To Kill a Mockingbird

Author: Harper Lee
Genre: Historical fiction,
Other works by Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird is pretty much it.


The book To Kill a Mockingbird displays the need for social chance in the Deep South. The story shows how a white lawyer hoped to defend a young black man accused of a rape he did not commit. Although Atticus Finch does not win the trial is still show the progression Harper Lee hoped the south would move towards for social change.

"Mushrooms"

Author: Sylvia Plath
Genre: Poetry
Other works by Plath: The Bell Jar, Letters Home

“Mushrooms” by Sylvia Plath is a poem that contains symbolism for a need for social change. Mushrooms push through the earth, popping up all over the ground. Sylvia Plath believed that like mushrooms, women would slowly start standing up for themselves and for their rights. From what she wrote, she was hopeful about the future of women of the world.

Goodread's Literature of Social Change List

Literature of social change (as voted by the members of Goodreads).
Not a member of Goodreads? That's OK, you can still view this list. Also, while you're at the website perusing this list of novels, you should sign-up to become a member. It's free!

Things Fall Apart

Author: Chinua Achebe
Genre: Historical fiction
Other works by Achebe: No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, A Man of the People, Anthills of the Savannah, and others.

Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart isn't about one specific historical event or movements like many pieces of literature used as social reform. The message of his book is primarily based around the immemorial conflicts between the individual and society as a whole. Achebe is using a culture, in this case a Nigerian village, to depict a more universal theme as opposed to a specific political issue such as corruption found among the ideals of the Soviet Union (George Orwell's Animal Farm).

Animal Farm

Novel: Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
Genre: Political allegory and/or dystopian, novella
Other works by Orwell: 1984, Down and Out in Paris and London, Shooting an Elephant, Coming Up for Air, and many more.


Orwell used a farm peppered with barnyard animals to conceal a much larger-scale issue: the corruption of socialist ideals in the Soviet Union. He uses his skill as a writer to critique the rhetoric of the Russian Revolution. Like the real struggles between Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky, there is a struggle between two literal pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, for preeminence.
Animal Farm also offers commentary on the development of class, a sub-topic to the corruption of socialist ideals in Russia. The novella focuses on the tyranny and the human tendency to maintain and reestablish class structures even in societies that allegedly stand for total equality. Orwell's writing creates an image of unity when a particular group of people is faced with a common enemy. In the case of Animal Farm, the animals are united against the "tyrannical" humans. However, when that common enemy is eliminated, a group can become internally divided.

before i fall

Novel: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Genre: Y.A. Literature
Other works by Oliver: Delirium, Requiem (to be released in February 2013), Pandemonium
For more information regarding Oliver and her writing, please visit her website.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Novel: Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Author: John Green and David Levithan
Genre: Y.A. Literature
Other fictional works by Green: An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns
Please go to Green's website for more information about his novels.
Other fictional works by Levithan: Boy Meets Boy, Are We There Yet?, The Realm of Possibility, Marly's Ghost, Wide Awake, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
For a complete list of Levithan's books, please check out his website.

Will Grayson is unlike any of the other books listed in this blog. Levithan and Green work together to create a story of two teenaged boys, both of whom are named Will Grayson. The entirety of this story is written in first person narration (from the perspective of each Will Grayson). The books rotates a chapter at a time through the lives of the respective Will Grayson. There's nothing out of the ordinary about either of these teenagers, until they run into each other a Frenchy's a local pornography shop in Chicago. One Will Grayson has been abandoned by his friends when his fake idea fails him at a local dance club. The other Will Grayson has been cruelly tricked by his "friend" Maura to meet an imaginary online love interest, Isaac. The two become oddly and hilariously tangled in each others' lives.

I'm not sure this is a book I would teach to a whole class of students. If I did, I think I would save it for juniors and seniors who could really appreciate the hilariousness of Green and Levithan's tag-team writing. I bought this book so I could have a copy to share with students once I finally have a classroom. I know at some point in my teaching career I will book talk Will Grayson.