Doerr’s 2014 novel has shown up on the College Board’s list a few times, and we’ve started seeing it on AP Literature syllabuses in our local schools. And it’s no wonder. Doerr’s gorgeous World War II book tells the intertwining stories of Marie-Laure, a 12-year-old blind girl who flees with her father to Saint-Malo when the Nazis occupy Paris (hiding a dangerous and valuable jewel from the Museum of Natural History), and Werner, a young man from Germany who grows up in a coal mining community but earns a place in the Hitler Youth because of his skill in fixing radios.

Over the course of the novel, the paths of these two young people wind closer together, and the story offers rich opportunities to discuss the effects of war on the human spirit.

In the interest of full disclosure, we must admit Steph loves this 2001 novel far more than Kate does, but it has become a regular staple on the College Board’s list of suggested titles. Set amidst World War II, the novel tells the story of a party gone tragically wrong and of two lovers, Cecilia and Robbie, separated by the war.

It’s an engaging story, but what makes the novel most appropriate for discussion in an AP Literature class is the fact that the story is told from multiple perspectives, allowing for explorations of miscommunication, honesty, misunderstanding, and how, in fact, we can atone for the mistakes we make. Steph still feels viscerally angry about the changes between the book and the 2007 film, and those differences would make for an engaging class discussion.

Kingsolver’s 2022 novel is fantastic. It’s one of Steph’s newest favorites, and Barbara Kingsolver has long been a featured author on the College Board suggested lists. Kingsolver, inspired by Dickens’s focus on poverty in 1800s London, tells the story of Demon Copperhead, a boy born into poverty in southern Appalachia.

The novel is heartbreaking, tracing Demon’s life through foster homes, a series of unpleasant jobs, and the opioid epidemic, but Demon is resilient, and his narrative voice is a delight (one reviewer compares him to Holden Caulfield and Huck Finn, comparisons which work). The novel offers an uncomfortable, and yet somehow beautiful, look at an American experience often overlooked. (A shorter, similar text? Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, featured in the suggested titles list on the 2021 exam).

Hosseini’s 2003 novel has been one of the most-referenced contemporary novels for AP Literature since we started teaching the course in 2007, and for good reason. Not only does Hosseini’s novel offer readers the opportunity to visit and learn about Afghanistan and its culture, it tells the heartbreaking, yet ultimately redemptive tale of Amir’s attempts to absolve his guilt for betraying his childhood friend, Hassan.

While we didn’t assign the novel as a full-class read, it was regularly a popular choice for independent reading in our AP classrooms.

Celeste Ng’s novels are increasingly appearing on AP syllabuses and in teaching resources for AP teachers. Her excellent 2017 novel focuses on the stories of two families in Shaker Heights, a traditional suburb near Cleveland. Mia Warren, an artist and single mother, rents from and works for the Richardson family, and her daughter Pearl becomes friends with the Richardson children.

As Pearl and Mia get to know the Richardson children, we see them wrestle with the challenges of adolescence; at the same time, Mia and Elena Richardson get involved (on opposing sides) in a fierce custody battle for a Chinese-American baby in their community.

The novel explores themes of race, class, and family from shifting perspectives that make for engaging discussion, and the teenage characters will help draw your students into the story.

While we’re not sure we would use O’Farrell’s 2022 novel for full-class discussion (or even recommend students write about it on the exam), we’re including it here because your AP Lit students might enjoy this fictionalized backstory behind Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” a commonly assigned AP Literature text.

If this is a poem you teach, you and your students will enjoy the story of Lucrezia, forced to marry the Duke of Ferrara when her older sister (who was actually betrothed to the Duke) dies just before her wedding. In the days after her wedding (as she sits for that famous portrait, of course), Lucrezia’s sense of danger sharpens the more she learns about her new husband.

Again, we wouldn’t use Van Pelt’s 2022 novel as a core class read or encourage students to write about it on the AP exam, but we think it would make for great discussions in any AP Literature class if used as a summer read, literature circle option, or independent reading selection.

The story is delightful: alternating between multiple points of view (including that of Marcellus the octopus), we watch Tova, a widow contemplating a move to a retirement home, and Cameron, a young man unable to hold down a job, develop an unlikely friendship as they navigate a significant period in both their lives.

We’re not convinced the unusual point of view choices work or that all the plot developments are entirely believable, but this is, ultimately, what makes the engaging novel ripe for a discussion in an AP Literature course: do the author’s artistic choices enhance or detract from the story she’s telling?

We found great success teaching this 2006 novel and taught it for years during our time in the AP Literature classroom because we found our students had a lot to say about the text.

Set in the post-apocalyptic southeastern United States, McCarthy’s novel tells the story of an unnamed father and son trying to stay alive and hold onto their hope in the desolate, cruel, and dangerous world that surrounds them.

McCarthy’s use of language is stunning and rich in the use of literary techniques to reinforce the novel’s themes about human nature; we found it made a good introduction to the skills needed for close reading in AP Literature.

We both read this 1994 novel when we were in school ourselves (anyone else remember the 1999 Ethan Hawke film adaptation?), so it’s been awhile, but this title shows up on the College Board’s suggested titles list several times, and it’s an engaging (and highly atmospheric) story.

Part crime novel, it tells the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese American fisherman accused of drowning a local (read: white) fisherman. But it also tells a love story, the story of prejudice in a small community, and the story of Japanese-American internment during World War II.

The mystery elements will hook readers in, but there is a rich and compelling story that goes beyond just the drama of a court case.

Owens’s popular 2018 novel tells the story of Kya Clark, the “Marsh Girl,” who grew up in the marshes of the North Carolina coast, and has shown up several times on the College Board’s suggested titles list.

Described as part coming-of-age story (as Kya grows up alone in the marsh) and part murder mystery (the town suspects her of the 1969 murder of the handsome Chase Andrews), the compelling narrative keeps the reader turning the pages of the beautifully-written text.

(Disclaimer: There is some controversy over Owens’s past that you may want to address, or at least be aware of, before assigning this text to students.)