HS ELA Guide

Approved Texts & Sample Themes

10th Grade

Below are sample themes, essential questions, and texts. Teachers are encouraged to choose themes and essential questions that deepen the understanding of the texts chosen for their class. These sample themes and texts are not comprehensive, nor required. When choosing texts to use in your classroom, remember to use the Instructional Materials Selection Criteria to help you make your decisions. Also refer to text complexity to ensure that students are reading steadily increasing complex texts throughout high school. Approved Novels and Plays for Grades 9-10 (as of May 15, 2024) ●​ 1984 by George Orwell ●​ A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

●​ Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds ●​ Lord of the Flies by William Golding ●​ Macbeth by William Shakespeare ●​ Monster by Walter Dean Myers ●​ Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member by Sanyika Shakur, Aka Monster Kody Scott ●​ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass ●​ Night by Elie Wiesel ●​ Nimona by Noelle Stevenson ●​ Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky ●​ Paradise Lost by John Milton ●​ Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation (Graphic Novel) by Ray Bradury And Tim Hamilton ●​ Resistance vol. 1 by Carla Jablonski ●​ Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare ●​ Romeo and Juliet (No Fear) by William Shakespeare ●​ Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse ●​ Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson ●​ Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln by James C. Humes ●​ The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey ●​ The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey ●​ The Book Thief by Markus Zusak ●​ The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown ●​ The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky ●​ The Chosen by Chaim Potok ●​ The Closest I've Come by Fred Aceves ●​ The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas ●​ The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy ●​ The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon ●​ The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams ●​ The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck ●​ The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom ●​ The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston ●​ Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe ●​ Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ●​ Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

●​ A Midsummer NIght's Dream by Shakespeare ●​ A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry ●​ A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens ●​ All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein ●​ All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque ●​ American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang ●​ Animal Farm by George Orwell ●​ Antigone by Sophocles ●​ As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman ●​ Beowulf by Unknown ●​ Black Boy by Richard Wright ●​ Call of the Wild by Jack London ●​ Cinder by Marissa Meyer ●​ Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury ●​ Deadline by Chris Crutcher ●​ Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller ●​ Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell ●​ Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card ●​ Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden ●​ Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury ●​ Feed by M.T. Anderson ●​ Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott ●​ House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer ●​ House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros ●​ How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulsen ●​ I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina ●​ I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez ●​ I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali ●​ I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore ●​ I Am Seal Team Six Warrior by Wasdin & Templin ●​ Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence ●​ Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer ●​ Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare ●​ Julius Caesar (No Fear) by William Shakespeare ●​ The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by ●​ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley ●​ Heist Society by Ally Carter

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Jun 2, 2025

Last Updated

High School ELA, Page 69