Incoming 9th Grade Required Summer Reading 2016
Bellaire High School
Incoming 9th Grade Academic, College Prep, and Pre-AP English
•
Every incoming 9th grade student will read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collier. Students who have
already read this book should revisit it over the summer and be ready to use it as a touchstone for
close-reading and text-evidence-based questions. Students will also be asked to write about the book in
a manner that requires a recent reading or rereading. As enjoyable as the film might be, watching the
film is not a substitute for reading the book! A number of electronic copies of The Hunger Games are
available via Follett, which can be accessed through the Bellaire High School Library webpage. If
prompted, the login is “houstonisd” and the password is “astros.”
•
In addition to reading The Hunger Games, students enrolled in 9th Grade Pre-AP English must read
TWO additional books, one from each of the following categories:
Nonfiction (choose one):
• I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for
Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
by Malala Yousafzai and Christine
Lamb, or
• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Fiction (choose one):
• In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia
Alvarez, or
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding,
or
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (also
available as e-book—see note above
with The Hunger Games for access)
Students enrolled in 9th Grade Pre-AP English will write essay responses to both their fiction and nonfiction
selections.
• Essay Prompt for Nonfiction Selection: What makes the protagonist in this book a hero?
• Essay Prompt for Fiction Selection: Explain how the protagonist changes over the course of the book. (If
the book has more than one protagonist, choose one.)
Essay Specifications:
• Both essays will be due one week after the first day of school.
• Both essays must be typed (students without access to a computer and/or printer will have the
opportunity to type and print at school).
• Both essays must include three quotations apiece as text evidence; these quotations should be drawn
from the beginning, middle, and end of each book. Every quotation should list in parentheses the page
number where it can be found in the book.
• Both essays should be between 600 and 900 words apiece.
Students may contact the following teachers with any questions about the assignment:
Ms. Tomlinson [email protected]
Ms. Chapman (Pre-AP) [email protected]
Ms. Paz [email protected]
Ms. Yeriazarian (Pre-AP) [email protected]
All BHS required summer reading books are readily available at most major
bookstores and on-line booksellers.
Please visit HISD’s Library Services website for additional lists of books that students may choose to read for pleasure or
as part of HISD’s summer reading initiative, Every Summer Has a Story: http://www.houstonisd.org/Page/111422