Souderton Area High School Pre-Course Reading List
2015-2016
The purpose of the SAHS summer reading program is to engage students in reading books of strong literary
merit which will be useful to the particular course of study for each year. Students can expect an
assessment on their summer reading early in the semester. This assessment will count as not more than
15% of the first marking period grade. In ninth grade, students will study American Literature; in tenth
grade, students will study British literature. As juniors and seniors, students will select from quarter
courses based on their interests and will also have the option of Advanced Placement courses in language
arts. Alternative book choices must fall within the literature focus of the student’s scheduled course.
Approval must be obtained prior for an alternative book. Please use the Alternative Book Approval Form
found on this link: http://sahs.soudertonsd.org/academics/AlternativeBookApprovalForm.pdf
To request approval for an alternative text, please email the form to Dr. Stacey Aronow, English
Department Coordinator at [email protected].
CT Academic English 9
 Anthem by Ayn Rand
Academic English 9
 Anthem by Ayn Rand
Honors 9 (both required)
 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
 The Help by Kathryn Stockett
CT Academic English 10
 The Time Machine by H.G. Wells or Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
Academic English 10
 And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie or The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
Honors 10 (both required)
 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
 Emma by Jane Austin or The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham
Journalism – Please note your year and position in journalism when choosing which summer reading
book to read.
 1st Year Staff: Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism by Bob Edwards
 2nd Year Staff AND 3rd Year Staff: Heat and Light: Advice for the Next Generation of
Journalists by Mike Wallace and Beth Knobel
 1st Year Editors: The New New Journalism: Conversations with America’s Best Nonfiction
Writers on their Craft by Robert S. Boynton
 2nd Year AND 3rd Year Editors: Page One: Inside The New York Times and the Future of
Journalism edited by David Folkenflik
Honors English 11/12 (both required)
 The Odyssey by Homer
 Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Quarter Courses English 11 & 12
Sociology and Psychology in Literature: Marching for Freedom by Elizabeth Partridge
Pandora’s Legacy: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Mythological Men and Women: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
War Stories—Perception or Reality?: Hiroshima by John Hersey
Great Books—Universal Ideas: Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Money, Power, and Social Justice: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Women’s Literature: A Place Where the Sea Remembers by Sandra Benitez
CT Academic English 11
 Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini or The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
CT Academic English 12
 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens