Summer Information

One of the greatest gifts we, as educators, can impart to you, our students, is a love for reading and an appreciation of good literature.  Literature can open up beautiful new worlds for you.  It is able to expand your mind in new directions, stimulate your imagination, entertain, and comfort you.  In light of this, we share with you our love of the richness of literary works with the required summer reading list below.

Please check this list carefully, as there are required books for both English and History classes.  Take note of how each work will be assessed by the teachers in the fall.  

Madonna Lee Edmunds, Principal

Freshman Summer Reading List

English

Be prepared to discuss, to write about, and to be tested on these books:

Introduction to Literature (Honors)

Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency 
Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club 

Introduction to Literature (CP1, CP2)

Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Social Studies

A paper will be assigned during the first week of class
 
World History (Honors)

Norah Lofts, Eleanor the Queen
 
World History (CP1, CP2)

Elizabeth George Speare, The Bronze Bow
  

Sophomore Summer Reading List

English

Be prepared to discuss, write about and be tested on these books:

World Literature (Honors)

Khaled Hosseini,  A Thousand Splendid Suns
Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate 
Dai Sijie, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

World Literature (CP1, CP2)

Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns
Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate

Social Studies

A paper will be assigned during the first week of class

Modern European History (Honors)

George Orwell, 1984

Modern European History (CP1)

Antonia Fraser, Marie Antoinette

AP  European History (AP) 

A critical book report will be due the second week of school

R.A. Scotti, Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building Saint Peter’s


Junior Summer Reading List

English

Be prepared to discuss, to write about, and to be tested on these works:

Foundations of American Literature (Honors)

Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Inherit the Wind 
Arthur Miller, The Crucible
AND TWO from the elective list below.
   
Foundations of Literature (CP1)

Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Inherit the Wind
Arthur Miller, The Crucible 
AND ONE from the electives list below.

Junior English Elective List (Honors, TWO; CP1, ONE.)

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Sherman Alexie, Reservation Blues
Willa Cather, My Antonia
Kate Chopin, The Awakening
Steven Crane, The Red Badge of Courage
E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime
David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars
Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Jack London, Call of the Wild
Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Annie Proulx, The Shipping News
Ayn Rand, Anthem
J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
John Steinbeck, Cannery Row
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Social Studies

AP U.S. History
The reading list was given to the students in May.

U.S. History (Honors) 

A writing assignment will be given the first week of class

Michael Burlingame, Lincoln and the Civil War (Concise Lincoln Library)

U.S. History (CP1, CP2) 

William Hanchett, The Life of Abraham Lincoln: Out of the Wilderness


Senior Summer Reading List

English

Be prepared to discuss, write about and be tested on these books:

AP English

Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles
AND TWO from the electives listed below.

British Literature (Honors)

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles
AND ONE from the electives listed below.

British Literature (CP1)
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
AND ONE from the electives listed below.

Senior English Electives (AP, TWO; Honors, ONE; CP1, ONE)


Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
Geraldine Brooks, Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague
Octavia Butler, Kindrid
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible
Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes
Ian McEwan, Atonement 
Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon 
Carol Shields, Unless
Zadie Smith, White Teeth 
Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire
Edna O’Brien, In the Forest
Yann Martel, Life of Pi
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
Jose Antonio Villarreal, Pocho

 

Social Studies

Economics (Honors, CP1)
Steven Levitt and Stephan Dubner, Freakonomics