Upper School
Summer Reading List for 2016
Upper School
This summer’s common reader is related to Russia, the subject of next year’s InterSession. The
Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, written by John Vaillant, is both the chilling
tale of a tiger that hunted and killed people in Russia’s far east in the 1990s, as well as a
fascinating and detailed look at Russian life and history.
In addition to the common reader, book pairs are being offered, and students are required to
choose a book pair to read this summer. The list of pairs is below.
At the beginning of the school year, students will meet with the teacher who offered the book pair
as well as the other students who chose that pair for a discussion. Students will also be expected
to discuss the common reader at a separate time.
(Some book descriptions are from the Internet and book jackets; not all attributions are noted.)
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Do you enjoy a good dystopian novel but dislike the overwhelming violence often employed and
despairing weightiness often imparted? Then this is the book pair for you. These books use
systemic collapse as elements of luminescence to create believable scenarios and bring you
relatable stories of interpersonal dynamics amidst the chaos. Darkness and light are held in
balance in stories that are thought provoking, but not soul-wrenching. (Offered by Heather
Fortune)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
1984 by George Orwell
Written within 5 years of each other around 1950, these two classics are still highly relevant
today. With warnings about government surveillance, conformity, and complacency of the
masses, both books urge readers to look critically at those who rule and examine how our own
actions are "controlled" in one way or another. Through the protagonists Guy Montag and
Winston Smith, both part of oppressive and totalitarian governments, we experience the conflict
of defying authority and risking their lives in order to preserve their right to the human endeavor
of free thinking. (Offered by Abbi Smith)
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Theory of Everything by Stephen Hawking
From two brilliant minds, these works explore the farthest reaches of both the imagination and the
known universe. Time-travel with Vonnegut in this hilarious, insightful, and often-banned novel
about fighting in World War Two and being an exhibit in an alien zoo. Then let Hawking, one of
the greatest thinkers of the past century, unravel the mysteries of the universe in his most
accessible book. How do these mind-benders fit together? You’ll decide. (Offered by Jim
Miller)
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Night over Water by Ken Follett
The Maze Runner is a story about a group of teens dropped into the center of the maze one by one
without any of their memories. They are left to fend for themselves and search for a way to
escape from the ever-changing maze that surrounds them. Night over Water is a fictional story
set aboard the last flight of the Pan-Am clipper from England to America at the beginning of
WWII. This suspense novel includes a kidnapping, the FBI, the mafia, a Russian Princess, a
movie star and much more. (Offered by Heather Paul)
Descent by Tim Johnson
The Eagle Tree by Ned Hayes
In Descent, the Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, a young family from
the plains taking a last summer vacation before their daughter begins college. But when eighteen
year old Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean
returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic. In The Eagle Tree, fourteenyear-old March Wong knows everything there is to know about trees. One day, March is
devastated to learn that the Eagle Tree—a monolithic Ponderosa Pine near his home in
Olympia—is slated to be cut down by developers. Now, he will do anything in his power to save
this beloved tree. In taking a stand to save the tree, March will come face-to-face with some
frightening possibilities that include risking himself and his mother to do it. (Offered by Anita
Voluntad-DePace)
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Ready, Player One by Ernest Cline
When Mae Holland takes a highly coveted job at the high tech company, The Circle, she believes
she's the luckiest person alive. She is now employed by the "most influential company in the
world," a company that links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, purchasing, medical
records... everything... with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity, your
TruYou. As Mae becomes more involved with her work, she becomes less connected to her life
outside of work. What is real and what is virtual begin to merge, raising questions about
memory, privacy, democracy, history, family and what it means to be human. This book offers
up a glimpse into a world where social media is in control.
Ready, Player One takes place in 2045 when overpopulation and environmental degradation have
taken a toll on the planet. For many, the only life worth living is when they are jacked into a
virtual, 3-D world -- the Oasis -- a video game paradise. Created by the eccentric, 1980's
obsessed James Halliday, the Oasis offers the chance for fame and fortune, but only if you solve
Halliday's puzzles, unlock the Gates, and win the game. (Offered by Kendall Cameron)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
In Jane Eyre, our heroine overcomes hardships, loneliness, and the Victorian Era to claim a piece
of herself in a world that doesn't care much what she does. While living at Thornfield Hall, Jane
encounters Mr. Rochester and someone living in the attic who shouldn't be...it's all a big mystery
and it gets cleared up in the end...sort of. Wide Sargasso Sea is a prequel/retelling of part of the
story detailed in Jane Eyre. It's very important to read Jane Eyre first.
(Offered by Chris Singler)
Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That
Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe by Mario Livio
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
We all make mistakes. Nobody’s perfect. Some of the greatest geniuses in history (including
Charles Darwin, Lord Kelvin, and Albert Einstein) made scientific process advances through
error, which you can learn all about in Brilliant Blunders.
Just Mercy is an account of defending the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and
children (often on death row) trapped in our criminal justice system. (Offered by Bob Courey)
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Drawing from decades of work, travel, and research in Russia, Robert Alexander re-creates the
tragic, perennially fascinating story of the final days of Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov as seen
through the eyes of their young kitchen boy, Leonka. A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and
ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a
beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a
dog could tell it. (Offered by Erin Pratt)
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy DeGruy
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
In Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, Dr. DeGruy examines how the traumatic effects of slavery,
institutional subjugation, and domestic terrorism impact African-Americans today. Dr. DeGruy
"encourages African-Americans to view their attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors through the
lens of history and to gain a greater understanding of the impact of centuries of slavery and
oppression has had on African-Americans." The New Jim Crow examines how, in a new era of
supposed colorblindness with the election of Barack Obama, the U.S. criminal justice system
"functions as a contemporary system of racial control," relegating African-American men and
communities of color to "permanent second-class status." (Offered by Tracy Matthews)
Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year by Tavis Smiley
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W.
Loewen
Everyone agrees that the study of history is much more than a simple compilation of dates and
events. But how do we know what significance those events hold? These two books both take
familiar narratives and place them in contexts that change the popular understanding of those
events. Tavis Smiley, beloved interviewer and columnist traces events in the last 365 days of
King’s life, from his denouncement of the American war in Vietnam as racist to our ignoring the
real effects of poverty. After surveying 18 leading American history texts, Loewen found not one
made a good job of making history interesting or memorable. In fact each was marred by an
embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and
outright lies. Loewen’s book delivers what its title suggests in tackling questions such as ‘Why
did we fight the Civil War?’, “Who was our openly gay President?” and the real reasons for the
American invasion of Iraq (despite the lack of weapons of mass destruction). (Offered by Galen
Horst-Martz)
Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
What is Gothic fiction? It’s mystery, supernatural horrors (ostensibly),a hero or two, a heroine or
two, very brooding villains, creepy castles and haunted houses, evil and good—-and more. You
get it all in these two influential novels from the late 1700s. (Offered by Ralph Reinwald)
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Find out what made Tina the funny, powerful woman she is today. From her humble beginnings
in Delaware County to hosting the Golden Globes, Tina gives us the inside scoop. Bad Feminist
explores what it means to be a feminist in today's world. Roxane Gay examines feminism using
the lens of modern society and pop culture through a series of essays. (Offered by Donna
Romero)
Looking Back: A Chronicle of Growing Up Old in the Sixties by Joyce Maynard
The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan and Anne Fadiman
Looking Back: A Chronicle of Growing Up Old in the Sixties: "We were dragged through the
mud of Relevance and Grim Reality and now we have a certain tough, I've-been-there attitude.
We're tired, often more from boredom than exertion, old without being wise, worldly not from
seeing the world but from watching it on television." This work was published in 1973, when its
author was only nineteen years old. Joyce Maynard is an American journalist, author, and
academic, known for writing with candor about her life and perhaps equally for her relationship
with J. D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye.
From J. R. Moehringer’s review of Marina Keegan’s book on Amazon.com, ”Young people get a
bad rap for thinking they’re immortal, and acting accordingly, but Marina dwelled on the end.
Hers, civilization’s, the sun’s. “And time, that takes survey of all the world, must have a stop.”
Savor every half-second, she seemed to be saying, to herself, to her readers, and her meditations
on death, once charmingly precocious, now feel breathtakingly premonitory. Describing a group
of fifty whales beached near her house on Cape Cod, she laments that their songs don’t transmit
on land, and thus they can’t communicate their final thoughts. “I imagined dying slowly next to
my mother or a lover, helplessly unable to relay my parting message.” Such was her fate. And
yet it wasn't, not really. This book is her parting message, exquisitely relayed.
(Offered by Martha Van Nuis)
The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
What if, in the near future, people figure out how to implant our devices in our brains, and the
what if evildoers get the devices to transmit a virus that destroys our memories of words so that
they can sell them back to us? This is the strange world of The Word Exchange.
And more questions for Never Let Me Go: What if lives that seem ordinary and happy are
really...something else? What if medical science has gotten really out of control? What if I can't
give you any more details because it will lessen the shock? (Offered by Wendy Buckingham)
Beloved by Toni Morrison
House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
These are two of my favorite novels, and they work well together. These are long books, but they
are stunning reads. Toni Morrison won a Nobel Prize for Beloved. It is the story of slavery and
freedom, redemption, love and loss. It is a challenging read on many fronts, but well worth the
challenge. It is a must-read for anyone interested in women's literature and African-American
literature. One of the best books ever written. House of the Spirits is a long book, but don't worry.
It's a fast and fascinating read. If you've ever been interested in reading more magical realism
and more novels about Latin America, this is a great choice. (Offered by Suzanne Morrison)
Mr. Jelly Roll by Alan Lomax
Jelly’s Blues by Howard Reich
Famous musicologist Alan Lomax wrote Mr. Jelly Roll, considered the "definitive" biography of
jazz legend Jelly Roll Morton for more than a half century. Lomax's writing draws heavily from
reams of recorded interviews that Lomax conducted with Morton at the Library of Congress in
the 1930s at the end of Morton's life. Morton's vivid recollections paint a picture of a vanished
wild world of vice, life in early 20th century New Orleans and the segregated South, and the early
days of jazz. Jelly's Blues is a 2007 biography that revisits Lomax's "definitive" biography in
light of rich new source material about Morton's life and career. An excellent lesson on the
capacity of new sources to revive historical debates, reopen inquiries, and raise questions about
the methods and perspectives of historians and biographers, Jelly's Blues sheds new light on the
legacies of both Morton and Lomax and gives readers an even clearer picture of Morton's place in
the evolution of jazz and the politics of race in the music business. (Offered by Brian Kors)
Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony
In Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown recounts the true story of 9 working class boys who
pushed against the odds to work together and win the gold for mens rowing at Hitler's 1936
olympics. The Elephant Whisperer is based on the true story of how conservationist Lawrence
Anthony raised a herd of previously mistreated elephants on his 5000 acre reserve in Zuzuland,
South Africa. This book will teach you about the magnificent elephant, but also much more
about life. (Offered by Natalie Mayer)
The Bacchae by Euripides
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Bacchae is a classical Greek tragedy that concerns the catastrophe that ensues when the King
of Thebes imprisons Dionysus and attempts to suppress his cult. Full of striking scenes, frenzied
emotion, and choral songs of great power and beauty, the play is a fine example of Euripides'
ability to exploit Greek myth to probe human psychology. Donna Tartt, winner of the 2014
Pulitzer Prize for her most recent novel, The Goldfinch, established herself as a major talent with
The Secret History, which has become a contemporary classic. Inspired by Euripides' Bacchae,
under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at
an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the
humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal
morality their lives are changed profoundly and forever, and they discover how hard it can be to
truly live and how easy it is to kill. (Offered by Ian Lockey)
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo, Revised Edition by Zlata Filipovic
War is a popular topic for history textbooks, but these two books look at war from a unique angle,
that of young girls. Their diaries open up interesting questions about the relationship between
battlefronts and the homefront, our gendered perceptions of war, and the way history remembers
war. (Offered by Margaret Smith)