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Hi,

We are wrapping up Macbeth and I would like to switch gears with my AP English students.  I would like to do a contemporary nonfiction book.  So far the only book I can think of is Angela's Ashes.  Do yo have any other suggestions?

The Kite Runner and its sequel (A Thousand Splendid Suns) are good choices.  You could also do Tuesdays with Morrie.

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, about growing up with a mentally ill mother.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Marley and Me by John Grogan

In reply to #1:

Do you subscribe to the AP listserv? You can tap into ideas from 5000 subscribers!  I think probably more are Language teachers than Lit teachers--if that makes any difference.

This is the site you access to subscribe:
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/homepage/7173.html

Response to #4:  I have been on the AP listserv for about eight years.  I know what you mean--currently it seems the discussion often favors AP Language.  But for a long time the Lang people complained that the focus was all on AP Lit.  Either way, the discussions, the people, the posts, and the resources are wonderful.  I'm beginning to enjoy this forum as well.

An excellent nonfiction book is Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. I love teaching this book because I tie it into Transcendentalism and have my students read Thoreau and Emerson and tie in the short story "To Build A Fire" by Jack London. The young man that this story focuses on, Chris McCandless, based his principles and essentially his life around these three men (Tolstoy, too), so it is excellent for the students to be able to see the influence these authors had on this young man's decisions.

I also do the Autobiography of Malcolm X and tie in the Harlem Renaissance and other African-American nonfiction writers, such as bell hooks.

How about John Adams, . . . or perhaps even (dare I suggest) A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity?  I've never had the pleasure of teaching AP (because I'm most comfortable with the middle-of-the-roaders mostly), but I think it would be incredibly fascinating to connect some of these current nonfiction works to the facts behind them.  Perhaps team teaching could even be involved!  Exciting!!!

In my opinion one of the best nonfiction contemporary books is  Founding Brothers by Joseph A. Ellis. Although written about individuals who lived more than 200 years ago, one cannot foresake the value it holds for the contemporary audience. (especially high school students)

In reply to #2: Aren't these fiction?