June 2016
Dear Parents/Students,
In order to encourage life-long reading and prepare for the upcoming school year, we have
developed a summer reading program featuring relevant selections that connect to the English
curriculum. Our summer reading program provides an opportunity for students to begin the year
ready to participate in both class discussion and a written evaluation of the works. This discussion
and evaluation will be included in the first quarter English grade.
The summer reading program works as follows:
 Students in each grade level will read an assigned book or books as listed on the MDSA website:
https://www.mountdesalesacademy.org/
 Some reading selections are required of all students in a given class. Additionally, in most classes,
students are also required to choose a reading selection from a short list of literary works.
 Discussion questions can be downloaded from the MDSA website
 Students will use the discussion questions for each work to guide them in their reading
 Students do not have to write the answers to the questions, but answering the questions will help
prepare them for the written evaluation/test which will be given the first or second week of the
quarter
 Limited class discussion will take place on each assigned book.
 The written evaluation/test on the book(s) will be included as part of the first quarter grade.
In this way, students will have the opportunity to make the connection between their summer
reading and other literature covered in their English classes and will also be held accountable for
reading the works.
Since the summer reading selections will be used during the first few weeks at the beginning of the
first quarter, we encourage students to purchase the assigned text(s) so that they are available for the
class discussion and evaluation. All of these texts are readily available at Barnes and Noble and online sites such as Amazon.
We genuinely hope that the program will provide an enjoyable reading and learning experience for
your daughters.
Sincerely,
Helen Hufford
English Department Chair
SUMMER READING LIST 2016
AP English Literature (Seniors)
Required Reading: Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy, The Stranger – Albert Camus,
The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka, Waiting for Godot – Samuel Becket
Honors Senior English – British Literature
Required Reading: 1984 – George Orwell, Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Choose one of the following selections:
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
Level 2 Senior English – British Literature
Required Reading: 1984 – George Orwell
Choose one of the following selections:
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde
Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Level 1 Senior English – British Literature
Required Reading: Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Choose one of the following selections:
And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
Emma – Jane Austen
Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson
AP Language/American Literature (Juniors)
Required Reading: A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway,
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston,
Speeches (MLK, T. Roosevelt, Reagan, Winthrop) – see packet
Choose one of the following selections:
Bartleby – Herman Melville
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Honors Junior English – American Literature
Required Reading:
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
Choose one of the following selections:
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman – Ernest Gaines
In the Time of Butterflies – Julia Alvarez
My Antonia – Willa Cather
A Separate Peace – John Knowles
Level 2 Junior English – American Literature
Required Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
Choose one of the following selections:
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers
The Natural – Bernard Malamud
The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
Our Town – Thornton Wilder
Level 1 Junior English – American Literature
Required Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
Choose one of the following selections:
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
Honors Sophomore English
Required Reading: Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
Choose one of the following selections:
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
A Separate Peace – John Knowles
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn –Betty Smith
Level 2 Sophomore English
Required Reading: The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
Choose one of the following selections:
All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
Call of the Wild – Jack London
The Moviegoer –Walker Percy
A Room with a View – E.M. Forster
Level 1 Sophomore English
Required Reading: The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
Choose one of the following selections:
The Pearl –John Steinbeck
Our Town –Thornton Wilder
Honors Freshman English
Required Reading: Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
Levels 1 and 2 Freshman English
Required Reading: The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
AP English - Summer Reading
Texts: Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett, The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka,
The Stranger – Albert Camus, and Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Waiting for Godot, The Metamorphosis, and The Stranger are three works written from an
Existentialist point of view. Crucial to our discussion of these works is your understanding of the
Existentialist philosophy and its social and political context.
Before reading the three works, you should research Existentialism, write a broad definition of the
philosophy, and identify the general time period in which it was popular and the social and political
context from which it emerged.
You should also research each of the three authors to understand his motivation for embracing an
Existentialist point of view.
We will begin the first semester with a reading quiz that addresses the Existentialist philosophy and each
of the three works. The reading quiz will be followed by extensive class discussion of the works, and
finally you will write an essay that addresses the three works within the social and political context from
which they were written.
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina is a large novel which addresses the social issues of 19th century Czarist Russia from two
points of view: Anna Karenina and Constantine Levin. Tolstoy juxtaposes the stories of these two
characters to ultimately provide a message on how one should live a worthwhile life.
In preparation for our discussion you should:
 Take careful notes on the plot development, focusing on Tolstoy’s sense of religion/spirituality
and society versus nature
 Make a character list with descriptions of each of the main characters (you may use Spark Notes
or Cliff Notes for this and as long as you have them available to you they do not have to be
written)
 Research Tolstoy to determine the autobiographical elements of the story (an introduction to the
novel should effectively cover this)
 Write a one-page analysis of Levin’s story and another of Anna’s story highlighting their
struggles in their respective stories. Each analysis should be one page double spaced, begin with
a thesis statement and incorporate minimally three quotes from the work)
 Write a one-page analysis of Tolstoy’s view of women in 19th century Russia. Include Anna,
Dolly, and Kitty in your discussion. (Begin with a thesis and incorporate at least three quotes
from the work.)
 Write a one-page analysis of Tolstoy’s message in the story regarding how one should live a
worthwhile life. (Begin with a thesis and incorporate at least three quotes from the work.)
These four written analyses will be due the first day of class.