PENN-DELCO SCHOOL DISTRICT

SUN VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

SUMMER READING

GRADE 11

2015

Spring 2015

Dear Students and Parents:

All of us who are involved in teaching reading and English acknowledge the value of reading all year

long – not just during the school year. For that reason, we have developed a required summer reading

assignment because we believe it will help students meet academic challenges in the coming year and

encourage them to develop independent reading habits.

Students entering eleventh grade are required to read two or three books depending on their placement

level. These books are available in community libraries, as well as local bookstores that have been given

our summer reading lists.

Directions for students entering Grade 11:

1. Read the three books of your choice from the list of choices provided if you are an

HONORS student. Read the two books of your choice from the list of choices provided

if you are an ACCELERATED student.

2. Then, divide EACH book into thirds and complete Summer Reading Logs for each of

the three sections.

3. Your packet contains NINE copies of the Summer Reading Log. Students must

complete all logs and turn them in to their English teacher on the first day of school.

The reading logs must be ON TIME to receive full credit.

4. In addition to completing the Summer Reading Logs, students will be assessed on their

knowledge of ALL selected books during the first week of school. These assessments

will be the students’ initial test grades for the new school year.

PLEASE NOTE:

Summer Reading Logs should be thorough and specific. Students should reflect on the

main events, themes, and ideas while reading and provide detailed, thought-provoking

responses with adequate explanations. Additionally, students should strive to make

personal connections to the text and include these in their responses.

PLAGIARISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. Plagiarized assignments will receive zero

credit, for all guilty parties. Plagiarism includes copying and pasting from the Internet,

copying another student’s work or permitting someone to copy your work, copying from a

publication, etc. Please do not steal another person’s work and pass it off as your own; if

you plagiarize, you will be caught.

The above information, along with a list of book descriptions, will be reviewed and discussed in English

classes before the end of the 2014-2015 school year. For the books of choice, we recommend that parent

and student discuss the selections for their appropriateness for the individual student. While books are

selected carefully, some students/families may be more sensitive to certain topics than others.

GRADE 11 CHOICE BOOK LIST

THE ALCHEMIST (Paulo Coelho)

Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coehlo introduces Santiago, an Andulusian shepherd boy who one night

dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. He leaves Spain to follow his dreams. He meets

many people including a well-read Englishman who has a book from which Santiago first learns about

alchemists. During a journey to find worldly goods, Santiago makes a discovery about treasures found

within, the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.

ALWAYS RUNNING (Luis Rodriguez)

This book is an autobiography about the author’s evolution from a Los Angeles gang member to a

community leader.

BLINDNESS (Jose Saramago)

In an unnamed city in an unnamed country, a man sitting in his car waiting for a traffic light to change is

suddenly struck blind. But instead of being plunged into darkness, this man sees everything white, as if

he “were caught in a mist or had fallen into a milky sea.” A Good Samaritan offers to drive him home

(and later steals his car); his wife takes him by taxi to a doctor. Within days, his wife, the taxi driver and

the doctor are all blind. As the epidemic spreads, the government quarantines victims in an abandoned

mental asylum guarded by soldiers with orders to shoot anyone who tries to escape.

THE BOOKSELLER OF KABUL (Asne Seierstad)

After living for three months with the Kabul bookseller Sultan Khan in the spring of 2002, Norwegian

journalist Seierstad penned this astounding portrait of a nation recovering from war, undergoing political

flux and mired in misogyny and poverty. As a Westerner, she has the privilege of traveling between the

worlds of men and women, and though the book is ostensibly a portrait of Khan, its real strength is the

intimacy and brutal honesty with which the lives of Afghani living under fundamental Islam.

CHINESE CINDERELLA – THE TRUE STORY OF AN UNWANTED DAUGHTER (Adeline

Yen Mah)

Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to paint an authentic portrait of 20th-century China as well as her

painful childhood where she and her siblings were subjected to their stepmother’s disdain.

CHRONICAL OF A DEATH FORETOLD (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

Hours after an extravagant wedding celebrated in a rural village in South America, the groom returns his

bride to her parents because she isn’t a virgin. The bride’s two older brothers prepare to kill the neighbor

who is supposedly responsible for this and shamed their family. The brothers tell everyone of their intent,

but no one tries to stop them. Nearly 30 years later, a nameless narrator interviews witnesses and wades

through judicial archives in an attempt to understand the incident.

CRANK (Ellen Hopkins)

This is a semi-autobiographical verse novel in which the author chronicles the turbulent relationship

between Kristina, a character based on her daughter, and the “monster,” the highly additive drug crystal

meth or “crank.”

CRAZY LOCO (David Rice)

A collection of nine stories about Mexican American kids growing up in the Rio

Grande Valley of southern Texas.

FIRST PART LAST (Angela Johnson)

Bobby’s carefree teen-age life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored

baby daughter.

47 (Walter Mosley)

Mosley writes about 47, a young slave boy who lives under the watchful eye of a brutal slave master. His

life seems doomed until he meets a mysterious runaway slave named Tall John. 47 then finds himself

swept up in a struggle for his own liberation.

THE GOOD EARTH (Pearl S. Buck)

The story of a Chinese peasant and his struggle to overcome drought, flood and revolution in his quest to

acquire land.

THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET (Sandra Cisneros)

Esperanza Cordero, a girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, discovers the hard realities of

life.

HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS ( Isabelle Allende)

Follows the Trueba family from the early 1900s until the overthrow of the Allende government.

THE JOY LUCK CLUB (Amy Tan)

In 1949, four Chinese women begin meeting in San Francisco for fun. Nearly 40 years later, their

daughters continue to meet as the Joy Luck Club, where they examine what it means to be both Chinese

and American.

LIFE OF PI (Yann Martel)

A young man en route from India to Canada faces danger from animals headed to his father’s zoo while

trapped in a lifeboat.

METAMORPHOSIS (Franz Kafka)

The story of a young man who is transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect.

MY SON’S STORY (Nadine Gordimer)

A young South African catchers his teacher’s father with a white activist woman.

NIGHT (Elie Weisel)

The true story of a Jewish boy who loses his entire family because of Nazi atrocities. The author describes

his life under the Nazis and his experiences at Auschwitz.

POWER OF ONE (Bryce Courtney)

A boy growing up in South Africa during World War II learns about freedom, courage and friendship

from two older men, one white and one black.

THE RED SCARF GIRL: A MEMOIR OF THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION

(Ji-Li Jiang)

Told with simplicity, innocence and grace, this unforgettable memoir gives a child’s-eye view of a

terrible time in the 20th century.

THE RED TENT (Anita Diamant)

Fictional account of the life of Dinah, one of the patriarch Jacob’s daughters, and the effects that each of

his four wives had on her life.

SHABANU: DAUGHTER OF THE WIND (Suzanne Fisher Staples)

When Shabanu, the daughter of a nomad in the Cholistan Desert of present day Pakistan, is pledged in

marriage to an older man whose money will bring prestige to her family, she must either accept the

decision, as is the custom, or risk the consequences of defying her father’s wishes.

A STEP FROM HEAVEN (An Na)

A young Korean girl and her family find it difficult to learn English and adjust to life in America.

THE STRANGER (Albert Camus)

This is a story of a man who is on trial for a pointless murder. Camus asks if there is a God or a cold

indifferent universe through his story.

SWEET WORDS SO BRAVE (Barbara Curry and James Brodie)

An African-American man tells his granddaughter about the literature and history of their people.

VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE (Paulo Coelho)

Veronika decides to kill herself when faced with all that is wrong with the world and how powerless she

feels to change anything. Although she survives her initial suicide attempt, she is committed to a mental

hospital where she begins to wrestle with the meaning of mental illness and whether forced drugging

should be inflicted on patients who don’t fit into the narrow definition of “normal.”

WEST OF KABUL, EAST OF NEW YORK: AN AFGHAN AMERICAN STORY (Mir Tamin

Ansary)

An Afghan American describes life in his homeland and life in America before and after the terrorist

attacks.

WOMEN OF THE SILK (Gail Tsukiyama)

In rural China in 1926 a group of women forge a sisterhood amidst the reeling machines in a vast silk

factory. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women struggle to achieve economic

freedom.

Student Name: ______________________________________ Book Title: _______________________________________ Period: __________ Section (circle): 1 2 3 Pages: _______ - _______

Summer Reading Log

Directions: Three Reading Logs must be completed for each Summer Reading novel. Please divide each book into thirds, and complete the following chart for ALL reading sections. Five EVENTS that happen: (Detailed summary of the main action in the section) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Five WONDERINGS: (Big questions or ideas to clarify; reflect on the main points & main ideas) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Two IMPORTANT PASSAGES and a thorough EXPLANATION for each (consider interesting, funny, puzzling, or important passages that stood out while reading & make personal connections): Page: _______ Page: ________

Student Name: ______________________________________ Book Title: _______________________________________ Period: __________ Section (circle): 1 2 3 Pages: _______ - _______

Summer Reading Log

Directions: Three Reading Logs must be completed for each Summer Reading novel. Please divide each book into thirds, and complete the following chart for ALL reading sections. Five EVENTS that happen: (Detailed summary of the main action in the section) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Five WONDERINGS: (Big questions or ideas to clarify; reflect on the main points & main ideas) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Two IMPORTANT PASSAGES and a thorough EXPLANATION for each (consider interesting, funny, puzzling, or important passages that stood out while reading & make personal connections): Page: _______ Page: ________

Student Name: ______________________________________ Book Title: _______________________________________ Period: __________ Section (circle): 1 2 3 Pages: _______ - _______

Summer Reading Log

Directions: Three Reading Logs must be completed for each Summer Reading novel. Please divide each book into thirds, and complete the following chart for ALL reading sections. Five EVENTS that happen: (Detailed summary of the main action in the section) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Five WONDERINGS: (Big questions or ideas to clarify; reflect on the main points & main ideas) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Two IMPORTANT PASSAGES and a thorough EXPLANATION for each (consider interesting, funny, puzzling, or important passages that stood out while reading & make personal connections): Page: _______ Page: ________

Student Name: ______________________________________ Book Title: _______________________________________ Period: __________ Section (circle): 1 2 3 Pages: _______ - _______

Summer Reading Log

Directions: Three Reading Logs must be completed for each Summer Reading novel. Please divide each book into thirds, and complete the following chart for ALL reading sections. Five EVENTS that happen: (Detailed summary of the main action in the section) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Five WONDERINGS: (Big questions or ideas to clarify; reflect on the main points & main ideas) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Two IMPORTANT PASSAGES and a thorough EXPLANATION for each (consider interesting, funny, puzzling, or important passages that stood out while reading & make personal connections): Page: _______ Page: ________

Student Name: ______________________________________ Book Title: _______________________________________ Period: __________ Section (circle): 1 2 3 Pages: _______ - _______

Summer Reading Log

Directions: Three Reading Logs must be completed for each Summer Reading novel. Please divide each book into thirds, and complete the following chart for ALL reading sections. Five EVENTS that happen: (Detailed summary of the main action in the section) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Five WONDERINGS: (Big questions or ideas to clarify; reflect on the main points & main ideas) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Two IMPORTANT PASSAGES and a thorough EXPLANATION for each (consider interesting, funny, puzzling, or important passages that stood out while reading & make personal connections): Page: _______ Page: ________

Student Name: ______________________________________ Book Title: _______________________________________ Period: __________ Section (circle): 1 2 3 Pages: _______ - _______

Summer Reading Log

Directions: Three Reading Logs must be completed for each Summer Reading novel. Please divide each book into thirds, and complete the following chart for ALL reading sections. Five EVENTS that happen: (Detailed summary of the main action in the section) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Five WONDERINGS: (Big questions or ideas to clarify; reflect on the main points & main ideas) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Two IMPORTANT PASSAGES and a thorough EXPLANATION for each (consider interesting, funny, puzzling, or important passages that stood out while reading & make personal connections): Page: _______ Page: ________

Student Name: ______________________________________ Book Title: _______________________________________ Period: __________ Section (circle): 1 2 3 Pages: _______ - _______

Summer Reading Log

Directions: Three Reading Logs must be completed for each Summer Reading novel. Please divide each book into thirds, and complete the following chart for ALL reading sections. Five EVENTS that happen: (Detailed summary of the main action in the section) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Five WONDERINGS: (Big questions or ideas to clarify; reflect on the main points & main ideas) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Two IMPORTANT PASSAGES and a thorough EXPLANATION for each (consider interesting, funny, puzzling, or important passages that stood out while reading & make personal connections): Page: _______ Page: ________

Student Name: ______________________________________ Book Title: _______________________________________ Period: __________ Section (circle): 1 2 3 Pages: _______ - _______

Summer Reading Log

Directions: Three Reading Logs must be completed for each Summer Reading novel. Please divide each book into thirds, and complete the following chart for ALL reading sections. Five EVENTS that happen: (Detailed summary of the main action in the section) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Five WONDERINGS: (Big questions or ideas to clarify; reflect on the main points & main ideas) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Two IMPORTANT PASSAGES and a thorough EXPLANATION for each (consider interesting, funny, puzzling, or important passages that stood out while reading & make personal connections): Page: _______ Page: ________

Student Name: ______________________________________ Book Title: _______________________________________ Period: __________ Section (circle): 1 2 3 Pages: _______ - _______

Summer Reading Log

Directions: Three Reading Logs must be completed for each Summer Reading novel. Please divide each book into thirds, and complete the following chart for ALL reading sections. Five EVENTS that happen: (Detailed summary of the main action in the section) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Five WONDERINGS: (Big questions or ideas to clarify; reflect on the main points & main ideas) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Two IMPORTANT PASSAGES and a thorough EXPLANATION for each (consider interesting, funny, puzzling, or important passages that stood out while reading & make personal connections): Page: _______ Page: ________

PENN-DELCO SCHOOL DISTRICT SUMMER REQUIRED READING

THE FOLLOWING LIBRARY AND BOOKSTORE HAVE BEEN GIVEN

COPIES OF THE REQUIRED SUMMER READING LISTS FOR SUN

VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL:

Aston Public Library

3270 Concord Road

Aston, PA 19014

(610) 494-5877

Barnes and Noble

Concord Mall

4801 Concord Pike

Wilmington, DE 19803

(302) 478-9677