25 Short AP Lit Books for Quick Wins

Sometimes you just need to let your students have a quick win. These short AP Lit books might just be the thing. All of these novels come in at under 250 pages and most of them are under 200.

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Why Use Short AP Lit Books

There are a variety of reasons you may look for short AP Lit books.

I have pulled from this list of short AP books when there is enough time to read another full length book, but not quite enough time for one that is over 300 pages.

There is a break coming and you don’t want to carry a title over through the break. Novels under 200 pages can easily be accomplished in three weeks without feeling rushed or slighted.

This list might come in handy for the non-readers in your class. It is hard to believe, but every year I have students sign up for AP Lit who don’t like to read. Often they are encouraged when they see that the book is short.

You want a long-fiction title to anchor a theme based essential question unit. My students love gothic literature, and Frankenstein is always a hit, but if I wanted to highlight a lot of shorter works along with the novel, I would definitely use Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

25 Short AP Literature Books

I made a conscious decision to focus only on novels and novellas for this list of short AP Lit books. However, many full length plays also fit the bill for works under 250 pages. One of my favorites is Our Town.

Short AP Literature Books Around 100 Pages

The Awakening (Kate Chopin, a little over 100 pages) A novel about self discovery. The main character is a wife and mother in turn of the 20th Century New Orleans. She feel lost in her current life.

The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros, 110 pages) This collection of vignettes tells the story of Esperanza growing up in the Latino neighborhoods of Chicago. This is deceptively easy.

The Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka, 44 pages) A man wakes up as an insect.

Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck, 106 pages) Dust Bowl migrant workers George and Lenny are unusual because they travel together. George feels responsible for mentally challenged Lenny–a large man who doesn’t know his own strength.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson, 112 pages) Dr. Jekyll is a respectable man of science. He creates a new will making one Mr. Hyde the beneficiary of his will. Many questions surround this decision.

Short AP Lit Books. There is something for everyone.

Books Under 200 Pages

Ethan Frome (Edith Wharton, 128 pages) Mattie starts as a caregiver for Zeenie, her cousin and wife to Ethan. Zeenie is a difficult woman and Ethan is immediately taken with Mattie’s youth and vivaciousness.

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury, 158 pages) A future age where Firemen don’t put out fires, instead they burn books. Montage is a Fireman until the day he steals one of the books he is supposed to be burning.

The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitgerald, 180 pages) This classic takes place during the roaring ‘20s. Gatsby is new money. He lives on the Long Island Sound, throws lavish, alcohol filled parties, and is in love with a married woman.

Montana 1948 (Larry Watson, 169 pages) David recounts the summer he was twelve. It is the story of love, murder and family all tied together. It deals with prejudice against Souix and how that tore a family apart.

Night (Elie Wiesel, 144 pages) The quintessential memoir of a Jewish boy surviving the Holocaust.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 176 pages) Ivan is a prisoner in a work camp in Siberia where they pray that the temperature will get down to -40 degrees so they will not have to work outside.

A Pale View of Hills (Kazuo Ishiguro, 183 pages) It is post-World War II England, Etsuko is dealing with the suicide of her daughter and its connection to her survival of the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan.

Passing (Nella Larsen, 160 pages) Clare Kendry is married to a white man who does not know that she is only passing as white. Her childhood friend, who is also light skinned, has chosen to remain true to her African American heritage.

The Stranger (Camus, 144 pages) Meursault has recently lost his mother. He wanders through life with an unclear purpose.

Sula (Toni Morrison, 174 pages) Nel and Sula are best friends. They would do anything for each other until the betrayal happens.

The Women of Brewster Place (Gloria Naylor, 192 pages) This story is told through vignettes and focuses on each of the various Black women who live in the apartments of Brewster Place.

Books for AP Literature that are under 250 pages.

Short AP Literature Books Just Over 200 Pages

Agnes Grey (Anne Bronte, 240 pages) Agnes leaves her family’s home to become a governess for a wealthy family. Of course, there she fall in love with a local man.

The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison, 224 pages) Eleven-year old Pecola, a poor brown-skinned girl, wants nothing more than to have blonde hair and blue eyes like her doll.

The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger, 240 pages) Holden Caulfield is disenchanted with his boarding school life. He has just been kicked out of another one. And before he faces his parents he spends a few days wandering around New York City.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Jonathan Saffran Foer, 326 pages, but really only around 242 because of the images included) This is a story told with 3 narrators, each having experienced trauma. Oskar’s father died in the Twin Tower, Thomas survived the bombing of Dresden and Grandma is connected to both.

A Lesson Before Dying (Earnest Gaines, 272 pages) Okay, so this one IS over 250 pages, but it is a quick read and a student favorite. Told from the perspective of Grant, a well-educated Black man in the Jim Crowe south on the 1940s. Grant is tasked with helping one of his former students (Jefferson, on death row for murder of a white man) regain his humanity after his defense attorney refers to him as a hog.

Nickel Boys (Colsom Whitehead, 224 pages) Elwood Curtis, a Black boy living in Tallahassee is unfairly sentenced to serve time at the horrible Nickel Academy. He makes friends and just barely survives.

A Separate Peace (John Knowles, 206 pages) Gene Forrester returns to the boarding school he attended at the height of World War II. He must face his demons from that time in his life.

Silas Marner (George Eliot [Maryann Evans], 206 pages) Reclusive and greedy Marner finds and adopts an orphan girl. Of course, her presence in his house changes him.

Surfacing (Margaret Atwood, 206 pages) A woman returns to her family’s lake house in rural Ontario, Canada after her father’s death. She is looking for clues to her parents and her childhood.

Short novels for AP Literature--a list of 25 books that will appeal to many types of readers.

About these Short AP Lit Books

I have only included books on this list which I have read. That means that there are additional short AP Lit books that appear on the AP Open Question Book List that fit the criteria of being under 250 pages that are not included here.

Let me know which books you have read or if you have suggestions to add to the list (and that I should add to my TBR).