Learning Language Arts Through Literature: High School American Literature

A collection of short stories by 26 of America's most celebrated writers provdies a comprehensive survey of the origin and growth of this literary form. The selections in this volume represent each author working at the very height of his or her powers, producing memorable, brilliant fiction. Each story, too, is illustrative of the growth of the short story form, done to perfection by the writers who left their indelible mark on our national literary heritage.

Immerse your kids in three centuries of American verse---they'll feel the heartbeat and hear the voice of their great nation! This choice anthology features sizable selections from 20 major poets, including Edward Taylor, Walt Whitman, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, e.e. cummings, Robert Frost, W.H. Auden, and others. Features brief biographical notes and an index of titles/first lines. 535 pages, softcover from Penguin Putnam.

One of the classic works in the canon of American literature, Hemingway's Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning The Old Man and the Sea focuses upon an aging fisherman and his great battle to bring a large marlin back to shore. With integrated themes of national identity, honor, and the struggle between man and nature, this work provides new interpretations and insights through multiple readings. 126 pages, softcover.

This classic novel looks at a young civil war soldier's struggle with the horrors of war. Crane's precise prose portrays the physical atrocities of war, as well as its psychological affects, in this American standard. First published in 1895, The Red Badge of Courage features clear realism and masterful depictions of the emotions felt by the soldiers in the thick of it.

When the news of Kino's great find--the "Pearl of the World"--spreads through the small town, no one suspects its power to deceive, to corrupt, to destroy.