Alberta Distance
Learning Centre
Senior High School English
Novel Descriptionsrevised September 2014
English 10-1 ADLC – Print and Online Course
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
A world-famous novel written in 1960. The narrator and main character remembers her experiences as a young
girl growing up in a small town in the Southern United States. She and her brother have several adventures
when they try to learn more about the mysterious man who lives next door. They discover the real nature of their
town when their lawyer father defends a local man. The story is about innocence, loss, and learning to see the
world for what it really is. It is about issues of understanding and accepting differences.
Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
A mature novel about a grade nine student who is attempting to deal with the trauma of rape. Melinda Sordino
is the main character who is struggling with depression and fitting into high school. Confronting her fears allows
Melinda to stand up for the injustice
The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd
The story of Lily Owens who lives on a farm in South Carolina. The death of her mother, when Lily was four, has
devastated and forever shaped her life. Her housekeeper, Rosaleen, cares for Lily, but the setting of the novel
during 1964 (Civil Rights era) reveals the racial violence that explodes during that period. Rosaleen is a victim of
this violence, causing the two to leave town in search of information about Lily’s mother. The story reveals their
search for identity and a sense of belonging during this difficult time.
Waiting for the Rain
by Sheila Gordon
Published in 1987, is set in South Africa during the apartheid era. The main character is a black boy whose best
friend is white. The black boy wants to learn and attend school; the white boy wants to live on the farm. The
black boy is denied the rights of his white friend because of colour. As time passes, injustice in society becomes
more important in the lives of these two boys. The simple story questions accepted ways of their society and
looks for new answers. The novel is part of the protest literature of that era, but it is also about innocence and
awareness as well as issues of understanding and accepting differences.
adlc.ca
Toll-free: 1-877-774-5333
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Alberta Distance
Learning Centre
Senior High School English
Novel Descriptionsrevised September 2014
English 10-2 ADLC – Print and Online Course
Deathwatch
by Robb White
A fast-paced story. It has as a central issue of a life and death struggle between two men – the hunter and the
hunted – set in the burning heat of the desert. The characters are believable and interesting and their struggle
proves even more exciting as the two main characters not only must compete against one another, they must
also survive the dangers of the desert.
Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
A mature novel about a grade nine student who is attempting to deal with the trauma of rape. Melinda Sordino
is the main character who is struggling with depression and fitting into high school. Confronting her fears allows
Melinda to stand up for the injustice she has experienced. The journey that the narrator takes us on is a difficult,
but inspirational, one.
The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd
The story of Lily Owens who lives on a farm in South Carolina. The death of her mother, when Lily was four, has
devastated and forever shaped her life. Her housekeeper, Rosaleen, cares for Lily, but the setting of the novel
during 1964 (Civil Rights era) reveals the racial violence that explodes during that period. Rosaleen is a victim of
this violence, causing the two to leave town in search of information about Lily’s mother. The story reveals their
search for identity and a sense of belonging during this difficult time.
Waiting for the Rain
by Sheila Gordon
Published in 1987, is set in South Africa during the apartheid era. The main character is a black boy whose best
friend is white. The black boy wants to learn and attend school; the white boy wants to live on the farm. The
black boy is denied the rights of his white friend because of colour. As time passes, injustice in society becomes
more important in the lives of these two boys. The simple story questions accepted ways of their society and
looks for new answers. The novel is part of the protest literature of that era, but it is also about innocence and
awareness as well as issues of understanding and accepting differences.
adlc.ca
Toll-free: 1-877-774-5333
2
Alberta Distance
Learning Centre
Senior High School English
Novel Descriptionsrevised September 2014
English 20-1 ADLC – Print and Online Course
Bleachers
by John Grisham
The protagonist of this story, Neely Crenshaw, was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the Messina
Spartans. Now, fifteen years have passed and Neely returns home to bury the revered and loathed Coach
Eddie Rake, whose influence holds a lasting impact on both players and the community. Through the use of
flashbacks, the boys recall and replay the glory days and their often tumultuous relationship with their coach.
Neely must deal with his need to forgive both the players, himself, and his coach, as the feelings of love and
hate for the coach fight for supremacy within him.
Lord of the Flies
by William Golding
A group of English school boys are being evacuated during a nuclear war when their airplane crashes, and they
are stranded on a deserted island. William Golding, the author, describes the change in character from innocent
choir boys to savages as they endeavour to survive on the island. Irrational fears and irresponsible behaviour
hasten the boys’ descent into savagery where murder, the darkest form of evil, is finally unleashed. Through his
novel, Golding intends to trace the defects of society back to basic defects in human nature.
Obasan
by Joy Kogawa
Depicts the evacuation, internment, and dispersal of British Columbia’s Japanese Canadians during World
War II. Naomi and her brother are separated from their mother and father and others of their extended family,
and are raised, during the war years, by their aunt (Obasan) and uncle. The novel presents contrasts between
hope and despair, anger and resignation, beauty and ugliness, and pleasure and pain which are presented
through calm documentation. One of the strengths of the novel is its poetic and lyrical style, which should inspire
personal response.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
Junior, the main character of the novel, is a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation.
Medical problems threaten to shorten his life and are the cause of ridicule by of his peers. Luckily, his best friend
defends him at every turn. Junior is determined to receive a good education, so he decides to attend an allwhite school in the neighbouring community where he is the only native Indian. An outcast both at home and
at school, Junior experiences several great family tragedies, and attacks life with wit and humour, discovering
a strength inside of himself that he never knew existed. The cartoon illustrations within the novel enhance the
sensitivity, humour, and the pain Junior experiences.
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Toll-free: 1-877-774-5333
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Alberta Distance
Learning Centre
Senior High School English
Novel Descriptionsrevised September 2014
The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
Takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. Told from the perspective of three characters: Skeeter, Aibileen,
and Minny, the novel explores the tensions between the white and the black people in the small community.
Skeeter, a white socialite has just returned from college and begins a writing project which stirs the emotions of
whites and blacks alike. These three very different women collaborate on the project which ultimately has the
potential to alter the life of their small town.
The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
Traces the stories of four mothers and their daughters. Tan shares the mothers’ experiences in leaving China for
a better life in America. Their hopes for their children are not fully realized when their daughters grow up in this
new country. Each character contributes her own story to the novel, from her own perspective. The result is a
beautiful weaving of sixteen stories that will call the reader to join in their perilous and moving quests.
adlc.ca
Toll-free: 1-877-774-5333
4
Alberta Distance
Learning Centre
Senior High School English
Novel Descriptionsrevised September 2014
English 20-2 ADLC – Print and Online Courses
Forbidden City
by William Bell
Involves a teenager, Alex, accompanying his father, a CBC news cameraman, on a trip to China for what he
thought would be a vacation. He is in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, the date the world watched the
government of China suppress a protest led by students. Alex sees the brutality of oppressive government
control, but he also witnesses the compassion and friendliness of the common people. The first-person point of
view is engaging, although the Chinese names may be difficult for some readers.
Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck
Involves two agricultural labourers during the 1930s moving from job to job. George understands Lennie despite
his limitations. Like most people, they have dreams, but fears and circumstances prevent fulfillment of their
dreams. Steinbeck comments upon a society in which those who could have accepted others’ differences are
unchanged and those who are different remain unappreciated. Steinbeck uses the level of language common
to uneducated drifters and labourers, but such language may be offensive to some readers because of
coarseness and blasphemy.
Hate List
by Jennifer Brown
Involves a teenage girl, Valerie, who is dealing with the aftermath of a horrific school shooting implicating her
boyfriend, and to a much lesser extent, herself. This is a first person story that describes the guilt and struggle
the character experiences by not understanding or knowing what compelled her boyfriend’s terrible crime, as
well as coping with a traumatic injury. The plot describes the experiences and feelings of returning to her school
to face her peers, the repairing of relationships with friends and family needed, and the struggle to heal and
move forward in her life. This is a provocative and fast-paced novel containing some violence, difficult situations,
and some coarse language.
Hole in My Life
by Jack Gantos
iAn autobiographical novel about a teenager on the verge of being an adult in 1971, thinking about his future
and how to get there. In one quick and ill-thought-out decision, he decides to try to earn a large sum of money
for secondary school through an opportunity to smuggle and then traffic a shipment of illegal drugs to the USA.
He is arrested for this terrible decision, and is sentenced to 6 years in prison at the age of 18. The novel is a
reflection of his experiences within the legal system, and a re-telling of the events that landed him in jail. The
protagonist reflects on his choices, and on the time spent incarcerated, and about how to move forward from
this terrible mistake with some clarity to reclaim his life. This novel contains some violence, difficult situations,
some drug references and coarse language.
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Toll-free: 1-877-774-5333
5
Alberta Distance
Learning Centre
Senior High School English
Novel Descriptionsrevised September 2014
The Graphic Novels for the English 20-2 Print and Online Course
Essex County: Book Two Ghost Stories
by Jeff Lemire
Centers on Lou, an old man who was once a Canadian semi-professional hockey player. He and his younger
brother, Vince, are from Essex County, Ontario. Lou is facing the challenges of aging, and uses his time to
recollect growing up with his younger brother and the love for hockey they shared. At one point, both brothers
had nearly made the big leagues, but for a terrible event occurring at the peak of their hockey careers,
threatening the relationship of the brothers for many years after. Now, in his old age as he remembers his youth,
Lou’s kind nurse tries desperately to keep him out of trouble and cared for on his isolated farm, where he lives,
regretful and sometimes sad, but also mindful of the smaller beauties in life. This graphic novel contains some
mildly coarse language, some adult situations, and one mildly suggestive scene.
How I Made it to Eighteen
by Tracy White
This plainly drawn graphic novel centers around the story of a girl named Stacey who has ended up at a youth
psychiatric wing for a 24 week stay after suffering a mental breakdown and injuring herself. Through Stacey’s
perspective and the accompanying perspectives of her friends, Stacey’s story about attempting to discover the
roots of her personal problems and destructive behaviours is explored. Through group therapy sessions, she
makes some unsuspecting friendships, re-evaluates what a healthy relationship is, and learns some eye-opening
truths about herself on her path to healing and finding answers. This graphic novel contains references to illegal
substances, suicide and addictions, some coarse language and some adult situations.
American Born Chinese
by Gene Luen Yang
This colourful graphic novel tells the story of Jin Wang, a Chinese-American boy who grows up in a primarily
Caucasian neighborhood and school. Jin struggles with bullying and racism alongside all the normal issues of
being a teenager, especially attempting to define who he is as a person and who he would like to be. A story
that runs parallel to Jin’s is the story of the Monkey King, a magical, god-like Monkey that faces oppression
from other Gods in the world because they do not view him as an equal. The Monkey King battles many foes,
but also battles with himself about who he is, much like Jin does every day in school as he tries to win the
affection of a girl in his class, and live what he feels is a normal, teenaged life. Both the Monkey King and Jin
realize, however, that not being true to oneself can have a terrible price. This novel contains some mature topics
centering on racism, explicit racial stereotypes, and some coarse language.
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Toll-free: 1-877-774-5333
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Alberta Distance
Learning Centre
Senior High School English
Novel Descriptionsrevised September 2014
English 30-1 ADLC – Print and Online Course
1984
by George Orwell
Published in 1949 and is the gripping story of a dystopian future set in the province of Airstrip One in the country
of Oceania. The Inner Party, led by Big Brother, makes up an elite group that rules its citizens with such tyranny
that even an individual’s thoughts are policed. In Oceania, every aspect of life is under surveillance and control,
from the words that people speak to the country’s own history. While this truly is a cautionary tale about a
frightening future, it is also the story of what happens when one man quietly dares to question, dares to think,
and dares to love.
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
The story of Liesel Meminger, who is nine years old when her life changes forever. It is 1939; Germany is on
the brink of World War II, and this is the year that marks more than one heart-breaking tragedy for Liesel. There
is more tragedy to come, but there is time enough in between those tragedies for Liesel to fall in love with an
accordian player, a dusty track star, a sharp-tongued foster mother, and a broken Jewish man living in her
basement. She also falls in love with stealing, and it all begins with a rectangular black book partially hidden in
the snow.
The Cellist of Sarajevo
by Steven Galloway
deals with the war in Sarajevo. Arrow hides amongst the debris of a burned-out office tower and aims her rifle
at the unsuspecting soldiers. She is certain they deserve to die. She is certain of a great many things, but this
will change when her life intersects with the cellist. On an average day in Sarajevo, if any day during war can be
average, the cellist sits at his window playing “Albinoni’s Adagio,” a moving and beautiful song of hope. It is at
this very window that he witnesses the death of 22 people standing in line to buy bread. So shattered by this
tragic moment, the cellist vows to play the beautiful “Adagio” for 22 days, one for each victim, on the hour of
their death. This powerful tribute will serve as one man’s way of enduring the unthinkable. Arrow has her own
way, as do the other characters in this haunting elegiac novel.
The Devil and Miss Prym
by Paul Coelho
A story involving some significant questions. Are human beings, at their core, good or evil? This is the question
posed by the stranger who quietly arrives in the remote village of Viscos carrying eleven gold bars. Giving the
townspeople a seemingly simple proposition--do one evil deed and be handsomely rewarded--the stranger
injects powerful temptation into their lives. This moral dilemma shakes the little mountain town to its core, and
causes both the characters and the reader to question what Paul Coelho’s parable might teach us about the
nature of humankind.
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Toll-free: 1-877-774-5333
7
Alberta Distance
Learning Centre
Senior High School English
Novel Descriptionsrevised September 2014
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
Tells the story of Amir. The year is 2001, and Amir is a man living a comfortable existence with his family in San
Francisco, but a phone call from his uncle in Pakistan, and one brief sentence, transports Amir back to the
year 1975 when he betrayed his best friend and altered the course of both their lives. “There is a way to be
good again,” Amir’s uncle had said, but Amir is not so sure. The Kite Runner is the story of Amir and Hassan,
their richly-textured childhood in Afghanistan and their powerful friendship, but it is also the story of betrayal and
redemption. Can we ever escape the ghosts of our past? Is forgiveness always possible? Can a person atone
for any sin, no matter how great? These are the questions that drive this beautifully-woven tale. Note: this novel
contains scenes of a sexual and violent nature, and reader discretion is advised.
Wild Geese
by Martha Ostenso and David Arnason
Set in the pioneer district of northern Manitoba where pioneer farmers have reason to admire their
accomplishments in wresting a living from the forested land. Current in exploring the struggle for independence
and the assertion of one’s own will in a male-dominated society, students are often surprised by the date
of this novel. The development of several characters makes this a strong study in the response to difficult
circumstances. The wild geese that begin and end the story frame spring and autumn and connect the plot
and characters to the natural world. The description of fragile wood lilies growing next to a fire-blackened stump
becomes strongly symbolic.
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Toll-free: 1-877-774-5333
8
Alberta Distance
Learning Centre
Senior High School English
Novel Descriptionsrevised September 2014
English 30-2 DLRB (with ADLC assignment booklets) – Print Course
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
presents a futuristic state that attempts to control all thinking. Books are “bad” and are burned because they
present controversial ideas. The punishment for reading and owning books is severe – possibly death. This
novel is a social satire concerned with the control of information and ideas. The author equates freedom with
the expansion of ideas through reading, writing, and conversation; he would certainly oppose any censorship by
modern technology.
Fallen Angels
by Walter Dean Myers
A powerful novel marked by blasphemy, prejudice, discrimination, sexism, despair, and violent reactions of
the male characters set in the Viet Nam war. Harsh language realistically reflects the violence and killing that
is constantly questioned in this war story that deals with ethnic differences, political biases, religious beliefs,
interpersonal relationships, and racial hatreds.
Medicine River
by Thomas King
A humorous account of the citizens and social structure of a small Blackfoot town in southern Alberta. Will
returns to his hometown to sort the affairs of his mother who recently died, and in the process must confront
various experiences and issues from his youth. In the process, he must confirm his values. Often funny and
sometimes painful, events with Harlen Bigbear bring Will to understand his own identity and commitments.
King’s refreshing humour and optimism, despite some painful encounters, leave the reader with significant
understanding of and compassion for the characters in Blackfoot culture.
Night
by Elie Wiesel
Wiesel’s terrifying account of his experiences as a Jewish teenager in Nazi concentration camps in 1944 and
1945. Wiesel struggled with his religious beliefs after witnessing many horrors, including the death of his family,
the execution of a young child, and individuals abandoning family members in attempts to survive. The message
in the novel is that such horror should never be allowed to happen again.
adlc.ca
Toll-free: 1-877-774-5333
9
Alberta Distance
Learning Centre
Senior High School English
Novel Descriptionsrevised September 2014
English 30-2 ADLC – Online Course
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
presents a futuristic state that attempts to control all thinking. Books are “bad” and are burned because they
present controversial ideas. The punishment for reading and owning books is severe – possibly death. This
novel is a social satire concerned with the control of information and ideas. The author equates freedom with
the expansion of ideas through reading, writing, and conversation; he would certainly oppose any censorship by
modern technology.
Night
by Elie Wiesel
Wiesel’s terrifying account of his experiences as a Jewish teenager in Nazi concentration camps in 1944 and
1945. Wiesel struggled with his religious beliefs after witnessing many horrors, including the death of his family,
the execution of a young child, and individuals abandoning family members in attempts to survive. The message
in the novel is that such horror should never be allowed to happen again.
adlc.ca
Toll-free: 1-877-774-5333
10