Considering teaching American Literature in your high school this year? While American authors have a reputation for being downers, I found these titles to be full of great ideas for worthwhile discussion.
High School American Literature
Homeschoolers know that a High School English curriculum should include American Literature (ideally using good study guides that enrich the reading but never kill the story with busywork). Unfortunately, many of the titles by famous American authors are known for being depressing, godless, and sometimes truly offensive. The good news is, I found while teaching American Lit. to my high school junior this year that there are some really terrific choices for our book list, and this series of posts will share some of our favorites with you.
Here was my dilemma as I prepared a curriculum for High School American Literature:
How could I be truthful in teaching my son,
refusing to whitewash the harsh realities of our nation’s troubled reality (past and present) as presented in works of great literature
WITHOUT wallowing in a series of depressing, godless, and offensive books?
Here was the answer that presented itself as I prayed and prepared:
I can choose writing that focuses on redemption in the midst of things that are ugly.
And in doing so, I could point my son to the glory of God
Who takes what the enemy intends for evil and works it in our lives for good instead.
Books like John Knowles’ rich coming-of-age story A Separate Peace would honestly present the fact that young men are often very confused, and a World War only makes things harder for 
them to make sense of themselves and the world, but it would also celebrate the beauty of learning hard truths about oneself and facing the complexities of honest relationships with others.
We could read well-written account of injustices done to people of color, to immigrants from other countries, yet not be in despair because plays like A Raisin in the Sun and books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn do not stop with the honest presentation of the problem, but instead go on to explore solutions (even costly ones) that just might really work…and make us better people in the process of trying.
High School American Literature is NOT all depressing.
Choose titles wisely. Read with your mind and spirit turned on so as not to miss evidence of the redemptive work of God in a broken world. And learn a whole lot about good writing, the effective use of literary devices, rich characters, dialogue and dialect, and so much more! Keep reading this series for more ideas (including writing assignments for high schoolers based on the books they read) in American Literature.