English III College Prep Summer Reading (2017-2018)
Your English teachers have selected a wide range of books for your summer reading to tantalize, challenge, and
engross you. College Prep students are required to read one book from the lists below. Be sure to
ANNOTATE (or “talk to the text”) as you read the book. You may buy your own book and mark right
on the text (highly recommended); borrow the book and write your annotations on Post-It notes; or keep
your commentary in a notebook with page numbers for each note. Remember to go beyond mere
summary of the plot.
Upon returning to school in the fall, students will be assessed through a writing assignment based on their
summer reading.
Literature Disclaimer: As Christian educators, we believe the study of literature is of great value, because
through it we can understand and evaluate the values, identities, and histories of humanity through a biblical
worldview and a scriptural lens. The literature curriculum at The Woodlands Christian Academy reflects this
philosophy. Therefore, our students are required to read a variety of literature - both Christian and secular which enables us to discuss societal values and movements from a Christ-centered perspective. In doing so, we
seek to prepare students to engage potentially controversial ideas equipped with a biblical mindset and the full
armor of God. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
These works are representative of 20th century American literature.
The Things They Carried by Tim Obrien
A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the
literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the
redemptive power of storytelling. The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross,
Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who has
survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three. Taught everywhere, from
high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing, it has become required reading for any
American and continues to challenge readers in their perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, courage and
fear and longing.
Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden
North Korea’s political prison camps have existed twice as long as Stalin’s Soviet gulags and twelve times as
long as the Nazi concentration camps. No one born and raised in these camps is known to have escaped. No
one, that is, except Shin Dong-hyuk. In Escape From Camp 14, Blaine Harden unlocks the secrets of the
world’s most repressive totalitarian state through the story of Shin’s shocking imprisonment and his astounding
getaway. Shin knew nothing of civilized existence—he saw his mother as a competitor for food, guards raised
him to be a snitch, and he witnessed the execution of his mother and brother. Harden’s harrowing narrative
exposes this hidden dystopia, focusing on an extraordinary young man who came of age inside the highest
security prison in the highest security state. Escape from Camp 14 offers an unequalled inside account of one of
the world’s darkest nations. It is a tale of endurance and courage, survival and hope.
5800 Academy Way, The Woodlands, TX 77384 • 936-273-2555 • www.twca.net
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of
heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” Zadie Smith
One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings
to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of
print for almost thirty years—due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist—
Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in
the canon of African-American literature.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once
a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer
allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant,
because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable.
Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played
with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of
that is gone now….Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once
scathing satire, dire warning, and literary tour de force.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's
"saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat
dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy
Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was
to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the
stories and history continue. With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender,
and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to
unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over
daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties.
Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.
All book summaries taken from GoodReads and Amazon Books
NOTES:
Some of the books may contain adult situations. We urge you to choose a book with a parent’s or guardian’s
guidance. If a book makes you uncomfortable, abandon it and select another. Please remember to annotate your
novel as you read, so you will recall the book and will be ready to write when you return to school.
5800 Academy Way, The Woodlands, TX 77384 • 936-273-2555 • www.twca.net