Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy
Summer Reading
Assignments
2016-2017
“As for literature––to introduce children to literature is to install them in a very rich
and glorious kingdom, to bring a continual holiday to their doors, to lay before them a
feast exquisitely served. But they must learn to know literature by being familiar with it
from the very first. A child’s intercourse must always be with good books, the best that
we can find.” – Charlotte Mason
“Respice, Adspice, Prospice”
Table of Contents
Book Lists Grades K - 9 ........................................................................................................................................................... 2
Grades 2 – 5 Optional Assignment......................................................................................................................................... 6
Grades 6 – 8 Optional Assignment......................................................................................................................................... 7
Grades 9 – 11 Optional Assignments ..................................................................................................................................... 8
2016 NWACA Summer Reading
Each student will be required to read the books listed as Mandatory. Students are encouraged
to read additional books from the Suggested Reading List for the grade they will be entering.
The assignments are encouraged for the purpose of helping students with understanding and
comprehension, but they are not required to turn in for a grade. Students are expected to be
able to discuss the books and complete various assignments the first week of school. These
optional assignments will help with that.
We have such strong hope that you will make reading a part of your family’s summer. It is not just
about keeping up with the skill of decoding, but it is to continue to work with the meanings and
ideas that authors have offered to us and to grow in our ability to articulate our own thoughts and
ideas. Our thinking and writing cannot mature without growth in our language.
Some ideas for students to help with summer reading:
• Have a set time each day for reading
• Choose the topics of highest interest
• Visit the library to explore books of interest
For Parents:
• Have thoughtful questions ready to spur discussions about the book (e.g. "Should the character
have done it?" is one question that works with almost every novel and leads to some good
thought. Other questions might pertain to virtue, vice, and the ideas of characters in the book.)
• Have your child choose an interesting passage to read to the rest of the family.
• Read portions of the book with your child.
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Each student will be required to read the books listed as Mandatory. Students are encouraged
to read additional books from the Suggested Reading List for the grade they will be entering.
Incoming Kindergarten Students
Begin reading the classic nursery rhymes and fairy tales to your child.
Two titles you might look for are A Treasure of More than 300 Classic Nursery Rhymes and Mother
Goose's Nursery Rhymes by Robert Frederick (please do not use the Disney versions).
1st Grade
Books to read with your student:
Aesop’s Fables
Frog and Toad- Arnold Lobel
Winnie the Pooh- A.A Milne
Little Bear- Maurice Sendak
A Picture Book of Thomas Jefferson- David A. Adler
A Children’s Book of Virtues- William H. Bennett
2nd Grade
Mandatory Summer Reading
Magic Tree House: Mummies in the Morning
by Mary Pope Osborne
Suggested Summer Reading
George and Martha Series by James Marshall
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
A Chair for My Mother by Vera B Williams
Roxaboxen by Barabra Cooney
Any Book by Tomie de Paola
3rd Grade
Mandatory Summer Reading
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Suggested Summer Reading
The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
On the Banks of Plum Creek
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
4th Grade
Mandatory Summer Reading
Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit
Suggested Summer Reading
The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame
Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?
by Jean Fritz & Margot Times
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
The Sword in the Tree
by Clyde Robert Bulla & Bruce Bowles
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5th Grade
Mandatory Summer Reading
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Suggested Summer Reading
Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Mr. Lincoln's Drummer by G. Clifton Wistler
6th Grade
Mandatory Summer Reading
Suggested Summer Reading
Archimedes and the Door of Science
by Jeanne Bendick
Augustus Caesar's World by Genevieve Foster
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
7th Grade
Mandatory Summer Reading
Suggested Summer Reading
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
If I Perish by Esther Kim
The Sea-Wolf by Jack London
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore
Cooper
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
8th Grade
Mandatory Summer Reading
Suggested Summer Reading
Abraham Lincoln: From Pioneer to President
by Ethan Blue Phillips
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the
Heroic Campaign to End Slavery
by Eric Metaxas
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Rip Van Winkle & Other Stories (Puffin Classics)
by Washington Irving
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
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9th Grade
Mandatory Summer Reading
Suggested Summer Reading
Incoming 9th graders should read and annotate
the following books (new or used copies). The
optional activities on page 7 will help with
preparation for class assignments in August.
Students should be prepared to discuss these
works the first day of school.
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
 The Odyssey by Homer (Robert Fagles
Translation)
The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Classics)
 Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to
Hellenistic Times by Yale Nota Bene
10th Grade
Mandatory Summer Reading
Incoming 10th graders should read and
annotate the following books (new or used
copies). The optional activities on page 8 will
help with preparation for class assignments in
August. Students should be prepared to
discuss these works the first day of school.
 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight edited by
J.R.R. Tolkien
 How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas
Cahill
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Suggested Summer Reading
Becoming Charlemagne: Europe, Baghdad, and
the Empires of A.D. 800 by Jeff Sypeck
The Concise History of the Crusades by Thomas
Madden (2014 version)
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table
by Roger Lancelyn Green
The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger
Lancelyn Green
The Emperor's Winding Sheet by Jill Paton
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
11th Grade
Mandatory Summer Reading
Incoming 11th graders should read and
annotate the following books (new or used
copies). The optional activities on page 8 will
help with preparation for class assignments in
August. Students should be prepared to
discuss these works the first day of school.
 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
 George Washington, The Founding Father
by Paul Johnson
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Suggested Summer Reading
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore
Cooper
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men by
John Steinbeck
A Farwell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, The Old
Man and the Sea or For Whom the Bell Tolls by
Ernest Hemingway
Summer Reading Optional Assignment
Grades 2 – 5
Sequence Chain
Title: _____________________________________
Author: ___________________________________
Setting
Place:
Characters:
Time:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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Summer Reading Optional Assignment
Grades 6 - 8
Complete the following questions for each of your summer reading books.
1. Identify a time when a character must make a choice. How does the character choose? Is the choice
right or wrong? Explain using evidence from the book.
2. What major events contribute to the main character’s change or development?
3. Does the character make admirable choices? Explain using evidence / examples from the book.
4. Does the character display positive or negative values? Explain using evidence / examples from the
book.
5. From what point of view is the story being told (who is telling the story)?
6. Identify the major theme of the book or the lesson / moral of the story. Then find several quotations
from each book that address each theme. Write the quotes and page numbers down on paper or
highlight and organize them in the books themselves.
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9th Grade Summer Reading
Optional Activities
“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.” – Mortimer Adler
Activities to Complete for Each Book:
1. Read and annotate: You should underline or highlight key information, and make small notes in the margins of
the books. Think about important ideas, words and actions in the story, ask questions, and seek out answers
when you don’t understand something (Write question marks next to things you have questions about).
2. Dialectical Journal—Write ONE 60 word minimum response to each book in The Odyssey and each chapter for
Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times (books are the sections or chapters in The Odyssey). Textual
evidence needs to be on the left side of the page while your response is on the right. Example:
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Text
“But hidden drawers, lockable diaries and
cryptographic systems could not conceal
from Briony the simple truth: she had no
secrets…Nothing in her life was sufficiently
interesting or shameful to merit hiding; no one
knew about the squirrel’s skull beneath her bed,
but no one wanted to know.” (5)
Response
The author is creating a unique character here. He
shows her need for order, her creativity, and the
fact that Briony thinks about her own existence in
a way that makes me feel sympathy for this young
girl and curiosity about her keen intelligence and
sense of purpose in life.
9th Grade – Background for The Odyssey
The Odyssey is an epic poem, told by Homer, about the wanderings of a Greek warrior named Odysseus. He has
survived the long and difficult Trojan War and is journeying home to Ithaca, where he rules with his wife, Penelope.
While he faces many hardships along the way, he faces even more at home when he discovers that many men are
pursuing his wife. At the same time, his son, Telemachus, is also on a journey to discover whether or not his father
survived the war.
Prior to Reading: Gain an understanding of the major Greek gods and goddesses. They play an integral part in the book,
as they involve themselves in the lives of our main characters.
During Reading: Annotate in your books and look for these common themes: intervention of the gods and goddesses,
father/son relationship of Telemachus and Odysseus, and vices and virtues of Odysseus.
First Week of School: During the first week of school, we will study qualities of a Greek epic, Homer and his works, and
the Greek culture/beliefs more in depth. You will turn in your essay or dialectical journal on the first day of school. Be
prepared to discuss your summer reading assignment in discussion groups.
*Note: The introductory pages of The Odyssey are not required readings, but they may be helpful to you in your studies.
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10th Grade Summer Reading
Optional Activities
“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.” – Mortimer Adler
Activities to Complete for Each Book:
1. Read and annotate: You should underline or highlight key information, and make small notes in the margins of
the books. Think about important ideas, words and actions in the story, ask questions, and seek out answers
when you don’t understand something (Write question marks next to things you have questions about).
3. Dialectical Journal—Write ONE 60 word minimum response to each section in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Textual evidence needs to be on the left side of the page while your response is on the right. Example:
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Text
“But hidden drawers, lockable diaries and
cryptographic systems could not conceal
from Briony the simple truth: she had no
secrets…Nothing in her life was sufficiently
interesting or shameful to merit hiding; no one
knew about the squirrel’s skull beneath her bed,
but no one wanted to know.” (5)
Response
The author is creating a unique character here. He
shows her need for order, her creativity, and the
fact that Briony thinks about her own existence in
a way that makes me feel sympathy for this young
girl and curiosity about her keen intelligence and
sense of purpose in life.
2. How the Irish Saved Civilization – students should read and annotate, and be able to answer the following four
questions.
- What is Thomas Cahill’s argument for the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and how does the late
Roman poet Ausonius demonstrate this argument?
- Briefly describe the life and work of Augustine of Hippo. How “Roman” (or not) was Augustine?
- Briefly describe the life and work of Patrick (Patricius). What was Ireland like before, and after the
missionary work of Patrick?
- Describe Irish monasticism. Was Ireland’s contribution to Western Civilization solely one of copying
manuscripts?
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11th Grade Summer Reading
Optional Activities
“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.” – Mortimer Adler
Activities to Complete for Each Book:
1. Read and annotate: You should underline or highlight key information, and make small notes in the margins of
the books. Think about important ideas, words and actions in the story, ask questions, and seek out answers
when you don’t understand something (Write question marks next to things you have questions about).
2. Dialectical Journal—Write ONE 60 word minimum response to each chapter in The Great Gatsby. Textual
evidence needs to be on the left side of the page while your response is on the right. Example:
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Text
“But hidden drawers, lockable diaries and
cryptographic systems could not conceal
from Briony the simple truth: she had no
secrets…Nothing in her life was sufficiently
interesting or shameful to merit hiding; no one
knew about the squirrel’s skull beneath her bed,
but no one wanted to know.” (5)
Response
The author is creating a unique character here. He
shows her need for order, her creativity, and the
fact that Briony thinks about her own existence in
a way that makes me feel sympathy for this young
girl and curiosity about her keen intelligence and
sense of purpose in life.
3. George Washington, The Founding Father by Paul Johnson – students should read and annotate, and be able to
answer the following question.

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Unlike most of the Founding Fathers, George Washington was not noted as a political theorist or
thinker. In your opinion--supported by the text--what were Washington’s key contributions to the
American Founding? Do these contributions still impact America today?