The Alchemist by

Paulo Coelho 

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams. 

Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by

Edith Hamilton 

Edith Hamilton's Mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths that are the keystone of Western culture--the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present. We meet the Greek gods on Olympus and Norse gods in Valhalla. We follow the drama of the Trojan War and the wanderings of Odysseus. We hear the tales of Jason and the Golden Fleece, Cupid and Psyche, and mighty King Midas. We discover the origins of the names of the constellations. And we recognize reference points for countless works of art, literature, and 

cultural inquiry--from Freud's Oedipus complex to Wagner's Ring Cycle of operas to Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra. Praised throughout the world for its authority and lucidity, Mythology is Edith Hamilton's masterpiece--the standard by which all other books on mythology are measured.

Parents need to know that The Tempest is a story of magic, villains, and heros. There are references to sex, coarse language, and violence.

The Tempest by

William Shakespeare

Putting romance onstage, The Tempest gives us a magician, 

Prospero, a former duke of Milan who was displaced by his 

treacherous brother, Antonio. Prospero is exiled on an island, 

where his only companions are his daughter, Miranda, the spirit 

Ariel, and the monster Caliban. When his enemies are among those 

caught in a storm near the island, Prospero turns his power upon 

them through Ariel and other spirits. 

The characters exceed the roles of villains and heroes. Prospero 

seems heroic, yet he enslaves Caliban and has an appetite for 

revenge. Caliban seems to be a monster for attacking Miranda, but appears heroic in resisting 

Prospero, evoking the period of colonialism during which the play was written. Miranda’s 

engagement to Ferdinand, the Prince of Naples and a member of the shipwrecked party, helps 

resolve the drama.

Parents need to know that One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich this is a tale of labor camp, so it is violent and contains mature themes.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 

First published in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stands as a classic of contemporary literature. The story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, it graphically describes his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. An unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalin's forced work camps, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union and confirms Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dosotevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy"--Harrison Salisbury 

Cyrano de Bergerac by

Edmond Rostand 

This is Edmond Rostand's immortal play in which chivalry and wit, bravery and love are forever captured in the timeless spirit of romance. Set in Louis XIII's reign, it is the moving and exciting drama of one of the finest swordsmen in France, gallant soldier, brilliant wit, tragic poet-lover with the face of a clown. Rostand's extraordinary lyric powers gave birth to a universal hero--Cyrano de Bergerac--and ensured his own reputation as author of one of the best-loved plays in the literature of the stage.

 

No Exit by

Jean-Paul Sartre 

Jean-Paul Sartre, the great French existentialist, displays his mastery of drama in NO EXIT, an unforgettable portrayal of hell. The play is a depiction of the afterlife in which three deceased characters are punished by being locked into a room together for eternity. It is the source of Sartre's especially famous and often misinterpreted quotation "L'enfer, c'est les autres" or "Hell is other people", a reference to Sartre's ideas about the Look and the perpetual ontological struggle of being caused to see oneself as an object in the world of another consciousness.

All But My Life: A Memoir by

Gerda Weissmann Klein 

All But My Life is the unforgettable story of Gerda Weissmann Klein's six-year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. From her comfortable home in Bielitz (present-day Bielsko) in Poland to her miraculous survival and her liberation by American troops--including the man who was to become her husband--in Volary, Czechoslovakia, in 1945, Gerda takes the reader on a terrifying journey.  

Gerda's serene and idyllic childhood is shattered when Nazis march into Poland on September 3, 1939. Although the Weissmanns were permitted to live for a while in the basement of their home, they were eventually separated and sent to German labor camps. Over the next few years Gerda experienced the slow, inexorable stripping away of "all but her life." By the end of the war she had lost her parents, brother, home, possessions, and community; even the dear friends she made in the labor camps, with whom she had shared so many hardships, were dead.  Despite her horrifying experiences, Klein conveys great strength of spirit and faith in humanity. In the darkness of the camps, Gerda and her young friends manage to create a community of friendship and love. Although stripped of the essence of life, they were able to survive the barbarity of their captors. Gerda's beautifully written story gives an invaluable message to everyone. It introduces them to last century's terrible history of devastation and prejudice, yet offers them hope that the effects of hatred can be overcome.

Parents need to know that The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini tells the story of Amir, who grows up in Afghanistan during the 1970s and '80s, and eventually moves to the San Francisco Bay Area. Cultural prejudice and the political power shifts as the Russians invade and the Taliban later take over strongly affect Amir's relationships. The novel includes graphic descriptions of extreme cruelty and violence, including rape, murder, beatings, and a suicide attempt. Alcohol and drugs are used in appropriate ways, though the righteousness of drinking's part of religious discussions about Islam. This beautiful, moving novel deals with complex adult issues about religion, prejudice, forgiveness, and the nature of "goodness."

Parents need to know that A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is the critically acclaimed memoir of Ishmael Beah, who was a child soldier during Sierra Leone's civil war. Orphaned at 12, Ishmael would walk through a war-ravaged countryside, often starving and always afraid, until at 13, he found refuge with government soldiers. Soldiers who would turn him into a killer. For the next three years, Ishmael would witness or take part in unimaginable acts of violence that are often graphically described in the book. Violent death is constant and pervasive, with countless men, women, children, and babies stabbed, shot, mutilated, or burned alive. One town he enters is described as having "air that smells of blood and burnt flesh." At 16, UNICEF workers gained his release and he was sent to a rehabilitation center for boy soldiers where he found a chance to rebuild his life. Beah would go on to finish his education in the United States and become UNICEF's Advocate for Children Affected by War. First published in 2007, A Long Way Gone was a New York Times best-seller. It has been translated into more than 40 languages and is sometimes assigned in school.

Candide by

Voltaire 

Brought up in the household of a powerful Baron, Candide is an open-minded young man, whose tutor, Pangloss, has instilled in him the belief that 'all is for the best'. But when his love for the Baron's rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own way in the world.   And so he and his various companions begin a breathless tour of Europe, South America and Asia, as an outrageous series of disasters befall them - earthquakes, syphilis, a brush with the Inquisition, murder - sorely testing the young hero's optimism.

Mythology and You: Classical Mythology and Its Relevance in Today's World, Student Edition by

Donna Rosenberg,

Sorelle Baker 

Apollo, Zeus, Athena, Pandora, Midas, Pygmalion, Daedalus and Icarus, and many more are contained within Mythology and You. These tales reveal many universal truths about historical human behavior and have great relevance in today's world.

Tartuffe by

Molière

Condemned and banned for five years in Molière’s day, Tartuffe is 

a satire on religious hypocrisy. Tartuffe worms his way into 

Orgon’s household, blinding the master of the house with his 

religious "devotion," and almost succeeds in his attempts to 

seduce his wife and disinherit his children before the final 

unmasking.

Cry, the Beloved Country by

Alan Paton 

Cry, the Beloved Country, the most famous and important novel in South 

Africa’s history, was an immediate worldwide bestseller in 1948. Alan 

Paton’s impassioned novel about a black man’s country under white man’s 

law is a work of searing beauty. 

Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let 

him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water 

runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him 

not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or 

valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much. 

The eminent literary critic Lewis Gannett wrote, “We have had many novels from statesmen and 

reformers, almost all bad; many novels from poets, almost all thin. In Alan Paton’s Cry, the 

Beloved Country the statesman, the poet and the novelist meet in a unique harmony.”  

Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his 

son, Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. 

Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a 

classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man.