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Last updated 06/03/2008

 

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English Department Summer Reading Lists

 

9th Grade English

9th Grade Pre-AP English

10th Grade World Literature

10th Grade Pre-AP English

AP English III

Senior English

AP English IV

 


9th Grade English Summer Reading Lists

 All incoming freshmen should continue to read throughout the summer.  (Think of it like the marathon.  If you don’t train, you will have trouble reaching the finish line next year.)  Please read at least one novel from the list below.  It is suggested you read an online summary of the novel if you aren’t sure which one to choose.  Please do not read the same book you have already read in the past or assume that if you read one before, you don’t need to read this summer.  Please choose wisely in finding something that you enjoy, but that is not too easy.  These novels vary greatly in length and difficulty.

 

            The Wonderful Wizard of Oz               L. Frank Baum
            Rain of Gold                                        Victor E. Villasenor
            Monster                                               Walter Dean Meyers
            A Lesson Before Dying                       Ernest J. Gaines
            Joy Luck Club                                     Amy Tan
           Yellow Raft in Blue Water                    Michael Dorris
            Like Water for Chocolate                    Laura Esquivel
            Chronicles of Narnia (the entire series)          
C.S. Lewis
            The Hobbit                                           J.R.R. Tolkien
            Child Called It                                     David Pelzer
            Count of Monte Cristo                         Alexandre Dumas

 


9th Grade Pre-AP Summer Reading Lists

It is expected that you read at least 3 novels this summer.  (Think of it like the marathon.  If you don’t train, you will have trouble reaching the finish line next year.) You will need to make sure each novel is on a different list from those below.  It is suggested you read an online summary of the novel if you aren’t sure which one to choose.  Please do not read the same book you have already read in the past or assume that if you read some of these before, you don’t need to read this summer. 

   

Children’s Classics Everyone Should Read

Little Women                                                        Louisa May Alcott
Peter Pan
                                                             J.M. Barrie
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
                               L. Frank Baum
The Secret Garden             
                                Frances Hodgson Burnett
Alice in Wonderland
                                             Lewis Carroll
Chronicles of Narnia
                                            C.S. Lewis
A Wrinkle in Time
                                                Madeleine L'Engle
The Incredible Journey     
                                  Sheila Burnford
Oliver Twist
                                                          Charles Dickens
Harry Potter series             
                                J.K Rowling
Treasure Island
                                                    Robert Louis Stevenson
Arabian Nights
                                                      Antoine Galland
The Princess Bride
                                               William Goldman
Swiss Family Robinson        
                               Johann David Wyss
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
                            Jules Verne
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
                          Douglas Adams
Count of Monte Cristo
                                           Alexandre Dumas
Something Wicked This Way Comes
                  Ray Bradbury

Le Morte D'Arthur                                                 
Thomas Malory

  

Multicultural Literature

Joy Luck Club                                                      Amy Tan
Red Azalea
                                                          Anchee Min
I Know Why the Caged Bird Si
ngs                      Maya Angelou
Yellow Raft in Blue Water
                                    Michael Dorris
Like Water for Chocolate
                                    Laura Esquivel
Color Purple
                                                        Alice Walker
Rain of Gold
                                                        Victor E. Villasenor
Life of Pi
                                                               Yann Martel
Kite Runner
                                                         Khaled Hosseini
Their Eyes Were Watching God
                        Zora Neale Hurston

 

Classic Canon (Books you should read before heading off to college)

Red Badge of Courage                                       Stephen Crane
Wuthering Heights                                             
Emily Bronte
Gone with the Wind                                           
Margaret Mitchell
Catch 22                                                            
Joseph Heller
Invisible Man                                                     
Ralph Ellison
Catcher in the Rye                                            
J.D. Salinger
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer                       
Mark Twain
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest                   
Ken Kesey

  

Student Recommended (9th grade students 2007-2008)

The Lovely Bones                                              Alice Sebold
Speak                                                                 Laurie Halse Anderson
Always Running                                                 
Luis Rodriguez
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
           Piers Paul Read
Watchers                                                           
Dean R. Koontz
Twilight                                                                
Stephen Meyer
Child Called It                                                    
David Pelzer
The Golden Compass                                       
Philip Pullman
Rainbow High                                                    
Alex Sanchez
Friday Night Lights                                            
H.G. Bissinger
Perks of Being a Wallflower                             
 Stephen Chbosky
Among the Hidden                                            
Margaret Peterson Haddix
Jurassic Park                                                    
Michael Crichton
Face on the Milk Carton                                   
Caroline B. Cooney
Into Thin Air                                                        
John Krakauer
The Notebook                                                     
Nicholas Sparks     
                             

 


10th Grade World Literature Novels

 This summer, explore the World though literature without leaving your home in Round Rock!!

 Choose one novel to read over the summer

Classic

Cry the Beloved Country      Alan Paton             (South Africa)
The Stranger
                         Albert Camus
         (Algeria/France)
Things Fall Apart
                   Chinua Achebe
      (Nigeria)
The Metamorphosis             
Franz Kafka
            (Germany)
The Iliad
                                 Homer                      (Ancient Greece)
The Good Earth
                    Pearl Buck              (China)
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights
            (Ancient Arabia)

  

Modern

The Kite Runner                             Khaled Hosseini              (Afghanistan)
A Thousand Splendid Suns          Khaled Hosseini              (Afghanistan)
Monkey Bridge                       
       Lan Cao
                             (Vietnam)
Homeless Bird
                               Gloria Whelan                    (India)
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
      Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  (Colombia)
Kaffir Boy                                      
Mark Mathabane
              (South Africa)
Schindler’s List                             
Thomas Keneally
            (Germany)


10th Grade Pre-AP Summer Reading Lists

Each student must read one of the following three books listed below as the summer reading requirement.

                   Mythology by Edith Hamilton

                   Once and Future King by T.H. White      

                   Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

 When reading, keep in mind the following:  theme, conflict, point of view, and characterization. 

Also you must read How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. 

This material will be assessed the first week of school.

 


AP English III – English Language and Composition

Students preparing to enter Advanced Placement English Language and Composition (AP English III) should read one of the following pairs of books in preprarion for the beginning of the semester:

1.  Grapes of Wrath with Nickel and Dimed

2.  The Jungle with Fast Food Nation

3.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Into the Wild

This reading will be used during the beginning of the semester as the basis for a written response.

 


Senior English

Please choose at least two books from the following:

 

1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel:  How would you like to spend 227 days in a small boat with a tiger?  Read to find out what happens.

 

2. Things Fall Apart by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe:  What would it be like to be in a society where a foreign government controlled your life?

 

3. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini:   Read to find out what it is like to be a woman living in modern Afghanistan with a husband you hate.

 

4. A Long Way Gone; Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah:

What does war look like through the eyes of a child soldier?  How does one become a killer?  How does one stop?  Read to find out the answers to these questions.

 


 

AP English IV – English Literature

It is strongly recommended that students entering Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition have read, at some time before they begin the course:  

     Mythology, by Edith Hamilton:
          Part One: Gods, Creation, Earliest Heroes
          Part Three: Great Heroes
          Part Four: Great Heroes
          Part Five: Great Families
          The Genealogical Tables



     From The Bible - King James Version

          Genesis              Matthew          Psalms

          Mark                    Luke                John      

    Stories of Old Testament Heroes from the Bible or another source.



     The legend of King Arthur and his knights, from

          The Once and Future King and The Book of Merlyn, by  T.H.       White.    

          or

          The Hollow Hills, The Crystal Cave, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day, by Mary Stewart.

          or

          King Arthur and His Knights, by John Steinbeck.

          or from another source, with prior approval.

     

     The Chronicles of Narnia or the Perelandra trilogy, by C. S.

          Lewis.

 

     Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare.

 

     The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

 

     Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain.

 

     The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

 

     Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck.

 

You may have noted that many of these works are part of the school's English courses. These works form part of the foundation of our literary tradition or are used as examples or as a basis for discussion of other works. It is therefore important that students be familiar with them at the beginning of the senior year.