High School English/Language Arts Summer Reading 2016
Parents and students,
In grades 9-12, SMPCS students will be assigned independent, self-selected reading outside of English
class. Summer is a great time to get a head start on outside reading. Your teacher and/or school may
even offer incentives or special recognition for the reading you complete over the summer, so don’t
miss the opportunity to start the 2016-2017 school year off right! Refer to your school’s website to find
more information about summer reading incentives.
The lists on the following pages contain titles for consideration when choosing self-selected reading; the
titles are aligned to the content of our instructional units.* The suggested titles were selected based on
their literary merit and/or interest level from a variety of sources, including: the SMCPS approved novel
and trade book list, the CCSS suggested reading/Gates Foundation instructional units, the American
Library Association, and Good Reads. The titles that are not on the SMCPS approved for instruction list
may contain mature content, so be sure to review your child’s selections to help him/her make the best
choice.
TIPS FOR SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD WITH SUMMER READING
#1: Let your child choose his/her own books and abandon them when they are just not working.
 Interest in reading material enhances comprehension; therefore, students with high interest in a
topic will be more engaged and committed to reading, even if the reading level is challenging.
 Conversely, students with little interest in a topic may demonstrate low comprehension of material
that should be at an independent reading level for them.
#2: Preview the books that interest you by reading reviews on websites such as Amazon or Good
Reads and make your selections accordingly.
#3: Help your child set goals and read with him/her or form reading discussion groups with peers.
 Students who get together with friends and discuss a book are more likely to be excited about
reading. Book clubs can be rather informal and allow students to carry on a conversation about
anything related to the book they are reading.
 Ask your child nonthreatening questions about the reading by initially posing general questions that
do not create tension or feelings of resistance: “Can you give me one or two items from the chapter
that seem important?" "What section of the reading do you have questions about?" "What item in
the reading surprised you?" "What topics in the chapter can you apply to your own experience?"
 Reading motivation is linked to setting goals and working toward those goals in an active, sustained
manner, so help your child set and monitor his/her reading goals. Check in often throughout the
summer.
And don’t miss the summer reading program at the public library, which starts June 13. You can find
more information at www.stmalib.org.
Works Cited
Reed, Deborah. (2005). “Motivating Students to Read/Issue and Practices.” SEDL Letter, XVII, Number 1.
*Students enrolled in Pre-AP or Advanced Placement courses have separate reading lists. Please refer
to the SMCPS website or the flyer your child received at the end of the year.
KEY:
(+) ON SMCPS APPROVED NOVEL LIST
(*) HIGHER INTEREST, MORE ACCESSIBLE TEXTS
High School English/Language Arts Summer Reading 2016
UNIT 1
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, L. See+
Shizuko’s Daughter by Ktoto Mori+
A Step from Heaven by An Na+
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah*
Red Scarf Girl by J. Jaing*
Slumdog Millionaire, W. Swarup*
Untouchable by M. Arnand*
The Inheritance of Loss by K. Desai*
Family by Pa Jin
Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan
Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki
Feasting, Fasting by Anita Desai
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Shiva’s Fire by Suzanne Fisher Staples
Grade 10
Dreams of Significant Girls by Christina Garcia*
The Lesser Tragedy of Death by Christina Garcia*
Handbook to Luck by Christina Garcia
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Five Decades: Poems 1925-1970 by Pablo Neruda
The Book of Lamentations by Rosario Castellanos
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquival
The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes
The President by Miguel Ángel Asturias
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya+
UNIT 2
Handful of Stars by Rafik Schami+
Bride Price by Buchi Emecheta+
Waiting for the Rain by Shelia Gordon+
A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul+
Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson
Mandela by Nelson Mandela+
Kaffir Boy by M. Mathabane*
Journey from the Land of No by R. Hakaia*
Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Beah*
Reading Lolita in Tehran by A. Nafasi*
Three Cups of Tea by G. Mortenson*
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by A. Fuller*
The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz
So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh
Exodus by Leon Uris
UNIT 3
Enrique’s Journey by Nazario*+
Accidental Love by G. Soto*
Return to Sender by Julia Alverez*
Down These Mean Streets by P. Thomas*
Dreaming in Cuban by Christina Garcia*
I Wanna be Your Shoebox by Christina Garcia*
KEY:
(+) ON SMCPS APPROVED NOVEL LIST
UNIT 4
Growing Up by Russell Baker+*
On Writing by Stephen King+
A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind+*
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson*
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah*
Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
My Left Foot by Christy Brown
Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago
Swallow the Ocean by Laura Flynn
Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Lucky by Alice Seabold
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
Coming Back Stronger by Drew Brees
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Setting the Record Straight by David Barton
Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn+
A Dead Man’s Memoir by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Seagull by Anton Chekhov+
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert+
Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle+
Kim by Rudyard Kipling+
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John LeCarre+
The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruin Zafon
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly
Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier+
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier+
(*) HIGHER INTEREST, MORE ACCESSIBLE TEXTS