan boy named Heathcliff, setting in motion a chain of events that will haunt the Earnshaw family for generations.

In this classic novel, set in the late 19th century, Lily Bart tries to cling to her tenuous position in New York City's high society.

In the late 19th century, a Swedish-American family attempts to survive and thrive on the Nebraska frontier. Read the full text here.

This novel follows Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class woman living in London, as she prepares to host a party.

Gregor Samsa wakes up to find that he has transformed into a monstrous insect. Learn these words from Kafka's exploration of alienation, and conformity.

In this medieval poem, originally composed in Middle English in the 14th century, a mysterious green knight issues a challenge to the knights of King Arthur's court. Learn these words from the translation by J.R.R. Tolkien.

In this autobiography, the South African president describes his childhood, education, and the battles against Apartheid that led to his imprisonment for nearly thirty years.

In this classic novel, a young Indian woman attempts to forge a stable, happy life as she contends with personal and social change.

Set in both London and Paris, this novel brings the French Revolution vividly to life.

Based on lectures that Woolf delivered at Cambridge, this essay argues that women need financial independence and private spaces in order to create literature.

In the Nobel Prize-winner's first novel, a young black girl yearns to conform to society's rigid standards of beauty.

An Indian merchant experiences uncertainty, love, and hardship when he relocates to a town in central Africa.

Set in Afghanistan during a time of political and social upheaval, this novel traces the decades-long friendship of two boys from different social classes.

How does a small idea become a global craze? In this work of nonfiction, Malcolm Gladwell analyzes how trends are set in motion.

Using novelistic techniques, this autobiography details Wright's coming of age during the Jim Crow era.

In this classic of the transcendentalist movement, Thoreau explains what he learned by living simply and in seclusion near a pond in eastern Massachusetts.

In this pamphlet, Paine urges the American colonists to fight for independence from Great Britain and form a new government. Read the full text here.

Set against the backdrop of political revolution in Cuba, this novel tells the stories of three generations of visionary women in the del Pino family.

Considered a seminal work of African-American literature, Their Eyes Were Watching God is notable for its strong and independent female protagonist.

Caught up in the brutality of World War I, an American ambulance driver on the Italian front falls in love with an English nurse.

This novel uses multiple narrators and perspectives to tell the story of a family's quest to honor a relative's last wishes.

Published after Melville's death, this novel chronicles the tragic story of young sailor Billy Budd after he boards a naval warship, the H.M.S. Bellipotent.

After having a child out of wedlock, Hester Prynne is shunned by her Puritan community and forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her clothing — but Hester is not the only one who has transgressed. This classic novel explores guilt, sin, and hypocrisy.

In this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Blanche DuBois, a faded Southern belle, is driven to madness by her brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski.