I need ideas for Novellas ......

[Upthevibe]

I'm very excited that I'll have a long-term teaching assignment (one month) for 11th graders starting in October!

I'm a permanent substitute teacher (as of 2019 when I left the career college arena) for an amazing high school! It's probably one of the most progressive schools in the entire state of California, and I just love it there.

The 11th grade English Literature teacher is going on paternity leave when his wife has their baby (due 10/6/23). He and I had a wonderful discussion yesterday and we really want the books to be engaging for the students. He's 0 for 2 in terms of the books he's chosen the past two years (Farenheit 451 and 1984- the kids just weren't into them).

We're going to have several selections so they can choose which book interests them. We'll probably have around six groups of five per group (he has four classes with around 30 students per class).

We definitely want books that are only around 100-50 pages. The theme is resilience. We're also going to require them to have several real-world comparison texts/articles that are in alignment with what they're reading.

I apologize that my post is so long but I just wanted to explain the situation.

Soooooooooooo................... I'd love to hear any of your suggestions!

[leftieNanner]

1. Maybe too long, but

Anything by Toni Morrison.

Edit to add Shopgirl by Steve Martin.

[Upthevibe]

12. leftieNanner.............

Thank you!

[cbabe]

2. One of my favorite things: book lists!

Last edited Thu Aug 24, 2023, 01:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Alan Lightman/Einstein’s Dreams stories about the nature of time by MIT physics professor. Poetic, startling, fun, haunting.

Garett Hinds/Beowulf graphic novel

Peter Beagle/The Last Unicorn
Good vs evil
Animated film is also good

Ursula K. LeGuin/Earthsea trilogy
Where real wizards go to school
Language as mystical power (perfectly suited to literature discussion)

Susan Beth Pfeffer/Life as we knew it
End of world as moon falls toward earth

Zane Grey/Riders of the purple sage
Suggest abridged version
All the conflicts of the western settling

Anne Cameron/Daughters of Copper Woman
Retelling (with permission) of First Nation stories

Sherman Alexie/Smoke Signals
Film/screenplay
Discusses how and why screenplay changes were made

Mark Twain/any and all

Jules Verne/any and all

Jonathan Swift/Gulliver’s Travels

Jack London/Call of the wild

Hemingway/Old man and the sea

Mary Shelley/Frankenstein

Edgar Allen Poe/any and all

James Thurber/any and all

Raymond Chandler/any and all

*hidden treasure*
Fleischman/Seedfolk
Immigrants turn wasteland into community garden

Cheers!

[usonian]

4. I just quoted "If Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomattox" from The Thurber Carnival in a reply.

It actually dates from much earlier (1930)

The post mentioned about all the surrenders going on, and compared to Appomattox.

http://02dddd4.netsolhost.com/poetry/Grant.shtml

[Upthevibe]

13. cbabe............

Thank you!

[Walleye]

3. Joseph Conrad short stories are very good

[Upthevibe]

14. Walleye,,,,,,,,,,,,

Thank you

[highplainsdem]

5. Stephen King's Different Seasons is a collection of 4 novellas, 3 of which were filmed:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Different_Seasons

Novellas are a great length for some stories, but not easy to find a market for - which King mentioned in either the intro for this collection or his book On Writing.

[Scrivener7]

7. Stephen King was my first thought for 11th grade.

[Upthevibe]

15. hplainsdem.........

Thank you!

[cbabe]

6. Just one more:

Katherine Applegate/Home of the Brave

Immigrant boy struggles to find his way, written in verse, not a simple tale

[Upthevibe]

16. cbabe...........

Thank you!

[Glorfindel]

8. "The Sun Dog" by Stephen King

Fifteen-year-old boy gets a Polaroid Sun camera for his birthday. Horror ensues.

[debm55]

9. Wasn't Stand By Me a novella by King?

[highplainsdem]

10. See my reply 5. Stand By Me is the title of the film based on

King's novella The Body.

[debm55]

11. Thanks highplainsdem. I read the book, but that was many years ago.

[nolabear]

20. And Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption

I don’t know if the sexual content is okay but it’s a brilliant novella, and Red’s voice as the narrator is one of the great narrative voices. I teach writing too and love novellas for their compact storytelling. King is very, very good at it.

[Upthevibe]

17. Glorfindel..........

Thank you!

[Brother Buzz]

18. Fup by Jim Dodge

[Upthevibe]

19. Brother Buzz................

Thank you!

[Coventina]

21. It might be too long? But a great short novel: Another Brooklyn

by Jacqueline Woodson is an excellent coming of age story.

Or, Afro-futurism sci-fi coming of age: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Or, a look into Japanese humor: Botchan by Natsume Soseki

These all might be pushing the page limit, but all great for the age of your students (IMHO)

on edit: clarity