Books and Reviews -- Blue Valley "Approved" List

Click here to see lists of books your child will NOT be reading in the Blue Valley School system.

Click here to see other books assigned by Blue Valley Communication Arts teachers. (Yes, some Communication Arts teachers still assign books for a grade without any regard to the school's official textbook selection policy whatsoever. They use guises such as "literary circles" to avoid school textbook selection promises.)

Because there are no consequences to Blue Valley employees who do not follow school textbook selection policies, the policies themselves are nothing more than an exercise to fool the public.

Click a book title link to read a parent-written review. Click a column heading to sort the list.

P S O None A few times Several times Many times or very explicit NYR
Profanity (f-word, other obscenities) Sexually-explicit materialOther Adult content (drugs, occult, suicide, extreme violence, or other adult issues that parents should know about before their children are immersed in them. Not Yet Rated
The "Date column" represents the date the district "approved" the book. Note that the books with a 6/2004 date were retroactively added to the curriculum in June of 2004 even though they had been used throughout the district for many prior years. To date, none of the book rationales explain the great amount of sex, profanity, suicide, and other adult topics. Textbook rationales fall far short of textbook selection policy promises and also work to keep parents in the dark on the sensitive topics that are being taught and discussed in the classroom. Click here for class codes.
Title Author Date Class P S O
1984 Orwell, George 9/2000 10H NYR
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Twain, Mark 9/2000 11, 11AP NYR
Adventures of Ulysses Evslin, Bernard 9/2000 9 NYR
All Quiet on the Western Front Remarque, Erich 9/2000 10, 10H NYR
All the President's Men Woodward & Bernstein 9/2000 J NYR
All the Pretty Horses McCarthy, Cormac 9/2000 11, 11AP
Animal Dreams Kingsolver, Barbara
PETITION BOOK		 9/2000 12, CC
Animal Farm Orwell, George 9/2000 10 NYR
Anthem Rand, Ayn 9/2000 9, 9H
Antigone Sophocles Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 10H NYR
Art of Work Coleman, Roger 9/2000 CC
Awakening Chopin, Kate
PETITION BOOK		 9/2000 11AP
Bean Trees Kingsolver, Barbara
PETITION BOOK		 9/2000 10
Beloved Morrison, Toni
PETITION BOOK		 9/2000 12AP
Black Boy Wright, Richard
PETITION BOOK		 9/2000 11, 11AP
Bless Me Ultima Anaya, Rudolfo
PETITION BOOK		 Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 9H
Boy's Life McCammon, Robert
PETITION BOOK		 Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 10
Brave New World Huxley, Aldous 9/2000 12, 12AP, CC NYR
Catch 22 Heller, Joseph 9/2000 12, 12AP NYR
Catcher in the Rye Salinger, JD 9/2000 10, 10H
Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work Canfield Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 CC NYR
Chosen Potok, Chaim 9/2000 9H
Crime and Punishment Dostoevsky, Fyodor Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 12AP NYR
Crucible Miller, Arthur 9/2000 11, 11AP NYR
Cry the Beloved Country Paton, Alan 9/2000 12AP NYR
Cyrano de Bergerac Rostand, Edmond Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 10, 10H NYR
Death of a Salesman Miller, Arthur 9/2000 12, 12AP, CC NYR
Death of Ivan Illych Tolstoy, Leo 9/2000 12AP NYR
Dispatches from the Front Lande, Nathaniel 9/2000 J NYR
Ella Minnow Pea Dunn, Mark 8/2005 11
Ellen Foster Gibbons, Kaye 9/2000 10, 10H
Ender's Game Card, Orson 9/2000 CC
Enemy of the People Ibsen, Henrik 9/2000 12 NYR
Ethan Frome Wharton, Edith 9/2000 11, 11AP NYR
Fallen Angels Myers, Walter Dean
PETITION BOOK		 REMOVED
we applaud this decision		 12, CC
Farewell to Arms Hemingway, Ernest 9/2000 11, 11AP NYR
Frankenstein Shelley, Mary 9/2000 12, 12AP NYR
Going After Cacciato O'Brien, Tim
PETITION BOOK		 8/2005 12, 12AP
Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck, John 9/2000 11, 11AP NYR
Great Expectations Dickens, Charles Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 9H NYR
Great Gatsby Fitzgerald, F. Scott 9/2000 11, 11AP NYR
Hamlet Shakespeare 9/2000 12, 12AP, CC Note
Heart of Darkness Conrad, Joseph Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 12AP
Hiroshima Hersey, John 9/2000 10, 10H NYR
Hot Zone Preston
PETITION BOOK		 Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 12
House on Mango Street Cisneros, Sandra Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 9H
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Angelou, Maya
PETITION BOOK		 9/2000 10H
Importance of Being Earnest Wilde, Oscar 8/2005 12
In Cold Blood Capote, Truman 9/2000 12
Inferno Alighieri, Dante 9/2000 12AP NYR
Jane Eyre Bronte, Emily Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 12AP NYR
Joy Luck Club Tan, Amy 9/2000 10H
Julius Caesar Shakespeare 9/2000 10 Note
King Lear Shakespeare 9/2000 12AP Note
Les Miserables Hugo, Victor 9/2000 10H NYR
Long Day's Journey into Night O'Neill, Eugene 9/2000 12AP NYR
Lord of the Flies Golding, William 9/2000 9, 9H
Lords of Discipline Conroy, Pat
PETITION BOOK		 9/2000 12, CC
Macbeth Shakespeare
 9/2000 10, 10H Note
Madame Bovary Flaubert, Gustave 9/2000 12AP NYR
Metamorphosis Kafka, Franz 9/2000 12AP NYR
Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare 9/2000 10, 10H Note
Mousetrap Christie, Agatha 9/2000 12 NYR
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Douglass, Frederick 8/2005
We applaud this selection		 11, 11AP
Natural Malamud, Bernard 9/2000 10
Night Wiesel, Elie 9/2000 9, 9H
Night Thoreau Spent in Jail Lawrence, Jerome 9/2000 11, 11AP
Odyssey Homer 9/2000 9H NYR
Of Mice and Men Steinbeck, John 9/2000 9, 9H
Once & Future King White, Terence 9/2000 10, 10H NYR
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Kesey, Ken
PETITION BOOK		 9/2000 12, 12AP
One Minute Manager Blanchard, Kenneth 9/2000 CC NYR
Othello Shakespeare 9/2000 10AP Note
Peace Like a River Enger, Leif 2005 Summer Reading
Retroactively
approved 8/2005		 10, 10H NYR
Pride and Prejudice Austen, Jane Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 12AP NYR
Raisin in the Sun Hansberry, Lorraine 8/2005
We applaud this selection		 11, 11AP
Rape Fantasies Atwood, Margaret REMOVED
we applaud this decision		 12
Red Badge of Courage Crane, Stephen 9/2000 11AP NYR
Reporter's Life Cronkite, Walter 9/2000 J NYR
Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare 9/2000 9, 9H Note
Saint Joan Shaw, Bernard 9/2000 12AP NYR
Scarlet Letter Hawthorne 9/2000 11AP NYR
Secret Life of Bees Kidd, Sue Monk 2005 Summer Reading
Retroactively
approved 8/2005		 10, 10H
Separate Peace Knowles, John Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 9, 9H
Slaughterhouse Five Vonnegut, Kurt 9/2000 12
Song of Solomon Morrison, Toni
PETITION BOOK		 9/2000 11AP
Stotan Crutcher, Chris
PETITION BOOK		 9/2000 9
Stranger Camus, Albert 9/2000 12AP NYR
Tale of Two Cities Dickens, Charles 9/2000 10H NYR
Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare, William Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 12 Note
Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston, Zora 9/2000 12 NYR
Things Fall Apart Achebe, Chinua Retroactively
approved
6/2004		 10H
This Boy's Life Wolff, Tobias
PETITION BOOK		 REMOVED
we applaud this decision		 CC
Tuesdays with Morrie Albom, Mitch 9/2000 12, CC
Twelve Angry Men Rose, Reginald 9/2000 9, 9H
Wuthering Heights Bronte, Emily 9/2000 12AP NYR