this suspenseful story about a high school basketball team," Ages 12-up. Kissing
Doorknobs ing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser. Fourteen-year-old Tara ...
ACADEMIC ENGLISH I SUMMER READING
Welcome to Academic English I! Next year we will study short stories, nonfiction, poetry, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Ancient Greek mythology and The Odyssey, and two Young Adult novels. So, this summer will be a time to lay back, relax, and enjoy some light reading. With that goal in mind, choose and read one of the three books below and be prepared to participate in the following: • Reading comprehension test • Class/group discussion • In-class project and presentation. ******************************CHOICES*****************************
Players by Joyce Sweeney Eighteen-year-old Corey Brennan, team captain, sees a threat to his dream of winning his high school basketball championship when he eventually discovers that the new player on the team is a self-centered, team-destroying villain. Publishers Weekly says…. "Sweeney explores the disastrous effects of competitiveness gone too far in this suspenseful story about a high school basketball team," Ages 12-up
Kissing Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser Fourteen-year-old Tara Sullivan has OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). She describes how her increasingly strange compulsions begin to take over her life and affect her relationships with her family and friends. Publishers Weekly says…. Hesser's unusually polished debut novel brings a singularly compassionate wit to a singularly painful topic. Tara Sullivan does not know how or why she lost "possession" of her thoughts, but she can trace her terrible problem to her 11th year, when the rhyme "Step on a crack, break your mother's back!" begins to run insistently and ceaselessly through her head. Propelled by a series of irrational fears, Tara counts sidewalk cracks on her way to school and then enacts other equally bizarre rituals (among them, praying aloud when anyone swears; kissing her fingers after touching the doorknob).
The Absolutely True Diary of a PartPart-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Highly acclaimed National Book Award Winner, The Absolutely True Diary of a PartTime Indian is a humorous and poignant story about a budding cartoonist named Junior who leaves his decrepit school on the Indian reservation to attend an all white school in the neighboring town. While Junior is condemned as a traitor to his people, he still approaches life with humor and a new-found strength. Barnesandnoble.com says… Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was destined to live.
