Diversify the Curriculum?

Are these three novels representative of the American experience?

Where are the voices of immigrants?

African-Americans?

Native Americans?

Women?

Here are some other books one might nominate as absolutely necessary:

African American Literature

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed

Black Boy by Richard Wright

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Women of Brewster Place by Julia Naylor

Literature by/about immigrants

Maggie, a Girl from the Streets by Stephen Crane

My Antonia by Willa Cather

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez

Breath, Eyes, Memories by Edwidge Danticat

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

What is the What by Dave Eggers

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Native American Literature

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

The Antelope Wife or Love Medicine or The Round House by Louise Erdrich

The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian or The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

The Grass Dancer by Susan Power

House Made of Dawn by M. Scott Momaday

Laughing Boy by Oliver LaFarge

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

Counterculture, movement literature

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

The Things they Carried by Tim O'Brien

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Your job? Tell me what next year's American Literature students should read.

Should we keep any of the three novels we read this year? All of them? Should one or more of them be replaced? By what? Should we supplement with anything in particular? Perhaps five novels is the limit. Which three to five novels would best communicate the thought and expression of "America"?

Justify each of your choices with specific reference to both the content and the style of the books. Draw heavily from the books, but also do your research. What do critics and reviewers have to say about the importance of each book to our national consciousness? Quote and cite correctly.

Read one or more of the nominees above. Whether or not you think it should be on next year's reading list, examine its fitness carefully in your paper.

Here are the criteria you came up with:

1. Does it have literary merit? Layers of meaning? Depth?
2. Does it bring up important ideas about what it's like to be American?
3. Is it something that sophomores will actually read, enjoy, pay attention to?
4. Does it bring up an interesting conversation about the representation of marginalized Americans?
5. Does it relate in interesting ways to the other books on your list?

Your paper should focus on these criteria for each of the books you think ought to be included.

Resources:

Here's a project from Manuel High School: students argued to diversify the curriculum...

Jalil:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/33bab108b1e683b0ad1367b29d57bcb6

Jayla:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/d2ecf8e54d26a2cba8bb90c043e5c682

Carla:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/d2df283ff2d9c8f9a771d2e304a52ed4

Shabias:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/5438c7589d5144f8d3212631ef78f1b6

Darsharee:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/900518ad8ab3412897cb456c51c4f1c3

Khadijah:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/8ee448b72722d5f97a5fa69ea0b9479a

Kyja:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/192296b88e178b8c3a0eff3daea7fa31

Jabari:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/17e39961de83a84efd39c8c8645d53ba

Kevin:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/1d0c31acba9be2e416fe0c895d9c6b43

Denne:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/b0ecc469b47703206f725688481fe476

Jonathan:https://cloud.swivl.com/v/9c3e988f9da578d2c0eb1becf476deb7

Their written speeches are attached below.

Here's the link to a bunch of videos and information on Hamilton.