Archbishop Wood High School
2014 Summer Reading Program
All students returning to or coming to
Wood in September 2014 are required
to read two books.
Only those students already rostered for either
Advanced Placement Language Arts and Composition
or Advanced Placement Literature and Composition
are exempt from these reading requirements.
A reading test will be administered in
September 2014 to all students
required to read books from these lists.
Class of 2018 (September 2014 9th Graders)
Both of these titles are required:
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry - What would you do if you received
a check for $10,000.00? This is the challenge the African American Younger family must
confront. In Hansberry's play, family members clash over their perceptions of success and
what this $10,000.00 should mean for them.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London - In this novel the main protagonist Buck, a
St. Bernard/Collie mix, is abducted and sold to a trainer of sled dogs in Alaska. He adapts to
the brutal conditions and is finally acquired by a loving man. When this new owner is killed,
Buck follows the ‘call of the wild’ and joins a pack of wolves. (Source: LibriVox)
Class of 2017 (September 2014 10th graders)
Choose two books from the following list:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - The story of a young girl and her passage into adulthood, was an immediate commercial success at the time of its original publication in 1847. Its
representation of the underside of domestic life and the hypocrisy behind religious enthusiasm
drew both praise and bitter criticism.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck – The Bucks County author paints an indelible
portrait of China in the 1920s, when the last emperor reigned and the vast political and social
upheavals of the twentieth century were but distant rumblings. This moving, classic story of
the honest farmer Wang Lung and his selfless wife O-Lan is must reading for those who
would fully appreciate the sweeping changes that have occurred in the lives of the Chinese
people during the last century.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - Ten people, each with a
guilty secret, are lured to an isolated island off the Devon coast. Shortly after they all arrive
they begin to die one by one.
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - Set in Victorian London, this is a tale of a spirited
young innocent's unwilling but inevitable recruitment into a scabrous gang of thieves.
Grendel by John Gardner - Grendel, a large bearlike monster, has spent the last twelve
years locked in a war against a band of humans. The main action of Grendel takes place in the
last year of that war, but the novel skips back in time in order to illuminate the origins of the
conflict as well as Grendel’s personal history.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding - Before The Hunger Games there was Lord
of the Flies. Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in
1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature.
Hiroshima by John Hersey - On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by the
first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city. This book tells what happened on that day, told
through the memoirs of survivors.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - Set in London of AD 2540 (632 A.F.—
"After Ford"—in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology,
sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning that combine to
profoundly change society.
1984 by George Orwell - 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the
future. And while 1984 has come and gone, Orwell’s narrative is timelier than ever. 1984
presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so powerful that it is completely
convincing from start to finish.
The Chosen by Chaim Potok - The novel follows the main character, Reuven Malter,
and his friend Daniel Saunders, as they grow up in the Williamsburg neighborhood in
Brooklyn, New York, in the 1940s.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - In her classic novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
creates a fascinating, thoroughly engrossing story about a young scientist who gives life to an
inanimate creature.
Dracula by Bram Stoker - Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Abraham "Bram"
Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula.
The Once and Future King by T. H. White - The whole world knows and loves
this book. It is the magical epic of King Arthur and his shining Camelot; of Merlin and Owl
and Guinevere; of beasts who talk and men who fly, of wizardry and war. It is the book of all
things lost and wonderful and sad.
Class of 2016 (September 2014 11th graders)
Choose two books from the following list:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Growing up in New England during the Civil
War, the March sisters share everything — their joys and troubles, their loves and secrets. But
the four girls couldn't be more different. Meg, the oldest, is the sensible writer. Jo is funny
and mischievous. Beth is the shy, dreamy one, and Amy is pretty and artistic. From dances to
despairs, through weddings and funerals, the March girls stand as sisters.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Junior, a budding cartoonist grows up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take
his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the “rez” to attend an allwhite farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
My Antonia by Willa Cather - A story that details nineteenth-century pioneer life in
Nebraska, with all its hardships and beauties; it explores traditional American pioneer values,
such as hard work, self-reliance, and the refusal to submit to adversity.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin - Set in New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana
coast at the end of the nineteenth century, the plot centers around Edna Pontellier and her
struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with
the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century South.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane - Taking place during the
American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming,
who flees from the field of battle.
Waterlilly by Ella Cara Deloria - The novel follows two generations of Sioux
women, Blue Bird and Waterlily, a mother-daughter pair who both learn through life
experiences the meaning and importance of kinship.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave by
Frederick Douglas - An unparalleled account of the dehumanizing effects of slavery and
Douglass's own triumph over it.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs - The most
comprehensive slave narrative written by a woman, Jacobs's account broke the silence on the
exploitation of African-American female slaves.
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller - Helen Keller’s account of her triumph over
deafness and blindness. Popularized by the stage play and movie, The Miracle Worker,
Keller’s story has become a symbol of hope for people all over the world.
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail by Jerome Lawrence - The play is based on
the early life of the title character, Henry David Thoreau, leading up to his night spent in a jail
in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau was jailed for refusing to pay a poll tax on the grounds
that the money might be used to pay for the Mexican-American war, which he opposed.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - 1906 bestseller shockingly reveals intolerable labor
practices and unsanitary working conditions in the Chicago stockyards as it tells the brutally
grim story of a Slavic family that emigrates to America full of optimism but soon descends
into numbing poverty, moral degradation, and despair. A fiercely realistic American classic.
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain - The sixteenth-century royal court
and the boisterous London streets spring to life in this novel about a poor boy who exchanges
identities with Edward Tudor, the prince of England.
Class of 2015 (September 2014 12th graders)
Choose two books from the following list:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - The 1969
autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou.
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom - Newspaper sports columnist Mitch
Albom recounts the time spent with his 78-year-old sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, at
Brandeis University, who was dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous - The life of a troubled teenage girl.
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros - Mexican-American girl growing
up in Chicago.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - After a botched robbery results in the brutal
murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own
mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.
American Childhood by Annie Dillard - Memoir of a girl growing up in
Pittsburgh, 1950’s.
Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper - Story of a seventeen-year-old AfricanAmerican boy named Andy, who feels deeply guilty for inadvertently causing his best friend's
death through drunk driving.
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner – A harrowing account of the Bundren
family's odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother.
Told in turns by each of the family members—including Addie herself—the novel ranges in
mood from dark comedy to the deepest pathos.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - The unforgettable and beautifully told story
of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul.
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - The story of John Wheelwright and
his best friend Owen Meany growing up together in a small New England town.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey - Set in an Oregon asylum,
the story serves as a study of the institutional process and the human mind.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - Coming of age tale about a
motherless girl’s search for love.
Life of Pi by Yan Martel - An Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of
spirituality and practicality from an early age.
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt - A tale of a boy growing up Irish and in poverty.
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien - A ground-breaking meditation on
war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - Sylvia Plath's shocking, realistic, and intensely
emotional novel about a woman falling into the grip of insanity.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - Holden Caulfield attends Pencey Prep School
in Pennsylvania, where he's just been kicked out for failing all his classes except English.
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut - Centering on the infamous fire-bombing
of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time.
Street Car Named Desire by Tennessee Williams - Dazzling drama of love,
lust, and unbridled passion set against the steamy backdrop of New Orleans is an unrivaled
classic of modern American theatre.
Black Boy by Richard Wright - Famous African-American author’s nonfiction account
of growing up.
All students returning to or coming to
Wood in September 2014 are required
to read two books.
A reading test will be administered in
September 2014 to all students
required to read books from these lists.
Only those students already rostered for either
Advanced Placement Language Arts and Composition
or Advanced Placement Literature and Composition
are exempt from these reading requirements.