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2015 Summer Reading Reading is not only enjoyable, it is essential to keep your brain healthy and thriving over the summer. All students should read the book(s) assigned for their grade level, AND choose one of the faculty picks for the school­wide book chat, which will happen the second Friday after school starts. Mandatory Reading by Grade Levels: 6th: Wonder​
by: R.J. Palacio (English, fiction) Through My Eyes​
by: Ruby Bridges and Margo Lundell (English, non­fiction) 7th:
The Raft​
by: Stephanie Bodeen (English, fiction) Discovering Wes Moore​
by: Wes Moore (English, non­fiction) 8th: Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem​
by: Rosalyn Schanzer (Social Studies) Crossing the Wire​
by Will Hobbs (English­ Fiction) OR Dr. Franklin’s Island​
by: Anne Halam ( English­ Fiction) If your child is considering Honors courses in the future, I suggest reading both novels. th​
9​
: Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, and Science​
by: Marc Aronson (non­fiction) War Between the Classes​
by Gloria D. Miklowitz (English 9 all students) Coming of Age in Mississippi​
by Anne Moody (English 9 Honors) th​
10​
: The Education of Little Tree​
by: Forrest Carter (English 10 all students) Frankenstein​
by Mary Shelley (English 10 Honors) Americanah ​
by ​
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Optional swap read for all English 10) A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier​
by Ishmael Beah (World History students) King Leopold’s Ghost​
by Adam Hochschild (Honors World History) th​
11​
: To Kill a Mockingbird (English 11 all students) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings​
by: Maya Angelou (English 11 Honors) Killer Angels​
by: Michael Shaara ( US History students) Confederates in the Attic​
by: Tony Horwitz (US History Honors) th​
12​
: Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity​
by Katherine Boo (English 12 all students) A Brave New World​
by Aldous Huxley (English 12 Honors) Americanah ​
by ​
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Optional swap read for all English 12) Hardball​
by: Chris Matthews (AP Gov) Unwind​
by Neal Shusterman (Government students) Faculty Picks for Book Chat – You MUST choose one! FACULTY MEMBER TITLE, AUTHOR, & GRADE RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY Rich Walsh The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August By: Claire North Grades 8­12 Sci Fi Historical Fiction SOME STORIES CANNOT BE TOLD IN JUST ONE LIFETIME. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow. Christopher Dunlap Shelter by Harlan Coben Gades 7­12 Mickey Bolitar's year can't get much worse. After witnessing his father's death and sending his mom to rehab, he's forced to live with his estranged uncle Myron and switch high schools. Fortunately, he's met a great girl, Ashley, and it seems like things might finally be improving. But then Ashley vanishes. Mickey follows Ashley's trail into a seedy underworld that reveals that Ashley isn't who she claimed to be. And neither was Mickey's father. Soon Mickey learns about a conspiracy so shocking that it leaves him questioning everything about the life he thought he knew. Mary Burks The Crossover by: Kwame Alexander Grades 6­8 "With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I’m delivering,​
" announces dread­locked, 12­year old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood from Kwame Alexander Dr. Laurie Bottiger The Glass Sentence by: S.E. Grove grades 6­9 Boston, 1891. Sophia Tims comes from a family of explorers and cartologers who, for generations, have been traveling and mapping the New World—a world changed by the Great Disruption of 1799, when all the continents were flung into different time periods. Eight years ago, her parents left her with her uncle Shadrack, the foremost cartologer in Boston, and went on an urgent mission. They never returned. Life with her brilliant, absent­minded, adored uncle has taught Sophia to take care of herself. Then Shadrack is kidnapped. And Sophia, who has rarely been outside of Boston, is the only one who can search for him. Together with Theo, a refugee from the West, she travels over rough terrain and uncharted ocean, encounters pirates and traders, and relies on a combination of Shadrack’s maps, common sense, and her own slantwise powers of observation. But even as Sophia and Theo try to save Shadrack’s life, they are in danger of losing their own. The Glass Sentence​
plunges readers into a time and place they will not want to leave, and introduces them to a heroine and hero they will take to their hearts. Mike Jones Black Radishes by Susan Meyer Grades 7­9 Historical Fiction Gustave doesn't want to move from the exciting city to the boring countryside, far from his cousin Jean­Paul and his best friend, the mischievous Marcel. But he has no choice. It is March of 1940, and Paris is not a safe place for Jews. When Paris is captured by the Nazis, Gustave knows that Marcel, Jean­Paul, and their families must make it out of the occupied zone. And when he learns that his new friend Nicole works for the French Resistance, he comes up with a plan that just might work. But going into Occupied France is a risky thing to do when you are Jewish. And coming back alive? ​
That​
is nearly impossible Liz Kinsella The Geography of You and Me by: Jennifer Smith Fiction grades 6­8 In a high rise in New York City, Lucy lives on the 24th floor and Owen lives in the basement. A blackout in the city brings them together, but geography changes when Lucy moves abroad and Owen moves out West. Mary Willen An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir Fantasy/Science Fiction ­ Grades 9­12 This novel is set in a rich, high­fantasy world with echoes of ancient Rome, and tells the story of a slave fighting for her family and a young soldier fighting for his freedom. Laia is a slave.Elias is a soldier.Neither is free. Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear. It is in this brutal world that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire's impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ ve seen what happens to those who do. But when Laia's brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire's greatest military academy. There, Laia meets Elias, the school's finest soldier and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he's being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself. (From New York Times) Beth Jones The Secret Life of Bees by: Sue Monk Kidd Grades 9­12. Fiction When Lily’s fierce­hearted black “stand­in mother,” Rosaleen, insults three of the town’s most vicious racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina—a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love—a story that women will continue to share and pass on to their daughters for years to come. Jim Willen The Girl With All the Gifts. By: M.R. Carey Grades 9­12. Science Fiction. Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius". Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her............. Jill Hale The Night Circus by: Erin Morgenstern Grades 9­12 The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black­and­white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called ​
Le Cirque des Rêves​
, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance. Brenda Kimball The Night Gardner by Jonathan Auxier Grades 6­8 A Victorian ghost story with shades of Washington Irving and Henry James. More than just a spooky tale, it’s also a moral fable about human greed and the power of storytelling. The Night Gardener​
follows two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its family are not quite what they seem. Soon the children are confronted by a mysterious spectre and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives. With Auxier’s exquisite command of language, ​
The Night Gardener​
is a mesmerizing read and a classic in the making. Barbie Barry Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Madness by ​
Edgar Allan Poe​
and Gris Grimly Grades: 8­12 A sweet little cat drives a man to insanity and murder.... The grim death known as the plague roams a masquerade ball dressed in red.... A dwarf seeks his final revenge on his captors.... A sister calls to her beloved twin from beyond the grave.... Prepare yourself. You are about to enter a world where you will be shocked, terrified, and, though you'll be too scared to admit it at first, secretly thrilled. Here are four tales ­­ ​
The Black Cat, The Masque of the Red Death, Hop­Frog,​
and ​
The Fall of the House of Usher​
­­ by the master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. The original tales have been ever so slightly dismembered ­­ but, of course, Poe understood dismemberment very well. And he would shriek in ghoulish delight at Gris Grimly's gruesomely delectable illustrations that adorn every page. So prepare yourself. And keep the lights on Molly Murrill The Statistical Probability Who would have guessed that four minutes could of Love at First Sight by change everything? Jennifer E. Smith http://www.amazon.com/
Statistical­Probability­Lo
ve­First­Sight/dp/031612
2394 Grades 8­12 Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen­year­old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon­to­be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row. A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more? Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty­four­hour­period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.