Should I talk to my AP teacher about this?

I'm in AP literature and composition and we recently did a mock exam. Although we did not read the book in class, I chose to write my essay on Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison because I thought it fit the prompt perfectly. However, when I told my teacher this, she was furious because she said "she'd never heard of it therefore it could not be a work of literary merit". So I did some research and found that it is considered a classic and has been offered as an option on other times writing prompts. Even some college professors make it part of their curriculum. My teacher said I would get a zero on it, but I don't think that is fair. Should I show her what I've found or just let it go? It really bothered me because she told me all of this in front of my entire class, even to the point that I cried. I don't think it's fair. What should I do? I'm afraid to talk to her in fear that she may tell at me again.