Core Novels List by Grade

2026-27 Beckman High School Core Texts (by Grade)

**PLEASE NOTE: While most grade levels have committed to the following books, curriculum is at each teacher's discretion, so titles may be subject to change. Therefore, we highly recommend waiting until students receive a detailed Syllabus from their English Teacher before purchasing any books***

Freshman Honors

• To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
• Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare (Folger Shakespeare Library)
• The Odyssey - Homer

Freshman CP

• Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare 
• Animal Farm - George Orwell
• The Odyssey - Homer

Sophomore Honors

• The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak
• Macbeth - William Shakespeare 
• Migrations - Charlotte McConaghy
• Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë 

Sophomore CP

• Between Shades of Gray - Ruta Sepetys
• The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune
• Lord of the Flies - William Golding

Junior Honors

• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – Frederick Douglass
• The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Junior CP

• The Crucible – Arthur Miller
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – Frederick Douglass
• The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Senior English Literature AP

• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• The Awakening - Kate Chopin 
• King Lear - William Shakespeare
• Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
• The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
• Antigone - Sophocles
• Medea - Euripides

Senior English ERWC

• 1984 - George Orwell
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley