High School Summer Reading

10th Grade American Literature
11th Grade World Literature
12th Grade British Literature

While all high school students are encouraged to continue to read throughout the summer, the Summer Reading requirements (formally SOAR) are for students enrolled in Honors and Advanced Placement (AP®) courses. However, any student who would like to participate in summer reading and receive credit for next year can choose 2 books from their school’s reading list and complete a project for each book. A variety of project ideas can be found on the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) Read-Write-Think website under “Literacy Activities”:

All projects will be due to the student’s Literature teacher during the first week of school.

**Honors and AP® students need to follow the assignments, projects,and due dates outlined in the letter and contract for their particular school.**

SUMMER REQUIRED READINGS BY SCHOOL & GRADE

Alexander High School
10th / Book 1: Choose one (1) from these two choices and participate in the MOODLE discussion. The directions are posted in MOODLE.
  1. Shakespeare: The World as Stage (Bill Bryson)
  2. Three Cups of Tea One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School as a Time (G. Mortensen & D.O. Relin)
Book 2: Choose one (1) from these two choices and complete a “5 of 5” form on the book. You can download and submit the form in MOODLE.
  1. Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
  2. Gates of Fire: AN Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylaeby Steven Pressfield

11th / Book 1: Everyone must read -Thank You for Arguing (J. Heinrichs)
Annotate the text as you read. You must answer the four questions posted on MOODLE and respond to at least two posts by other students.
Book 2: Sign up for a book group on MOODLE and complete the assignments.
You may choose from:
  1. The Things they Carried(T. Obrien)
  2. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (S. King) (WARNING STRONG LANGUAGE)
  3. Autobiography of a Face (L. Grealy)
Book 3:Kaplan AP English language and Composition 2011; ISBN-10: 1607145278
Assignments:
  • Read pages 9-20 to familiarize yourself with the AP Language/Composition Test.
  • Take the Diagnostic test on Page 35. The answers and explanation are listed after the test. DO NOT LOOK at the answers before you try the test. Time yourself and check your answers when you have completed the test. Email your time and score to . If you get 50% of the questions correct you should be able to increase that score by 10-20% before the AP Test in May.
  • Read all of Chapter 3 and make flashcards for the terms. You will have a test over these terms before the first progress report is issued.

12th / Book 1: Everyone must read -How to Read Literature Like a Professor (T. Foster)
Annotate the text as you read. You must answer the questions posted on MOODLE and respond to at least two posts by other students.
Book 2: Sign up for a book group on MOODLE and complete the assignments.
You may choose from:
  1. The Awakening(K. Chopin)
  2. The Bell Jar (S. Plath)
  3. As I Lay Dying (W. Faulkner)
Book 3: Kaplan AP English language and Composition 2011; ISBN-10: 1607145278
Assignments:
  • Skim chapter 1 to familiarize yourself with the AP Literature/Composition exam.
  • Take the Diagnostic test found in Part Two. The answers and explanations are listed after the test. DO NOT LOOK at the answers before you try the test. Time yourself and check your answers when you have completed the test. Submit your Free Response Essay and Multiple Choice score on MOODLE by July 31, 2011.
  • Read all of Chapter 3 and make flashcards for the terms. You will have a test over these terms before the first progress report is issued.

Chapel Hill High School
Choose 2 from the grade level list
10th / Cat’s Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)
Ella Minnow (Mark Dunn)
Alas Babylon (Pat Frank)
The Lords of Discipline (Pat Conroy)
The Darkest Child (Delores Phillips)
11th / HONORS:
Bringing Down the House (Ben Mezrich)
In the Time of Butterflies (Julia Alvarez)
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)
The Things They Carried (Tim O’Brien) / AP® LITERATURE:
Assignments given by Teacher – Mrs. St. John
12th / HONORS:
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson)
The Importance of Being Ernest (Oscar Wilde)
1984 (George Orwell) / AP® LITERATURE:
Assignments given by Teacher – Mrs. Monroe
Douglas County High School
* International Baccalaureate (IB) students:
Rising Sophomores
  1. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
  2. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Rising Juniors
  1. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster
  2. Choose1:
  • Kite Runner (K. Hosseini)
  • A Prayer for Owen Meany (J. Irving)
  • Thirteen Moons (C. Frazier)
  • Angela’s Ashes (F. McCourt)
Rising Seniors
  1. Bleak House (C. Dickens)
  2. A Selection of Essays(G.K. Chesteron)

10th / HONORS:/AP Literature and Composition
  1. Cry, The Beloved Country(Paton)
  2. How to Read Literature Like a Professor (T. Foster)

11th / HONORS:/AP Literature and Composition
  1. Cry, The Beloved Country(Paton)
  2. How to Read Literature Like a Professor (T. Foster)
/ AP® LANGUAGE and Composition:
  1. Seabiscuit (Hillenbrand)
  2. Into Thin Air (Krakauer)

12th / HONORS:/AP Literature and Composition
  1. Run with the Horsemen (Sams)
  2. Pillars of the Earth(Follett)
Optional:
  1. The Whisper of the River (Sams)
  2. World without End(Follett)
  3. Sequels to books 1 & 2

Lithia Springs High School
10th /
  1. The Great Gatsby (F. S. Fitzgerald)
  2. Cold Sassy Tree (O. A. Burns)

11th / HONORS:
  1. The Kite Runner (K. Hosseini)
  2. Things Fall Apart (C. Achebe)
/ AP® LANGUAGE:
  1. Nickel and Dimed (B. Ehrenreich)
  2. In Cold Blood (T. Capote)

12th / HONORS & AP® LITERATURE:
  1. The Poisonwood Bible (B.Kingsolver)
  2. A Prayer for Owen Meany (J. Irving)

New Manchester High School
10th / HONORS:
Fiction (choose one)
  1. The Life of Pi (Y. Martell)
  2. In the Time of the Butterflies (J. Alvarez)
/ Non-fiction (choose one)
  1. Mythology (E. Hamilton)
  2. Three Cups of Tea (G. Mortenson)

11th / HONORS:
Fiction (choose one)
  1. The Kiterunner (K. Hosseini)
  2. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (A. Solzhenitsyn)
/ Non-fiction (choose one)
  1. Mythology (E. Hamilton)
  2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (S. Alexie)

12th / AP® LITERATURE
  1. How to Read Literature Like a Professor(Thomas Foster)
  2. A collection of poetry chosen by the student:
  • Choose one of the following poets: Billy Collins, Amiri Baraka, Mary Oliver, or Nikki Giovanni
  • Choose 10 different poems from that one poet ( the Internet is a good place to find them).
  • Using TPCAST (see page 2) analyze each of the 10 poems.