2015 Memorial High School Summer Reading List:
9th Grade
Gr. 9 English I Pre-AP
REQUIRED Choose ONE book from the following:
The Joy Luck Club-Amy Tan
The Glass Castle-Jeannette Walls
A Separate Peace-John Knowles
Zorro-Isabel Allende
Gr. 9 English I GT
REQUIRED Choose ONE book from the following:
Black Hawk Down-Mark Bowden
The Glass Castle-Jeannette Walls
The Hot Zone-Richard Preston
A Long Way Gone-Ishmael Beah
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers-Mary Roach
Gr. 9 English I Academic
REQUIRED Choose ONE from either the “Good Reads” or “Challenging Good Reads” lists:
Good Reads
Any title by Stephanie Meyer
A Northern Light-Jennifer Donnelly
Skellig-David Almond
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes-Chris Crutcher
Al Capone Does My Shirts-Gennifer Choldenko
Silent to the Bone-E.L. Konigsburg
Chinese Cinderella-Yen Mah
Inexcusable-Chris Lynch
Go Ask Alice-Anonymous
Specials-Scott Westerfield
Any title by Nicholas Sparks
13 Reasons Why-Jay Asher
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies-Seth Graham-Smith
Challenging Good Reads
Isaac’s Storm-Erik Larson
The Joy Luck Club-Amy Tan
The Glass Castle-Jeannette Walls
Zorro-Isabel Allende
Ender’s Game-Orson Scott Card
Any of the titles in The Secret of the
Immortal Nicholas Flammel series by
Michael Scott
A Separate Peace-John Knowles
The Hot Zone-Richard Preston
A Great and Terrible Beauty-Libba Bray
Blackhawk Down-Mark Bowden
A Long Way Gone-Ishmael Beath
10th Grade
Gr. 10 English II Pre-AP/GT
I. Required Reading: Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods (Harper-Collins, 1998)
Bryson’s book is both travel journal and light-hearted personal memoir at once, chronicling the author’s five month
attempt to hike the nearly 2100 mile Appalachian Trail. As the story unfolds, Bryson reveals the complex motivations for
his journey, personal and cultural, and comments on topics ranging from health and personal fitness, American History,
ecology, sociology, botany, consumerism, and more.
While students may want to read this charming travel journal just for fun, as they prepare to return to school in the fall,
they should read and/or reread with a more critical eye.
Students should prepare for assignments in English II by highlighting and annotating their books, a practice taught and
encouraged in English I. Students have been taught to read closely and to note different aspects of a literary work, and
they will want to continue this practice as they track areas including but not limited to the following:
Author’s style
Characterization of himself and his companion, Stephen Katz
Commentary about history, human nature, etc.
II. Required Assignment: Annotated passages with commentary – due within the first two weeks of the 2015- 2016
school year – exact date to be determined.
• Select 5 passages that are especially noteworthy, memorable, or interesting. Selected passages should be brief
(i.e. 3-12 sentences), should be selected from different sections throughout the course of the work and should
have some element of commonality. For example, a student might choose to focus on the author’s style or more
specifically his comic tone, characterization, conflict, description of the land, etc. and trace its usage throughout
the work. Students should select one option and find 5 passages throughout the work that reflect the same
element.
• Type the passages on a separate sheet of paper, double-spacing if necessary, to leave room to show handwritten
annotations which may include remarks about style, development, characterization, tone, foreshadowing, etc.
Students may also note their personal responses to the text.
• On the same typed page, students will write commentary discussing the significance of the particular passage,
how it emphasizes the author’s purpose, and how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. In doing
so, students should attend to stylistic elements (word choice, mood, tone, imagery, language strategies, character
development). Do not simply discuss the plot.
Gr. 10 English II Academic
REQUIRED Select ONE from the following:
Peace Like a River-Leif Enger
Alas, Babylon-Pat Frank
The Book Thief-Markus Zusak
Ironman-Chris Crutcher
Bless Me, Ultima-Rudolfo Anaya
Same Kind of Different as Me-Hall and Moore
11TH Grade
Gr. 11 English III AP/GT/DC
All English 3AP/GT/DC students must read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and be prepared for
writing and discussion of the novel the first week of school.
Note: Because each student will be required to read at least one critical article on The Scarlet Letter for an essay in the first
six weeks, we recommend buying either the Bedford critical edition or Norton critical edition of the novel, both of which
include a variety of critical responses to the novel.
In addition, select ONE work from the list below. The assessment for this book will be at the end of the first grading
period.
Choose and annotate a minimum of ten passages from the book you have chosen. Passages should be selected where
the text raises an arguable issue (literary, thematic, philosophical, social, etc.) worthy of discussion and/or supports a
literary stance (gender, historical, political, religious, psychological, mythological, sociological). Students will use their
selected book and these useful passages as the basis and support for their second six weeks’ research papers.
Fiction Selections:
March-Geraldine Brooks
The Last of the Mohicans-James Fenimore Cooper
The March (historical fiction)-E.L. Doctorow
The House of Seven Gables-Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Portrait of a Lady-Henry James
Moby Dick (for advanced readers)-Herman Melville
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court-Mark Twain
The House of Mirth-Edith Wharton
The Age of Innocence-Edith Wharton
Nonfiction
Essays, First Series-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Walden and Civil Disobedience-Henry David Thoreau
The Killer Angels (historical recreation)-Michael Shaara
Gr. 11 English III Academic
REQUIRED Choose ONE from either the “Good Reads” or “Challenging Good Reads” lists:
Good Reads
Challenging Good Reads
Slaughterhouse Five-Kurt Vonnegut
Cold Mountain-Charles Frazier
Devil in the White City-Erik Larson
Bel Canto-Ann Patchett
The Things They Carried-Tim O’Brien
Moby Dick-Herman Melville
A Lesson Before Dying-Ernest Gaines
For Whom the Bell Tolls-Ernest Hemingway
Woman Hollering Creek-Sandra Cisneros
The Grapes of Wrath-John Steinbeck
Interpreter of Maladies-Jhumpa Lahiri
The Scarlet Letter-Nathaniel Hawthorne
Into the Wild-John Krakauer
12th Grade
Gr. 12 English IV AP/GT
REQUIRED Jane Eyre-Bronte AND The Importance of Being Earnest-Wilde
Students are required to bring in one piece of literary criticism for each work.
Teachers will select individual titles during the six-week periods for outside reading—titles will be left to the
discretion of the teacher.
Gr. 12 English IV/Dual Credit and Academic
REQUIRED Select ONE novel from the following:
Mao’s Last Dancer-Li Cuinxin
Under the Banner of Heaven-Jon Krakauer
Any title by John Grisham