High School English/Language Arts Summer Reading 2016
Parents and students,
In grades 9-12, SMPCS students will be assigned independent, self-selected reading outside of English
class. Summer is a great time to get a head start on outside reading. Your teacher and/or school may
even offer incentives or special recognition for the reading you complete over the summer, so don’t
miss the opportunity to start the 2016-2017 school year off right! Refer to your school’s website to find
more information about summer reading incentives.
The lists on the following pages contain titles for consideration when choosing self-selected reading; the
titles are aligned to the content of our instructional units.* The suggested titles were selected based on
their literary merit and/or interest level from a variety of sources, including: the SMCPS approved novel
and trade book list, the CCSS suggested reading/Gates Foundation instructional units, the American
Library Association, and Good Reads. The titles that are not on the SMCPS approved for instruction list
may contain mature content, so be sure to review your child’s selections to help him/her make the best
choice.
TIPS FOR SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD WITH SUMMER READING
#1: Let your child choose his/her own books and abandon them when they are just not working.
 Interest in reading material enhances comprehension; therefore, students with high interest in a
topic will be more engaged and committed to reading, even if the reading level is challenging.
 Conversely, students with little interest in a topic may demonstrate low comprehension of material
that should be at an independent reading level for them.
#2: Preview the books that interest you by reading reviews on websites such as Amazon or Good
Reads and make your selections accordingly.
#3: Help your child set goals and read with him/her or form reading discussion groups with peers.
 Students who get together with friends and discuss a book are more likely to be excited about
reading. Book clubs can be rather informal and allow students to carry on a conversation about
anything related to the book they are reading.
 Ask your child nonthreatening questions about the reading by initially posing general questions that
do not create tension or feelings of resistance: “Can you give me one or two items from the chapter
that seem important?" "What section of the reading do you have questions about?" "What item in
the reading surprised you?" "What topics in the chapter can you apply to your own experience?"
 Reading motivation is linked to setting goals and working toward those goals in an active, sustained
manner, so help your child set and monitor his/her reading goals. Check in often throughout the
summer.
And don’t miss the summer reading program at the public library, which starts June 13. You can find
more information at www.stmalib.org.
Works Cited
Reed, Deborah. (2005). “Motivating Students to Read/Issue and Practices.” SEDL Letter, XVII, Number 1.
*Students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses have separate reading lists. Please refer to the
SMCPS website or the flyer your child received at the end of the yea
KEY:
(+) ON SMCPS APPROVED NOVEL LIST
(*) HIGHER INTEREST, MORE ACCESSIBLE TEXTS
High School English/Language Arts Summer Reading 2016
Grade 11
UNIT 1
UNIT 3
And Still We Rise by Miles Corwin+
The Piano Lesson by August Wilson+
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer*
Native Son by Richard Wright
Breaking Night by Liz Murray*
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser+
The Color of Water by James McBride*
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kessey+
Dreams from my Father by Barak Obama*
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls*+
The Crazy Ladies of Pearl Street by Trevanian
A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton+
America by E.R. Frank
My Antonia by Willa Cather+
Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway+
Timeline by Michael Crichton
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy+
The Compound by S.A. Bodeen
Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger+
Postcards from No Man’s Land by Aiden Chambers
And Still We Rise by Miles Corwin+
A Painted House by John Grisham
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly+
Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
The American Dream and Zoo Story by Edward Albee
The Oxford Project by Stephen G. Bloom
America’s Dream by Esmeralda Santiago
Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof
Dreams of Significant Girls by Christina Garcia
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Fab Five: Basketball, Trash Talk, and the American
John Adams by David McCullough
Dream by Mitch Albom
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith+
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser+
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
UNIT 2
Cold Mountain by Charles Frasier+
A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving+
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers+
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines+
The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man by James
Weldon Johnson+
Swallowing Stones by Joyce McDonald+
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien+*
A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi*
Revenge of the Whale by Neil Philbrick*
The Good Thief by H. Tinti*
Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun by G Canada*
Song Yet Sung by James McBride*
The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of
Slavery and Freedom by Marcus Rediker
Freedom: A Novel by Jonathan Franzen
Paper Towns by John Green
Dune by Frank Herbert
It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
I am the Messenger by Mark Zusak
Feed by M.T. Anderson
KEY:
(+) ON SMCPS APPROVED NOVEL LIST
UNIT 4
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Outliers by Malcom Gladwell+
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday+
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy+
A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving+
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X+
Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin+
Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley+
Having Our Say by the Delaney Sisters+
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair+
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser+
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser+
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw+
If I Stay by G. Forman*
Left Hand of Darkness by U. LeGuin*
The Road by C. McCarthy*
I am Legend by R. Matheson*
Wicked by G. Macguire*
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by S. Clarke
(*) HIGHER INTEREST, MORE ACCESSIBLE TEXTS