Great Books Adult Selections Monday thru Friday plus • 4 short works on Saturday
Michel Foucault: Madness and Civilization	Michel Foucault , the modern French philosopher and psychologist, seeks to interrogate the intersection of madness, reason and power and the forces that are instrumental in shaping their dynamic. His work provides a penetrating study of madness from 1500 to 1800 - from the Middle Ages when insanity was considered part of everyday life and fools and madmen walked the streets, to when these people were perceived as a threat, asylums were built, and a wall was erected between the insane and the rest of humanity.  Foucault focuses throughout, not only on scientific and medical analyses of madness, but also on the philosophical and cultural values attached to the concept of the mad.
William Shakespeare: Hamlet	The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the king, and then taken the throne and married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seething rage—and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.
Stephen Greenblatt: Will in the World	Stephen Greenblatt, brilliant scholar and author of Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, acknowledges the paradox of the many biographies of Shakespeare spun out of conjecture but then produces a book so persuasive and breathtakingly enjoyable that one wonders what he could have done if the usual stuff of biographical inquiry--memoirs, interviews, manuscripts, and drafts--had been at his disposal. Greenblatt uses the "verbal traces" in Shakespeare's work to take us "back into the life he lived and into the world to which he was so open." Whenever possible, he also ushers us from the extraordinary life into the luminous work. The result is a marvelous blend of scholarship, insight, observation, and, yes, conjecture--but conjecture always based on the most convincing and inspired reasoning and evidence.
Tom Stoppard: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead	Acclaimed as a modern dramatic masterpiece, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is the fabulously inventive tale of Hamlet as told from the worm’s-eye view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare’s play. In Tom Stoppard’s best-known work, this Shakespearean Laurel and Hardy finally get a chance to take the lead role, but do so in a world where echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, where reality and illusion intermix, and where fate leads our two heroes to a tragic but inevitable end.
John Updike: Gertrude and Claudius	Gertrude and Claudius, a novel by John Updike, uses the known sources of Shakespeare's Hamlet to tell a story that draws on a rather straightforward revenge tale in medieval Denmark depicted by Saxo Grammaticus in his twelfth-century Historiae Danicae, but incorporates extra plot elements added by François de Belleforest in his Histoires Tragiques, published in 1576. The novel is concerned with the earlier life of Gertrude, Claudius, and old Hamlet, and it ends at the close of Act I, scene ii of Hamlet.
· Don Nigro: “Dead Men’s Fingers” · Laura Bohannan: “Shakespeare in the Bush” · Margaret Atwood: “Gertrude Talks Back” · Jorge Luis Borges: “Everything and Nothing”	Four very short humorous pieces that represent both homage to William Shakespeare and extrapolations on his art.
Junior Great Books Older Group (grades 6-10)
The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope	1975 Newbery Honor Book: In 1558, while exiled by Queen Mary Tudor to a remote castle known as Perilous Gard, young Kate Sutton becomes involved in a series of mysterious events that lead her to an underground world peopled by Fairy Folk—whose customs are even older than the Druids’ and include human sacrifice.
Wolves of Willowby Chase by Pat Marriott	Lewis Carroll Shelf Award: In this chilling beginning to The Wolves Chronicles, two little cousins are left in the care of an evil governess. They escape and travel 400 miles to London with their friend Simon and his geese. Time magazine describes it as “a masterpiece...a copybook lesson in those virtues that a classic children's book must possess."
Hattie Big Sky  by Kirby Larson	2007 Newbery Honor Book: Larson creates a masterful picture of the homesteading experience and the people who persevered. Alone in the world, teen-aged Hattie courageously leaves Iowa to prove up on her late uncle's homestead claim near Vida, Montana. Hattie faces frost, drought and blizzards. She is determined to stay until a tragedy causes her to discover the true meaning of home.
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson	When orphan David Balfour is betrayed by his Uncle Ebenezer, he finds himself imprisoned on the Covenant and bound for the Carolinas. But the ship hits some rocks and is wrecked. David is thrown overboard and washed up on the shore of a Scottish island. Together with fellow survivor, the wanted rebel, Alan Breck, he sets off across the treacherous highlands on a quest for justice--and revenge!
Junior Great Books – Younger Group (Grades 1-5)
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink	1936 Newbery Medal Winner: Caddie Woodlawn is a real adventurer. She'd rather hunt than sew and plow than bake, and tries to beat her brother's dares every chance she gets. Caddie is friends with Indians, who scare most of the neighbors -- neighbors who, like her mother and sisters, don't understand her at all. The story is based on the life and memories of Carol Ryrie Brink's grandmother, the real Caddie Woodlawn. Her spirit and sense of fun have made this book a classic that readers have taken to their hearts for more than seventy years.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C O’Brien	1972 Newbery Medal Winner: Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma.
Crash by Jerry Spinelli	Newbery medalist Jerry Spinelli tackles the tale of cocky seventh-grade super-jock Crash Coogan, who got his nickname the day he used his first football helmet to knock his cousin Bridget flat on her backside.  And he has been running over people ever since, especially Penn Webb, the dweeby, vegetarian Quaker kid who lives down the block.  Through the eyes of Crash, readers get a rare glimpse into the life of a bully in this unforgettable story about stereotypes and the surprises life can bring.
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson	See above.