GRADE 9: Theme: The Odyssey and the Hero
FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS (ACADEMIC) 9
Directions:
Foundations of English Language Arts (Academic) students, choose one of the selections.
Alexie, Sherman: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.
 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
 2008 Boston-Globe Horn Book Award
 2010 California Young Reader Medal
In Alexie’s National Book Award-winning novel, the teenage protagonist Junior finds himself in a new and
foreign environment when he leaves the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white high school. Issues
of race, sexuality, language, and socialization suddenly become prominent in Junior’s life as he struggles to
maintain his identity in a new environment. Junior documents his struggles through an engaging combination of
prose and cartoons. By the end of the text, we come to realize that while Junior has a unique experience, he
draws out the conflicts, struggles, and moral decisions that appeal to all readers.
Van Draanen, Wendelin: The Running Dream
 2012 Schneider Family Book Award
Van Draanen captures the struggles of a teenage girl suffering from losing her leg in a car accident. Jessica thinks
her passion for running and her success on the track team is over. Her doctor assures her she can walk again
with a prosthetic leg, but she does not want to walk, she wants to run. With the help of her family and friends
Jessica tries to move forward. It is not until she finds comfort in some unexpected new friends that she realizes
she may just find happiness again.
Weisel, Elie: Night
In his critically acclaimed memoir, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel recounts his harrowing experience as a Jewish
teenager held in Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Auschwitz. His personal tale highlights his fear
and despair as he witnesses the atrocities his friends and family suffer at the hands of the Nazi guards. Through
eloquent, powerful language, Wiesel questions everything and everyone around him, including his faith, as he
struggles to survive. This text contains areas of mature language and content, particularly as Wiesel recounts
the actions of his Nazi captors. However, Night is a testament to memories, wounds and losses, and it invites
the reader to examine powerful questions about life and humanity.
GRADE 9: Theme: The Odyssey and the Hero
FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS (HONORS) 9
Directions:
Read the required selection.
Optional: read one of the recommended options.
REQUIRED SELECTION: HONORS ENGLISH 9
Zusak, Markus: The Book Thief
 2006 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
 2006 Book list Children Editors' Choice
 2007 American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults
Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to
live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued
mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands (School Library Journal). The horrors
of Nazi Germany are exposed through a violent backdrop that is necessary for the emotional impact of the story
to manifest. Liesel’s coming-of-age story captures the fears, anxieties, and atrocities of living through Hitler’s
tyranny and terror with bravery and insight.
RECOMMENDED SELECTIONS (optional: read in addition to The Book Thief):
Malamud, Bernard: The Natural
Bernard Malamud’s The Natural was first published in 1952 and earned him the reputation thereafter as an
“American” novelist. The novel blends the great American pastime—baseball—with classic mythology,
particularly the Arthurian legends of Perceval and the Fisher King, and the classic archetypal elements of Homer’s
The Odyssey. The Natural is a complex blend of this mythology, legend, and the American obsession with
professional sports and celebrity. Roy Hobbs, the talented-but-tragic baseball player, becomes immersed in the
hopes and dreams of New York City as he brings the New York Knights up from last-place oblivion into a race for
the pennant, or the ever-elusive Holy Grail. Malamud modeled Hobbs’ brief career on the myth of the Fisher King
as well as the tragedy that sometimes is baseball. At times, Malamud uses some harsh language and brief sexual
content to illustrate Hobb’s gritty world and struggles.
Weisel, Elie: Night
In his critically acclaimed memoir, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel recounts his harrowing experience as a Jewish
teenager held in Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Auschwitz. His personal tale highlights his fear and
despair as he witnesses the atrocities his friends and family suffer at the hands of the Nazi guards. Through
eloquent, powerful language, Wiesel questions everything and everyone around him, including his faith, as he
struggles to survive. This text contains areas of mature language and content, particularly as Wiesel recounts the
actions of his Nazi captors. However, Night is a testament to memories, wounds and losses, and it invites the
reader to examine powerful questions about life and humanity.