As the school year comes to an end, you might be a freshman who is wondering, “Are the English 10 books any good?” Well, we are here to answer that question. English 10: World Literature is a class that focuses on writing from cultures that are often overlooked or underrepresented in the traditional American curriculum. Through the lens of the guiding notion “geography is destiny,” students read novels set in many places, including Nigeria, Japan, Scotland, and the Dominican Republic. There is also a short story unit featuring stories from all over the world, some of which have been translated into English. Though the same stories aren’t taught every year, these are the books that were taught in the 2025-26 school year.

Our ranking is…

1. Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto
2. Macbeth, by William Shakespeare
3. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
4. In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez

First Place: Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto

Kitchen is a novella written by Banana Yoshimoto. The story takes place in Japan and follows a girl named Mikage as she learns to cope and heal from the death of her grandmother and parents, and her growing friendship with a boy named Yuichi. The story has heavier themes of death and grief, but these aspects are pivotal to Mikage’s character development. 

The story is character-driven, with much of the first half revolving around Mikage’s thoughts and feelings. While this might seem slow or boring, Yoshimoto’s writing style makes it extremely beautiful and enjoyable. 

Yoshimoto includes heavy figurative language, like metaphors, similes, and lots of personification. The heavy figurative language lends itself to analysis and makes diving deeper into the themes and motifs fun and easy.

Our favorite part of the external plot is the love story. The romance is written in a way that isn’t cheesy or annoying, and it still remains a subplot instead of dominating the story. The balance of Mikage’s thoughts and her actions is perfect, so the reader feels connected to the characters but also drawn to keep reading.

We chose this story as our favorite because of the well-written characters, the love story, and the beautiful figurative language that the other novels lacked. If you enjoy books with romance, figurative language, and themes of home and family, then you would love Kitchen.

Second Place: Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy about a Scottish general, Macbeth, who hears a mysterious prophecy from three witches. Triggered by the ambition of both himself and his wife, he murders the king to take the throne. Consumed by guilt and paranoia, he becomes a tyrannical leader, which eventually leads to his downfall.

This play is action-packed, full of twists and turns, and plenty of dramatic irony (when the audience knows something that the characters don’t). There is constantly something new and unexpected just around every corner, making readers fully engrossed in the storyline. 

One of our favorite characters is Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth. This play was written around 1600, and takes place in the mid-1000s, a time period when women were often controlled by their husbands and had few rights. Lady Macbeth stands out as the opposite of this; she is ambitious, ruthless, and manipulative toward her husband, giving her character strength. 

Not only was this play enjoyable to read, but just as fun (if not more fun) to watch and act out. During class, we saw many interpretations of the play, and even got to make interpretations of our own! The unit was interactive and engaging, which made having to translate Shakespearean writing much less stressful.

We picked this as our second favorite story because of the dramatic plot and intriguing characters, though it was not first because of the difficulty in understanding Shakespearean English. If you enjoy books with dramatic plot, blood and gore, and strong female characters, then you would love Macbeth. 

Third Place: Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart is a novel that takes place in an Igbo village in 1890s Nigeria. The story follows the powerful leader Okonkwo as he navigates the challenges of his changing life. The book is split into three parts that show the lives and traditions of the Igbo people and how colonization slowly moved in and took everything apart.

The novel offers a new perspective on colonization that is hard to find, showing what life was like for those who were living through it and how their lives slowly began to change. Okonkwo made questionable decisions throughout the story, which made it necessary for the reader to understand how a good leader in his culture is different from a good leader for us. 

One of our favorite characters in the novel was Okonkwo, a leader driven by fear to become respected and a warrior. He was a violent and hyper-masculine man, which often caused turmoil amongst his family. His character was so interesting because all of his “negative” qualities were actually qualities that made him a strong leader and a valiant warrior. 

The main reason why Things Fall Apart didn’t rank higher was because of the slow start. Part one spanned almost half the book, and the majority of the action didn’t start until the very end, making this novel a slow burner. 

If you like historical fiction, morally complicated characters, and slow books that build to dramatic action, then you would love Things Fall Apart. 

Fourth Place: In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez

In the Time of the Butterflies is a novel written by Julia Alvarez. It is a historical fiction story based on the real lives of the Mirabal Sisters. The Mirabal Sisters (Dede, Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Patria) were women who lived in the Dominican Republic in the 1950s. They worked together in a secret resistance against the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo. 

The novel tells the story of the sisters’ lives, switching between each of their points of view. In Dede’s POV, we see her being interviewed about her life, as tragically, she was the only sister to survive, the other sisters being assassinated in November of 1960 (you learn all of this at the start of the novel). Maria Teresa’s chapters are written in the format of a diary, as if you’re reading her personal journal.

We thought that while the concept of the story is very important to be told, as many people do not know about the Mirabal sisters, the changing POV format is confusing to follow at times. It is very cool to learn about this history, but since it is still historical fiction, the story isn’t 100% accurate. 

The chapters, at times, can be very long and dense, which can be boring. There are only 12 chapters (three for each sister’s POV), so each chapter is almost 40-50 pages. This was a major reason we put this story in fourth place compared to the other books. The reader also knows what is going to happen, as you are told the ending in the first chapter. Because of this, there is less incentive to keep reading. The ending is also very sad, which can be upsetting to people. 

If you like historical fiction, books based on real events, or books with multiple points of view, you would love In the Time of the Butterflies. 

All in all, we think that all four of these novels are truly great. While each has its ups and downs, they are all engaging in different ways. There are also many things that make these books similar, in ways that make you appreciate how they are paired together in English 10.