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Upper School Summer Reading Program Parish Episcopal School 2012 Mission The intent of the Parish Episcopal Upper School summer reading program is to engage students in reading that challenges, informs, and even provides pleasure and escape. Through our reading program we hope to promote literacy, intellectual stimulation, social awareness, diversity of viewpoints, and independent thinking. Overview You will read two books this summer: one required book and one that you choose. The required books are listed by grade level below. The self-‐‑selected books are also listed by grade level, beginning after the instructions for your writing assignment. You will read the required book before the first day of class in the fall. Be ready for a quiz, test, or essay assignment on the required book during the first week of class. This assignment will vary by class. You will also finish reading your self-‐‑selected book before the first day of class. While reading this book, you will complete a series of three journal entries to show that you are thinking carefully and analytically as you read. These three journal entries will be due at the end of the first week for a major grade. They should be typed and double-‐‑spaced, using Times New Roman 12-‐‑point font. Please print a copy for your teacher and save an electronic copy for your records. Required Reading
All students must read the novel assigned to their entering grade level.
9th Grade Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (ISBN: 0140177396)
10th Grade The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
(ISBN: 068401221) 11th Grade Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
(ISBN: 0393320979) 12th Grade Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
(ISBN: 0060838671)
Instructions for the Journal Entries To complete the journal entries for your self-‐‑selected book, please follow these instructions carefully. First, divide your book into three sections of roughly the same length. You may divide it by page numbers, by chapters, or by acts or scenes (if it is a play). Then, after you read each section of the book, write a journal entry of 200-‐‑300 words that addresses the correct prompt below. (You will write three journal entries in all one for each section.) Be sure to label each journal entry by page, chapter, act, or scene, so that you and your teacher will be able to identify which part of the book you are writing about. Each of the prompts below contains a central question (in bold type). You should write your entry to answer this central question. The other questions (in regular type) may be helpful to consider, but you are not required to answer all of them. They are suggested topics to help you think about the central question. Your entries will be graded on focus (staying on topic), organization (presenting thoughts in a logical order), accuracy (representing the book correctly), insight (thinking carefully and deeply), development (explaining each idea fully), and grammar (following the rules of Standard English). Again, you need to complete this journal assignment only for the self-‐‑selected text, not for the required text. Your assessment on the required text will be determined by your teacher and administered near the end of the first week of school.
Prompt for Section 1 How do the setting and central conflict of this book affect the characters and the plot? Where and when is the story set? What unique features of this setting make the story interesting? How do these features affect the characters their beliefs, values, needs, concerns, and goals? What is the central conflict of the story? How do some of the characters try to resolve that conflict? Can you predict how their efforts will succeed or fail? Where does this story seem to be going?
Prompt for Section 2 How have the main characters developed and changed over the course of the book so far? What choices have they made, and how do those choices reveal their motivations or personalities? Do you understand or relate to these changes? likeable? How do you predict that these characters will continue to develop as the plot moves toward resolution?
Prompt for Section 3 What seems to be the central theme, message, or moral of this story?
seem wise and good or foolish and evil? Does the narrator or protagonist ever make a statement that seems to summarize the lesson of the book as a whole? Does the book confirm what you already believe or challenge you to think differently? (How and why?) Is it possible to tell what the author is trying to teach you? Or does the author raise philosophical questions that she or he does not answer? REMINDER: Focus each journal entry on the question in bold type. Use the other questions those in regular type as suggestions to help you think about the central question. You do not have to answer all of the questions, only the central one. NOTE: When writing these entries, you are NOT required to use direct quotations from the text, but you should strive to refer as specifically as possible to characters, events, and ideas from the book. You may feel free to summarize or paraphrase rather than quoting, but you should remember that good writing is precise and accurate, not vague.
Grading Rubric Upper School Summer Reading Assignment Parish Episcopal School 2012 Your English teacher will use the following rubric to grade the journal entries you write for your self-‐‑selected text. Please read the descriptions of each grade category carefully so that you can strive for the best grade possible. A All three journal entries are complete, and they cover the whole book from beginning to end. The document is typed and double spaced, using Times New Roman 12-‐‑point font. Each journal entry has a proper label, identifying which section of the book it will discuss. Each entry is between 200 and 300 words in length. In each journal entry, the student clearly and insightfully answers the central question (in bold type), offering precise, well-‐‑chosen, and specific facts from the book to illustrate or prove that answer. The writing is consistently focused, organized, insightful, accurate, well developed, and free of grammatical errors. There is no redundancy. B All three journal entries are complete, and they cover the whole book from beginning to end. The document is typed, but may have some formatting irregularities. Each entry is between 200 and 300 words in length. In each journal entry, the student clearly answers the central question (in bold type), offering specific facts from the book to illustrate or prove that answer. The writing is mostly focused, organized, accurate, and well developed, but the ideas may be simplistic or lacking insight. There are few grammatical errors and little or no redundancy.
C The student has completed three journal entries, but one or more entries feel incomplete or hastily done, and/or the document is formatted incorrectly. The writing may also show gaps in understanding of the book. In each journal entry, the student tries to answer the central question (in bold type), but offers only vague or inaccurate references to the characters, events, and ideas of the book. The writing is noticeably lacking in focus, organization, insight, accuracy, or development. Grammatical errors, wordiness, and/or redundancy occasionally distract the reader or impede her/his understan D/F The journal entries are incomplete, hastily done, and/or formatted incorrectly. The writing shows significant gaps in understanding of the book, offering little evidence that the student can answer the central questions with any degree of specificity. The writing is unfocused, unorganized, inaccurate, or undeveloped. Grammatical errors, wordiness, and/or redundancy are prevalent. A sample journal assignment is provided on the following pages to serve as a model for students to follow.
9th Grade John Adcox ([email protected]) Chris Schmidt ([email protected]) 10th Grade Tyneeta Canonge ([email protected]) John Adcox ([email protected]) 11th Grade Tracey Addington ([email protected]) Jason Mazzella ([email protected]) 12th Grade Tracey Addington ([email protected]) David Patton ([email protected])
Student Name
English 1
Mr. Schmidt
August 31, 2012
Journal Entries for John Steinbeck , Of Mice and Men
Section 1: Chapters 1-2
This story is set during the Great Depression in rural California. The two main characters,
George and Lennie, are migrant farm laborers. They seem not to have very many life options.
They are at the mercy of the ranch owners, who can decide to give them a job (or not) and to fire
them at any time. They are also at the mercy of the lazy bus driver, who can leave them stranded
in the wrong location and force them to walk for hours. Their position is always vulnerable
because they can never get enough money to save or to pursue their long-term dream of owning
a farm. Lennie and George both have their own vulnerabilities, too, which make me wonder
whether they can stay safe. Lennie likes to pet small, pretty, soft things so much so that he
unintentionally kills mice. He cannot control his strength;; he seems to have some sort of mental
disability. He is not mean, but he cannot remember simple facts or predict the consequences of
his actions. His innocence can be lethal. George seems to have too much of a temper. He is
very smart and calculating, but he often loses patience with Lennie and wishes he could escape
from his compa
constant supervision. Lennie and George are not making a good start at the new ranch: they are
seem to be
to leave. I predict more trouble with Curley, especially concerning his lonely and flirtatious
wife.
Section 2: Chapters 3-4
The tension builds in these chapters as the men reveal more and more of their vulnerabilities.
Candy reveals that he is afraid of being fired. He also reveals that he lacks the courage to stand
up to the other ranch hands when they take his dog away and kill it. We see m
wife, and see once and for all that the men view her as a threat
them she is not dangerous, she does threaten Crooks with a lynching if he does not do as she
says. And Curley attacks Lennie without provocation, showing how far his pride can take him.
Lennie shows in this scene, and in the scene with Crooks, that his strength and temper are
without thinking twice. All of these events seem to foreshadow a coming disaster. However,
there are two moments that seem to brighten the mood of the book. First, George seems to be
building a meaningful friendship with Slim. Apparently Slim is the only hired man who
understands Lennie, and he is the only one to whom George can speak honestly. George needs a
friend like that. Lennie is still his favorite, like a brother, but he definitely needs someone more
might work out after all. Candy
has pledged enough money for a down payment on the land, so all George has to do is contact
and he seems to have gone to one afte -
dream.
Section 3: Chapters 5-6
was inevitable that Lennie
events were pointing to this one. He killed a mouse;; then a puppy;; and finally a human. This
ending is the natural consequence
should have shot his own dog. But is Lennie so much like a dog? Is Steinbeck really saying that
George had the right to do what he did? A human being with a mental illness is not an animal.
The lesson of the story seems to be that dreams cannot come true, at least for most people;; and
that sometimes the best thing to do for your friend is to betray him. This theme is deeply
however hard it may be, to help Lennie escape from the mob and at least turn him in to a
living, and that it would be better for Lennie to be shot? I feel like George is placing himself in
the same place as the lynch mob: he is the one who decides what is best, and he kills Lennie
because he is the only one who knows. What human being has the right to make this sort of
independent decision?
NOTE: This document is an example of novel Of Mice and Men. We chose to use this novel for our example because all Parish students are required to read it in ninth grade, and it is therefore familiar to most of our students. Please use this example to make sure your journal entries are written with sufficient clarity and depth, as well as to make sure your document is formatted correctly. Ninth graders should remember to complete their journal entries on the self-selected text, NOT on Of Mice and Men. We are using Of Mice and Men as an example because it is a book that most students have read.
Suggested Reading List for Ninth and Tenth Grades
Alive by Piers Paul Read On October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the remote, snow-‐‑peaked Andes. Out of the forty-‐‑five original passengers and crew, only sixteen made it off the mountain alive. For ten excruciating weeks they suffered deprivations beyond imagining, confronting nature head-‐‑on at its most furious and inhospitable. And to survive, they were forced to do what would have once been unthinkable. Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox In May 2000, when Michael J. Fox quit Spin City, the television sitcom he'ʹd made famous, the degenerative effects of Parkinson'ʹs disease left this world-‐‑famous actor without an arena or a profession. "ʺI found myself,"ʺ Fox writes, "ʺstruggling with a strange new dynamic: the shifting of public and private personas. I had been Mike the actor, then Mike the actor with PD. Now was I just Mike with PD? Parkinson'ʹs had consumed my career and, in a sense, become my career. But where did all of this leave me?"ʺ Always Looking Up is the answer of an incurable optimist to that question. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach At Westish College, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league until a routine throw goes disastrously off course. In the aftermath of his error, the fates of five people are upended. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, "ʺThe Art of Fielding an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment-‐‑-‐‑to oneself and to others. The Art of Racing In the Rain by Garth Stein Enzo, the dog of professional race car driver Denny Swift, recalls the memories of his life and shares his insight into the human condition that he learned from observing his owner. A great read for race car aficionados and dog lovers. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver Taylor Greer grew up poor in Kentucky in the 'ʹ60s and 'ʹ70s, managed to avoid pregnancy through high school, and earned enough money to buy a Volkswagen that would take her west. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Set during World War II in Germany, The Book Thief is the story of Liesel Meminger who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing. With the help of her foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during the bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau. Colors of the Mountain by Da Chen Colors of the Mountain is a classic story of triumph over adversity, a memoir of a boyhood full of spunk, mischief, and love, and a welcome introduction to an amazing young writer. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton Cry, the Beloved Country is a beautifully told and profoundly compassionate story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set in the troubled and changing South Africa of the 1940s.
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-‐‑Time by Mark Haddon Christopher Boone is taking his A-‐‑level mathematics exams, does not tell jokes, will not eat any food that is yellow or black, and creates flow charts to make decisions. He is a typical fifteen-‐‑year-‐‑old, but one diagnosed with autism. Finding a murdered dog in his neighbor'ʹs front yard prompts him to begin investigating and writing a book as if he was Sherlock Holmes. Days of Grace by Arthur Ashe A remarkable and inspiring memoir by a remarkable and inspiring human being: Arthur Ashe, embodiment of courage and grace in every aspect of his life, from his triumphs as a great tennis champion and his determined social activism to his ordeal in the face of death, a casualty of AIDS. Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther Johnny Gunther was only seventeen years old when he died of a brain tumor. During the months of his illness, everyone near him was unforgettably impressed by his level-‐‑headed courage, his wit and quiet friendliness, and, above all, his unfaltering patience through times of despair. This deeply moving book is a father'ʹs memoir of a brave, intelligent, and spirited boy.
by Peter Mayle The bestselling author of A Year in Provence and Hotel Pastis now surveys his territory from a different vantage point: the all-‐‑fours perspective of his dog, Boy-‐‑-‐‑"ʺa dog whose personality is made up of equal parts Boswell and Dr. Johnson, Mencken and A. A. Milne"ʺ (Chicago Sun-‐‑Times). The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriell Barbary middle of Paris, meets Paloma, an intelligent twelve-‐‑year-‐‑old who behaves like a mediocre pre-‐‑teen. Both Renée and Paloma hide their true talents and finest qualities from the bourgeois families around them, until a wealthy Japanese gentleman named Ozu moves into building. Only he sees through them, perceiving the secret that haunts Renée, winning Paloma'ʹs trust, and helping the two discover their kindred souls. Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne
were the single most powerful military force in the region, to the frustration of both the Mexican and U.S. governments. Award-‐‑winning journalist Gwynne traces the rise of the Comanche people from their roots as primitive bands of hunter-‐‑gatherers to their mastery of the horse and emergence as the feared power brokers of the area. At the center of the narrative is the charismatic Quanah Parker, who skillfully navigated the gaps between his traditional culture and the emerging, settled culture of the late-‐‑nineteenth century. Endurance by Alfred Lansing Ernest Shackleton defined heroism in 1915 when his ship, The Endurance, was trapped in ice and then destroyed on its way to Antarctica. This tense week-‐‑by-‐‑week, month-‐‑by-‐‑month reconstruction charts the incredible journey undertaken by his crew of 27 men through 850 miles of the southern Atlantics heaviest seas. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Saffron Foer Nine-‐‑year-‐‑old Oskar Schell embarkes on an urgent, secret mission that takes him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible
task brings Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey. Flags of our Fathers by James Bradley In this unforgettable, #1 New York Times bestselling chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, Bradley (Flyboys) captures the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. The Game of My Life: A True Story of Challenge Triumph, and Growing Up Autistic by Jason McElwain The novel is an incredible true story of one high school student'ʹs determination to triumph against the challenges of autism-‐‑and his opponents on the basketball court. With four minutes and nineteen seconds left on the clock, and his team nursing a comfortable lead, the coach sent Jason McElwain-‐‑an autistic student and the team manager-‐‑into the game. The Help by Kathryn Sockett Skeeter returns home to Mississippi from college in 1962 and begins to write stories about the African-‐‑American women that are found working in white households, which includes Aibileen, who grieves for
hired cook for a secretive woman who is new to town.
r: A Novel by Kathleen Kent Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people accused of witchcraft. The Hot Zone by Richard Preston The true story of how a deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in a Washington, D.C., animal test lab. In a matter of days, 90% of the primates exposed to the virus are dead, and secret government forces are mobilized to stop the spread of this exotic "ʺhot"ʺ virus. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford Henry Lee is a 12-‐‑year-‐‑old Chinese boy who falls in love with Keiko Okabe, a 12-‐‑year-‐‑old Japanese girl, while they are scholarship students at a prestigious private school in World War II Seattle. Henry hides the relationship from his parents, who would disown him if they knew he had a Japanese friend. This is an old-‐‑fashioned historical novel that alternates between the early 1940s and 1984, after Henry'ʹs wife Ethel has died of cancer. House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by War by Stephen Berry
during the Civil War, and
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer In April 1992, a young man from a well-‐‑to-‐‑do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. He had given $25,000 in savings to a charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet and invented a life for himself. Four months
later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. Jon Krakauer brings Chris McCandless'ʹ uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows and illuminates it with meaning in this mesmerizing and heartbreaking tour de force. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer A childhood dream of someday ascending Mount Everest, a lifelong love of climbing, and an expense account all propelled writer Jon Krakauer to the top of the Himalayas. His powerful, cautionary tale of an adventure gone horribly wrong is a must-‐‑read. Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth'ʹs Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane This extraordinary memoir of life under apartheid is a triumph of the human spirit over hatred and unspeakable degradation. Mark Mathabane did what no physically and psychologically battered "ʺKaffir"ʺ from the rat-‐‑infested alleys of Alexandra was supposed to do he escaped to tell about it. Last of the Breed It is the compelling story of U.S. Air Force Major Joe Mack, a man born out of time. When his experimental aircraft is forced down in Russia and he escapes a Soviet prison camp, he must call upon the ancient skills of his Indian forebears to survive the vast Siberian wilderness. Only one route lies open to Mack: the path of his ancestors, overland to the Bering Strait and across the sea to America. But in pursuit is a legendary tracker, the Yakut native Alekhin, who knows every square foot of the icy frontier and who knows that to trap his quarry he must think like a Sioux. Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest by Beck Weathers Candid and uncompromising, this is a deeply compelling saga of crisis and change and of the abiding power of love and family. On May 10, 1996, nine climbers perished in a blizzard high on Mount Everest, the single deadliest day ever on the peak. The following day, one of these victims was given a second chance. His name is Beck Weathers.
by Helen Simonson Helen Simonson introduces the unforgettable character of the widower Major Ernest Pettigrew. The Major epitomizes the Englishman with the "ʺstiff upper lip,"ʺ who clings to traditional values and has tried (in vain) to pass these along to his yuppie son, Roger. The story centers around Pettigrew'ʹs fight to keep his greedy relatives (including his son) from selling a valuable family heirloom-‐‑-‐‑a pair of hunting rifles that symbolizes much of what he stands for, or at least what he thinks he does. March by Geraldine Brooks From Louisa May Alcott'ʹs Little Women, Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, March, and has added adult resonance to portray the moral complexity of war and a marriage tested by the demands of extreme idealism. My Sist by Jodi Picoult The complex and emotionally wrenching narrative unfolds from the alternating perspectives of a large cast of intriguing and likable characters. Picoult, who has handled such delicate topics as teen suicide and euthanasia in previous novels, proves equally adept with this sensitive and emotionally charged subject matter. In My Sister'ʹs Keeper, the author has crafted a compelling story that is heartbreaking and literate in equal measure.
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-‐‑book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair she begins to unlock the book'ʹs mysteries. The Power of One by Bryce Courtney In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives heroic dreams which are nothing compared to what life actually has in store for him. He embarks on an epic journey through a land of tribal superstition and modern prejudice where he will learn the power of words, the power to transform lives, and the power of one. The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith The latest installment in the best-‐‑selling series, The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, is a beautiful blend of wit and wisdom, and a profoundly touching tale of the human heart. At a remote cattle post south of Gaborone two cows have been killed, and is asked to investigate by a rather frightened and furtive gentleman. It is an intriguing problem with plenty of suspects including, surprisingly, her own client. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, Lily Owens has shaped her entire life around one devastating, blurred memory -‐‑ the afternoon her mother was killed, when Lily was four. Since then, her only real companion has been the fierce-‐‑hearted, and sometimes just fierce, black woman Rosaleen, who acts as her "ʺstand-‐‑in mother."ʺ The Sherlockian by Graham Moore The Sherlockian begins with Arthur Conan Doyle pondering the best way to kill off the character that brought him fame, fortune, and the angst of a writer desperate to be remembered for more than "ʺa few morbid yarns."ʺ We then skip more than a hundred years into the future, to meet Harold White, a Sherlock Holmes devotee attending an annual celebration of hundreds of Sherlockian societies. When both Conan Doyle and White face grisly murders, the novel, bounces between these two characters and time periods. Swamplandia! By Karen Russell Thirteen-‐‑year-‐‑old Ava Bigtree has lived her entire life at Swamplandigator-‐‑indomitable headliner, the family is plunged into chaos; her father withdraws, her sister falls in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman, and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, defects to a rival park called The World of Darkness. As Ava sets out on a mission through the magical swamps to save them all, we are drawn into a lush and bravely imagined debut that takes us to the shimmering edge of reality. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand Unbroken is the inspiring true story of a man who lived through a series of catastrophes almost too incredible to be believed. Hillenbrand unfurls the story of Louie Zamperini-‐‑-‐‑a juvenile delinquent-‐‑turned-‐‑Olympic runner-‐‑turned-‐‑
plane crashed into the ocean, and what happened to him over the next three years of his life is a story that will keep you glued to the pages. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-‐‑rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival. The Wolves of Andover: A Novel by Kathleen Kent
focuses on the early life of outspoken, tart-‐‑tongued Martha Allen, from whom the author is descended. Set in seventeenth-‐‑century Massachusetts, the novel finds the still-‐‑unmarried 23-‐‑year-‐‑old Martha being sent to live with her cousins as a domestic. Once there, she finds herself intrigued by a hired man named Thomas Carrier. But when he saves her from two marauding wolves, intrigue turns to attraction. But other wolves human ones this time may pose an even greater danger to the two. Zorro by Isabel Allende A swashbuckling adventure story that reveals for the first time how Diego de la Vega became the masked man we all know so well.
Suggested Reading List for Eleventh and Twelfth Grades
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read On October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the remote, snow-‐‑peaked Andes. Out of the forty-‐‑five original passengers and crew, only sixteen made it off the mountain alive. For ten excruciating weeks they suffered deprivations beyond imagining, confronting nature head-‐‑on at its most furious and inhospitable. And to survive, they were forced to do what would have once been unthinkable. Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox In May 2000, when Michael J. Fox quit Spin City, the television sitcom he'ʹd made famous, the degenerative effects of Parkinson'ʹs disease left this world-‐‑famous actor without an arena or a profession. "ʺI found myself,"ʺ Fox writes, "ʺstruggling with a strange new dynamic: the shifting of public and private personas. I had been Mike the actor, then Mike the actor with PD. Now was I just Mike with PD? Parkinson'ʹs had consumed my career and, in a sense, become my career. But where did all of this leave me?"ʺ Always Looking Up is an exemplar memoir of living with a disability.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, is a mid-‐‑century story of comic books, superheroes, and real-‐‑world survival. When Joe Kavalier, having recently fled Nazi-‐‑occupied Prague, teams up with comic book visionary and Brooklyn native Sammy Clay in New York City in 1939, the result is the comic book hero The Escapist. Thus begins Joe and Sammy'ʹs own flight into the world of a burgeoning new form of art and expression. Eventually, however, the reality of the war in Europe becomes unavoidable for even these masters of fantasy, setting the scene for an epic novel of great depth, humor, and wisdom. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach At Westish College, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league until a routine throw goes disastrously off course. In the aftermath of his error, the fates of five people are upended. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, "ʺThe Art of Fielding an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment-‐‑-‐‑to oneself and to others. The Art of Racing In the Rain by Garth Stein Enzo, the dog of professional race car driver Denny Swift, recalls the memories of his life and shares his insight into the human condition that he learned from observing his owner. A great read for race car aficionados and dog lovers.
by Amy Tan The novel weaves together two separate narratives: the story of LuLing, a young girl in 1930s China, and that of LuLing'ʹs daughter, Ruth, as a middle-‐‑aged woman in modern San Francisco. Ruth is a ghostwriter chafing under the weight of a stagnant relationship and coming to terms with the growing senility of her formidable mother. A widow for four decades, LuLing struggles to raise Ruth while battling the demons that chased her from her childhood in China to her new life in America. She longs for her beloved Precious Auntie, whose restless spirit wanders the world because her dead body was thrown off a cliff, not buried. Brimstone by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs Art critic Jeremy Grove is found dead, his face frozen in a mask of terror. His body temperature is grotesquely high; he is discovered in a room barricaded from the inside; the smell of brimstone is everywhere, and the unmistakable imprint of a claw is burned into the wall. As more bodies are discovered-‐‑-‐‑their only connection the bizarre but identical manner of death-‐‑-‐‑the world begins to wonder if the Devil has, in fact, come to collect his due. Teaming with Police Officer Vincent DAgosta, Agent Pendergast is determined to solve this case that appears to defy everything except supernatural logic. Colors of the Mountain by Da Chen In 1962, as millions of Chinese citizens were gripped by Mao Zedong'ʹs Cultural Revolution and the Red Guards enforced a brutal regime of communism, a boy was born to a poor family in southern China. Colors of the Mountain is a story of triumph, a memoir of a boyhood full of spunk, mischief, and love. The young Da Chen is part Horatio Alger, part Holden Caulfield; he befriends a gang of young hoodlums as well as the elegant, elderly Chinese Baptist woman who teaches him English and opens the door to a new life.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole Awarded the Pulitzer Prize, A Confederacy of Dunces was not published until a decade after the death of the author. This wildly inventive and amusing novel features one of the most unforgettable characters in modern fiction: Ignatius Reilly. He'ʹs a mammoth misfit Medievalist hilariously at odds with the world of
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese This novel moves from India to Ethiopia to an inner-‐‑city hospital in New York City over decades and generations. Sister Mary Joseph Praise, a devout young nun, leaves the south Indian state of Kerala in 1947 for a missionary post in Yemen. During the voyage, she saves the life of an English doctor bound for Ethiopia, Thomas Stone. Seven years later, Sister Praise dies giving birth to twin boys: Shiva and Marion.
political turmoil in Ethiopia, the life of the hospital compound in which they grow up and the love story of their adopted parents. East of Eden by John Steinbeck This sprawling and often brutal novel, set in the rich farmlands of California'ʹs Salinas Valley, follows the intertwined destinies of two families-‐‑-‐‑the Trasks and the Hamiltons-‐‑-‐‑whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriell Barbary Renee, a secretly cultured concierge at an elegant apartment building in the middle of Paris, meets Paloma, an intelligent twelve-‐‑year-‐‑old who behaves like a mediocre pre-‐‑teen until a wealthy Japanese
Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne In the first half of the nineteenth century, thwere the single most powerful military force in the region, to the frustration of both the Mexican and U.S. governments. Award-‐‑winning journalist Gwynne traces the rise of the Comanche people from their roots as primitive bands of hunter-‐‑gatherers to their mastery of the horse and emergence as the feared power brokers of the area. At the center of the narrative is the charismatic Quanah Parker, who skillfully navigated the gaps between his traditional culture and the emerging, settled culture of the late-‐‑nineteenth century. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Saffron Foer Nine-‐‑year-‐‑old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey. The Game of My Life: A True Story of Challenge Triumph, and Growing Up Autistic by Jason McElwain The novel is an incredible true story of one high school student'ʹs determination to triumph against the challenges of autism-‐‑and his opponents on the basketball court. With four minutes and nineteen seconds left on the clock, and his team nursing a comfortable lead, the coach sent Jason McElwain-‐‑an autistic student and the team manager-‐‑into the game. Jason scored twenty points, including a school record six three-‐‑pointers. J-‐‑Mac, as McElwain became known, was carried off the court on his teammates'ʹ shoulders.
Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier History and fiction merge seamlessly in this luminous novel about artistic vision and sensual awakening. Girl with a Pearl Earring tells the story of sixteen-‐‑year-‐‑old Griet, whose life is transformed by her brief encounter with genius ... even as she herself is immortalized in canvas and oil. The Help by Kathryn Sockett Skeeter returns home to Mississippi from college in 1962 and begins to write stories about the African-‐‑American women that are found working in white households, which includes Aibileen, who grieves for
hired cook for a secretive woman who is new to town.
by Kathleen Kent Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people accused of witchcraft. The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston The true story of how a deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in a Washington, D.C., animal test lab. In a matter of days, 90% of the primates exposed to the virus are dead, and secret government forces are mobilized to stop the spread of this exotic "ʺhot"ʺ virus. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford Henry Lee is a 12-‐‑year-‐‑old Chinese boy who falls in love with Keiko Okabe, a 12-‐‑year-‐‑old Japanese girl, while they are scholarship students at a prestigious private school in World War II Seattle. Henry hides the relationship from his parents, who would disown him if they knew he had a Japanese friend. This is an old-‐‑fashioned historical novel that alternates between the early 1940s and 1984, after Henry'ʹs wife Ethel has died of cancer. House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by War by Stephen Berry
during the Civil War, and describes how the war affected
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a fascinating and moving story of medicine and family, of how life is sustained in laboratories and in memory. Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in Baltimore, a poor African American migrant from the tobacco farms of Virginia, who died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at the age of 30 in 1951. A sample of her cancerous tissue turned out to provide one of the holy grails of mid-‐‑century biology: human cells that could survive-‐‑-‐‑even thrive-‐‑-‐‑in the lab. Known as HeLa cells, their stunning potency gave scientists a building block for countless breakthroughs, beginning with the cure for polio. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson In the Garden of Beasts
sador to
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer In April 1992, a young man from a well-‐‑to-‐‑do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. He had given $25,000 in savings to a charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet and invented a life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. Jon Krakauer brings Chris McCandless'ʹ uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows and illuminates it with meaning in this mesmerizing and heartbreaking tour de force. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer A childhood dream of someday ascending Mount Everest, a lifelong love of climbing, and an expense account all propelled writer Jon Krakauer to the top of the Himalayas. His powerful, cautionary tale of an adventure gone horribly wrong is a must-‐‑read. Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth'ʹs Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane This extraordinary memoir of life under apartheid is a triumph of the human spirit over hatred and unspeakable degradation. Mark Mathabane did what no physically and psychologically battered "ʺKaffir"ʺ from the rat-‐‑infested alleys of Alexandra was supposed to do he escaped to tell about it. The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini Despite their class differences, Amir, the son of a wealthy businessman, and Hassan, his devoted sidekick and the son of Amir'ʹs household servant, play together, cause mischief together, and compete in the annual kite-‐‑fighting tournament -‐‑-‐‑ Amir flying the kite, and Hassan running down the kites they fell. But one day, Amir betrays Hassan, and his betrayal grows increasingly devastating as their tale continues. Amir will spend much of his life coming to terms with his initial and subsequent acts of cowardice and finally seek to make reparations. The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams by Darcy Frey Darcy Frey'ʹs landmark and heartbreaking story of a year in the life of four high school seniors from the Coney Island projects who are led down the primrose path of college scholarships and a possible life in the NBA. Unscrupulous coaches, shady recruiting policies, and winking sneaker companies are all put under the harsh light of this superb, disturbing book. The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen The Last Town on Earth centers on the inhabitants of a small logging town in Washington and what happens when they take drastic measures (quarantine) to try and protect themselves from the virulent and deadly flu epidemic of 1918. When a deserting WWI soldier demands sanctuary, events are set in motion that change the town forever. Lions of Lucerne by Brad Thor Secret Service agent and former Navy SEAL Scot Harvath heads the advance team protecting the President and his daughter on a ski trip in Utah. When the President is kidnapped following a terrorist-‐‑rigged avalanche, Scot is the only agent to survive. Determined to find out what happened, he returns to Washington, DC, where he learns that two senators may have helped facilitate the plot. After revealing what he knows to the head of the Secret Service, he is betrayed and set up for murder. Clues lead him
next to Switzerland, where he hooks up with Claudia Mueller of the Federal Attorney'ʹs Office in Bern. Together, in an attempt to save the President, they try to avoid hired killers while tracking down the men behind the kidnapping. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy by Ishmael Beah By now, nearly every habitual news watcher knows that child soldiers are being used as human pawns in dozens of conflicts around the world. Indeed, the figures are staggering: As many as 300,000 children are currently fighting in wars. Behind these distressing figures, of course, are real-‐‑life children, some as young as 8. Journalistic reconstructions can take us only so far into the lives of these boys; we had to wait for this firsthand account by Sierra Leone native Ishmael Beah to truly understand this ghastly, life-‐‑shattering practice. This is the time for all good men to go to the
by Helen Simonson Helen Simonson introduces the unforgettable character of the widower Major Ernest Pettigrew. The Major epitomizes the Englishman with the "ʺstiff upper lip,"ʺ who clings to traditional values and has tried (in vain) to pass these along to his yuppie son, Roger. The story centers around Pettigrew'ʹs fight to keep his greedy relatives (including his son) from selling a valuable family heirloom-‐‑-‐‑a pair of hunting rifles that symbolizes much of what he stands for, or at least what he thinks he does. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden Clearly Golden, a 40-‐‑something American male, has never lived anything remotely similar to the experiences of a geisha coming of age in the 'ʹ30s, the glory days of Kyoto'ʹs Gion pleasure district. Yet it is precisely this vanished world that he re-‐‑creates with subtlety, sensuality, and supreme authority, bringing to life characters so complete and idiosyncratic so fully sprung from the eras he has evoked that his novel ultimately overwhelms us, as seductive and beguiling as the geisha of its title.
by Jodi Picoult
The complex and emotionally wrenching narrative unfolds from the alternating perspectives of a large cast of intriguing and likable characters. Picoult, who has handled such delicate topics as teen suicide and euthanasia in previous novels, proves equally adept with this sensitive and emotionally charged subject matter. In My Sister'ʹs Keeper, the author has crafted a compelling story that is heartbreaking and literate in equal measure. Next by Michael Crichton Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems, and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn. Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult Nineteen Minutes is a startling and poignant story about the devastating aftermath of a small-‐‑town tragedy. On one level, it'ʹs a thriller, complete with dismaying carnage, urgent discoveries and 11th-‐‑hour revelations, but it also asks serious moral questions about the relationship between the weak and the strong. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death and the tragicomedy of humankind. In
the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America. The Other Wes Moore: One Name Two Fates by Wes Moore The author, a Rhodes scholar and combat veteran, analyzes the various sociocultural factors that influenced him as well as another man of the same name and from the same neighborhood who was drawn into a life of drugs and crime and ended up serving life in prison, focusing on the influence of relatives, mentors, and social expectations that could have led either of them on different paths. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-‐‑book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair she begins to unlock the book'ʹs mysteries. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett What makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time the twelfth century; the place feudal England; and the subject the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-‐‑created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king. Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton Set in 1665, the novel tells the story of Captain Charles Hunter, a privateer who is hired by the governor
pical pirate -‐‑seas adventure. All the key caper-‐‑novel elements
are here: the target, the mastermind, the plan, the motley crew, the ruthless villain, the gadgets, the twist, and the turncoat. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives heroic dreams which are nothing compared to what life actually has in store for him. He embarks on an epic journey through a land of tribal superstition and modern prejudice where he will learn the power of words, the power to transform lives, and the power of one. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving In the summer of 1953, two eleven-‐‑year-‐‑old boys -‐‑ best friends -‐‑ are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy'ʹs mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn'ʹt believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God'ʹs instrument. What happens to Owen, after that 1953 foul ball, is extraordinary and terrifying. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier The discoveries of fossils on the beaches of Lyme Regis, England, in the 19th century rocked the world and opened the minds of scientists to the planet'ʹs unimaginable age and the extinction of species. The
first remarkable finds were made by the poor working-‐‑class Anning family and their young daughter, Mary. Chevalier wraps the history with a tale of the friendship between Mary and Elizabeth Philpot, a gentlewoman also fascinated by the creatures of stone, in a time when women were thought to be ill-‐‑suited to the work or incapable of understanding the scope of their finds. Chevalier captures the atmosphere of a chilly, blustery coast and an oppressive social hierarchy in real Dickensian fashion. Readers of historical fiction will enjoy this fascinating tale of rustic paleontology. This is the time for all good The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith The latest installment in the best-‐‑selling series, The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, is a beautiful blend of wit and wisdom, and a profoundly touching tale of the human heart. At a remote cattle post
is asked to investigate by a rather frightened and furtive gentleman. It is an intriguing problem with plenty of suspects including, surprisingly, her own client. The Sherlockian by Graham Moore The Sherlockian begins with Arthur Conan Doyle pondering the best way to kill off the character that brought him fame, fortune, and the angst of a writer desperate to be remembered for more than "ʺa few morbid yarns."ʺ We then skip more than a hundred years into the future, to meet Harold White, a Sherlock Holmes devotee attending an annual celebration of hundreds of Sherlockian societies. When both Conan Doyle and White face grisly murders, the novel, bounces between these two characters and time periods. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, scientific miracles, and spiritual transformations, State of Wonder presents a world of stunning surprise and danger, rich in emotional resonance and moral complexity. As Dr. Marina Singh embarks upon an uncertain odyssey into the insect-‐‑infested Amazon, she will be forced to surrender herself to the lush but forbidding world that awaits within the jungle. Charged with finding her former mentor Dr. Annick Swenson, a researcher who has disappeared while working on a valuable new drug, she will have to confront her own memories of tragedy and sacrifice as she journeys into the unforgiving heart of darkness. Swamplandia! By Karen Russell Thirteen-‐‑year-‐‑old Ava Bigtree has lived her entire life at Swagator-‐‑indomitable headliner, the family is plunged into chaos; her father withdraws, her sister falls in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman, and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, defects to a rival park called The World of Darkness. As Ava sets out on a mission through the magical swamps to save them all, we are drawn into a lush and bravely imagined debut that takes us to the shimmering edge of reality. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams It is a short list of 20th-‐‑century American plays that continue to have the same power and impact as when they first appeared -‐‑ A Streetcar Named Desire is one of those plays. The story of the fading and desperate Blanche DuBois and how her sensuous and brutal brother-‐‑in-‐‑law, Stanley Kowalski, pushes her over the edge is now classic. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, Lily Owens has shaped her entire life around one devastating, blurred memory -‐‑ the afternoon her mother was killed, when Lily was
four. Since then, her only real companion has been the fierce-‐‑hearted, and sometimes just fierce, black woman Rosaleen, who acts as her "ʺstand-‐‑in mother."ʺ The Technologists by Matthew Pearl Boston, 1868. The Civil War may be over but a new war has begun, one between the past and the present, tradition and technology. On a former marshy wasteland, the daring Massachusetts Institute of Technology is rising, its mission to harness science for the benefit of all and to open the doors of opportunity to everyone of merit. But in Boston Harbor a fiery cataclysm throws commerce into chaos, as
the heart of the control it? A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan'ʹs last thirty years -‐‑-‐‑ from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-‐‑Taliban rebuilding -‐‑-‐‑ that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips The doomed hero of the novel is Arthur Phillips, a young novelist struggling with a con artist father who
The Tragedy of Arthur, a previously unknown play by
great con. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand Unbroken is the inspiring true story of a man who lived through a series of catastrophes almost too incredible to be believed. Hillenbrand unfurls the story of Louie Zamperini-‐‑-‐‑a juvenile delinquent-‐‑turned-‐‑Olympic runner-‐‑turned-‐‑Arplane crashed into the ocean, and what happened to him over the next three years of his life is a story that will keep you glued to the pages. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-‐‑rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.
