Penncrest High School Required Summer Reading Program 2013

Penncrest High School Required Summer Reading Program 2013 The goal of the Penncrest Summer Reading Program is to expose students to quality literature that will inspire them to expand and explore connections to the classroom, to the community, and to the world. All students entering Penncrest High School’s grades 9 through 12 must select two books to read during the summer. One selection is a mandatory core reading, and the other may be self-selected. Students entering Rank Level I and Advanced Placement courses are required to read a third book. Your English teacher will assess your reading in September. Please bring any optional reading records or completed parent interview responses with you on the first day of class. I. Mandatory Core Reading: Choose one (1) book in your incoming grade level category. Students entering rank 1 or A. P. courses must read two books from the list: the required Rank 1/A.P. book and any other menu selection. Grade 9

Grade 10

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar

Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Beals

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Rank One Selection: The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

Rank One Selection: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Grade 11

Grade 12

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon

After the First Death by Robert Cormier Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin

Rank One Selection: The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy AP Selection: Writers and Writing by assorted authors

Rank One Selection: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines AP Selection: Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

II. Self-selected Reading: Choose and read a book that interests you. You may choose any book that you would like to read. See the back of this sheet for more ideas about where to go for ideas.

Mandatory Core Reading: Grade 9 Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card When the Earth is threatened with an attack by malevolent aliens, the human race turns to an unusual group to defend it—brilliant children. Ender Wiggins is one such extraordinary child, and his training takes a very familiar form—video game simulations of an alien attack. The reader might ask this question: At what point does the training end and reality begin? A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah Beah's riveting memoir tells the tale of a childhood lost to the civil war raging in Sierra Leone. When he was twelve, Beah was “recruited’ by rebel forces attacking his village and enlisted as a boy soldier. After four years, during which he committed heinous acts and witnessed unimaginable brutality, Beah was aided by UNICEF. He eventually moved to the U.S., where he finished high school and college. The savagery of his early experiences during the war makes his ultimate survival and redemption all the more gripping and powerful. Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt June Elbus had just one person in the whole world who truly understood her, and that was her brilliant, artistic, gay uncle Finn. But Finn has died of AIDS and June is in shock. To make matters more upsetting, Toby—Finn’s partner and the person June’s family blames for Finn’s death—is trying to contact June secretly. June is also worried about her sister Greta, who seems to be spiraling out of control. Against her better judgment June forges a fragile, hidden friendship with Toby, which holds unexpected joys and as well as sorrows. June discovers truths about herself and her family and about muddling through the complications of life. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar Scott Hudson fumbles through his freshman year of high school. He is hilarious as he juggles altering friendships, a growing family, too much schoolwork, and an unexpected extra-curricular load. Throughout it all, Scott writes letters to his unborn baby brother about how to survive freshman year—if Scott can make it through himself! Rank One Selection: The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain You might assume that when Prince Edward and the pauper Tom Canty accidentally change places, the pauper is thrilled and the prince is repulsed. You would be partly right. Mark Twain shows through this relatively short novel what Prince Edward learns about how the poor people live and are treated by the Crown, and the pauper learns that there are many drawbacks to living the life of a prince. Twain has fun satirizing both lifestyles in this work.

Mandatory Core Reading: Grade 10 Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals Melba Patillo dreamed about starting her junior year of high school, but this dream became a nightmarish quest just to stay alive. In 1957, she and eight black teenagers were chosen to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. This memoir tells Melba’s amazing story of a year filled with threats, physical violence, and intimidation. Guided by her family, her inner strength, and tremendous courage, Melba became a reluctant warrior in one of the key battles that helped shape the civil rights movement. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton A terrible accident. Star-crossed love. Impossible choices. Ethan and Mattie discover that the desires of the heart are not easily satisfied, especially when betrayal is involved. Will they overcome the odds, like Edward and Bella, or experience the ill-fated destiny of Romeo and Juliet? Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork Have you ever thought that your parents just don’t understand you? Meet seventeen-year-old Marcelo Sandoval who, because of a developmental disability, has always attended a special school. He cannot wait for summer, because he has plans to work with the therapeutic horses in the stables at his school. But his father, who does not

really understand Marcelo at all, pushes him instead to work at his law firm's mailroom to experience what it is like in "the real world.” Marcelo finds a world filled with jealousy, competition, and injustice but also friendship, compassion, and trust. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak World War II rages in Europe, and Death, our narrator, is busier than ever. As Death claims his souls, he is fascinated by Liesel, a German foster child and blossoming book thief, her friends, and the selfless bravery of many of the towns’ citizens. Despite its dark setting, The Book Thief is a life-affirming book, celebrating the power of words and their ability to provide sustenance to the soul. Rank One Selection: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Mary Shelley’s sole novel combines elements of science fiction and romance. Doctor Frankenstein creates his famous monster, and in a unique narrative style, we learn about the consequences of manipulation in all things -nature, science, and the human heart.

Mandatory Core Reading: Grade 11 Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult This gripping novel hits close to home as a community attempts to make sense of a horrific shooting at Sterling High School. Picoult creates a compelling cast of characters who must come to terms with powerful issues of bullying, conformity, and violence and who, eventually, learn to take responsibility for allowing the worst to happen. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy John Grady Cole is just 16 years old when his grandfather dies, his parents divorce, and his mother readies to sell the ranch that John has grown up on and loves. Seeking adventure, John and his best friend, Lacey Rawlins, set off on horseback, across the Mexican border. What they find is more than they expected in this exciting story of loss, love, and danger. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Maya Angelou’s dramatic life story begins in the segregated South, wends through the gritty city of Detroit, and culminates in San Francisco. She and her companion, her brother Bailey, try to discover “why the caged bird sings” despite poverty, abuse, and racial hatred. After the First Death by Robert Cormier Terrorists take over a school bus in this chilling thriller/mystery. Three teens are brought together in dangerous circumstances, but who will be the next to die? The answer will surprise and horrify you. Rank One Selection: The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy This memoir is based on his work as a teacher on a poor rural island in South Carolina. The book details Conroy’s unconventional efforts to connect with his disenfranchised students and invigorate learning for them. AP Selection: Writers and Writing by assorted authors This diverse collection of classic and contemporary essays drawn from current Advanced Placement classroom materials offers writers’ reflections on their personal writing processes and their passion for the written word. Essay collections and response materials will be distributed in June to course registrants.

Mandatory Core Reading: Grade 12 The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls In this powerful memoir, Jeannette Walls, an underprivileged but intelligent young girl, tells of her troubled childhood and her relationship with her three siblings and her unstable parents. Walls’ journey from poverty and

despair to success and acceptance is an inspiration to anyone who yearns to become more than what is expected of him. This selection contains occasional strong language. Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin This novel spans but a single day--yet the author packs in enough emotion, detail, and intimate revelation to make his story feel like a mid-20th-century epic. Using as a frame the spiritual and moral awakening of 14-year-old John Grimes during a Saturday night service in a Harlem storefront church, Baldwin lays bare the secrets of a tormented black family during the depression. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted and socially hopeless. For a school project, he investigates the mysterious murder of a neighborhood dog and discovers family secrets along the way. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Miriam and Laila, two strong Afghani women born a generation apart, endure loss and abuse in war-torn Kabul, Afghanistan. The bond they form gives them the strength they need to face harrowing challenges in this beautiful testament to friendship and courage. Rank One Selection: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines Jefferson sits in a jail cell on death row, defeated by the knowledge of his innocence and the impending doom of the electric chair. Grant Wiggins is thrust into a role that he never asked for and never wanted: hero. The worlds of these two men collide in a gripping tale of one man’s quest to save the dignity of another. AP Selection: Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy In the last of Hardy’s novels, the main character, Jude Fawley, wants more than anything to be a scholar, but life and love get in the way. Will he be true to himself or will he accept societal norms?

Ideas for Self-Selected Reading From Penncrest Students Promise Not To Tell by Jennifer McMahon The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards Playing For Pizza by John Grisham Safe Haven by Jodi Picoult The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey Project 17 by Laurie Faria Stolarz Dog On It! by Spencer Quinn The Long Walk by Stephen King Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Marley and Me by John Grogan Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom Boot Camp by Todd Strasser Life of Pi by Yann Martel The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne Lamb by Christopher Moore Play Like You Mean It by Rex Ryan Diary by Chuck Palahniuk Mythology by Edith Hamilton No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre Looking for Alaska by John Green David Copperfield by Charles Dickens East of Eden by John Steinbeck Angels & Demons by Dan Brown The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moors

From Penncrest Parents Twenty Chickens for a Saddle by Robyn Scott Standing Tall by C. Vivian Stringer Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen Cane River by Lalita Tademy A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Untouchables by Narenda Jadhav The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama Gifted Hands by Ben Carson and Cecil Murphey Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela Days of Grace by Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad

From Penncrest Teachers Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole Profiles in Courage by John Kennedy Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman Bright Lights, Big City by Jay Mcinerney The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne Freakonomics by Steven Levitt Stephen Dubner Escape from Slavery by Francis Bok State of Wonder by Ann Patchett Devil in the White City by Eric Larsen Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing City of Thieves by David Benioff Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell Breaking Night by Liz Murray Shantram by Gregory David Roberts The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa Into Thin Air by John Krakauer The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman Homecoming by Cathy Kelly Dragon Tattoo Trilogy by Stieg Larsen The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Zeitoun by Dave Eggers 11/22/63 by Stephen King

For more ideas, visit these websites: http://www.ala.org The American Library Association www.reading.org The International Reading Association libwww.freelibrary.org/onebook/obop09/index.cfm “One Book, One Philadelphia” www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/one-book.html The Library of Congress

Suggestions for Keeping Track of Reading The activities listed below will help you to read closely, keep track of your reading, and prepare for fall assessments.

Keep notes. 

If you have purchased your own novel, use the book’s margins for notes, and highlight significant lines. This will be good practice for college reading. Be careful not to over-highlight!



Buy the smallest size post-it pads and use them for comments and observations you make as you go through the novel. Position them so that an edge is extending beyond the page. This will make it easy to locate important comments you made during the reading.

Keep a journal.  Buy a notebook for your summer reading. Take some time between reading sessions to record your impressions of characters and your thoughts about the plot. What do you know about characters? What do you think might become of them? What has happened in the story so far? What do you think might happen next? When you finish reading, look back at your entries and consider how you might respond to those predictions and questions now that you know the novel's outcome.  You might consider making a double-entry journal. Record quotes and/or events on the left-hand side of the page; on the right-hand side, explain why your choices are important to your understanding of the novel.

Ask yourself questions as you read. Good readers reflect on their reading and make connections between what they read and their own experience. Consider these as you read: Who is the most important character in the book? Who did you like the least? The most? Which situation in the book parallels a situation in your own life? How does the author handle cultural differences? Which character changes the most? How? How does this book compare to others that you have read? Why did your teachers ask you to read this book?

Make a character map. Once you've established who the main character of the novel is, keep a chart or record of the important events that happen to him, his reactions to those events, and what those reactions reveal about his personality. Use the chart to track the character's growth from the beginning of the novel to the end.

Form a reading group. You and a group of friends could read the same book. Set specific deadlines for finishing sections of the book; then, when each deadline arrives, arrange a meeting to discuss that section with the group. Set specific goals for each meeting. For instance, have every group member bring questions to one meeting, a favorite passage or two to another, and a journal reaction to another. Keep a record of when your group meets and a summary of your discussions.

Read with a parent. You and a parent can read the same book and arrange to talk about what you've read. Complete the interview.

Penncrest High School Summer Reading Program Parent Interview Once you and your parent have read the book, discuss these questions together. Then, record your interview results below. Ask your parent to write any comments and to sign the bottom of this sheet. Student’s name: ____________________ Parent’s name: ______________________ Book Title and Author: __________________________________________________ 1. Which character did you find the most interesting? Why?

2. What was your favorite part of the story? Why?

3. What lessons do you think this book can teach teenagers?

4. What did you learn from reading this book?

5. Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Parent comments:

Parent Signature:_________________________________________________________