Tolstoy is not for the faint of heart. At a whopping 800 + pages, students who struggled with Beowulf or The Canterbury Tales might not be ready to dive right into every single word of Tolstoy's masterpiece.

Luckily for us, the Common Core State Standards don't ask us to read this novel cover to cover. Instead, our new nationwide standards ask us to dig deeper, to delve more into the quality and the essence of the piece. This, our friends, is the way to go, especially if you have struggling readers or limited time. Instead of trudging through the entire novel, pick the sections that you know will particularly rock their worlds. Skip the sections with all the family background and just tell Anna's story. Cut out all the minor characters and background.