ScottHigh School
A School of Excellence
3400 Old Taylor Mill Road
TaylorMill, Kentucky 41016
Dear Students and Parents:
This summer, each student at ScottHigh School has a reading assignment. Literacy is a key component in being successful in high school, and our Summer Reading Program is designed to help students maintain—and even sharpen—the skills they already possess.
This summer’s assignment allows students to choose high-quality books that appeal to their interests. In addition to reading the book, students must prepare a presentation about the book. (Advanced students have additional assignments, too.)Presentations will be given the first week of English class; all other advanced-class assignments are due on the first day of school.
The presentation assignment, rubric and list of acceptable booksare available on the school’s web site and in the school office. For Advanced, Honors and Advanced Placement students, the required texts are:
Incoming Freshman Advanced English: Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, plus a presentation on a book from the A.P. list
Incoming Sophomore Advanced English: To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, plus a presentation on a book from the A.P. list
Incoming Junior Honors English: The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck; Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller; plus a presentation on a book from the A.P. list
Incoming Senior Honors English: Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley,Lord of the Flies, by William Golding;and a presentation on a book from the A.P. list
Incoming A.P. English Literature: Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; and The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini; and a presentation on a book from the A.P. list.
Incoming A.P. English Language:The Elements of Style, by Strunk & White, and a presentation on a book from the A.P. list.
Students searching for a book should read the plot synopses and reviews posted at amazon.com. All of these books may be borrowed at local libraries or purchased at local bookstores. Many can be found at stores specializing in used books, such as The Book Rack and Half-Price Books in Florence, and the used book service on amazon.com. Some students may benefit from using unabridged editions of the books on tape or CD.
We encourage all students to make time in their summer for these assignments. Students who fail to complete the work will earn a 0—which is not the best way to begin a new school year. If you have questions regarding the assignments, please email me at ; I’ll respond as quickly as possible.
Happy reading!
Tom Clark
Chair, English Department
Scott High School 2010 Summer Reading Project
Directions
Choose a 200+ page book from either the “Summer Reading Book List” or the “Book List for Advanced/Honors/A.P. Students” (posted at This should be a book that you will be able to physically produce on the day of your presentation (regardless of the trimester).
- Note: This should be a book that you have not read before. (We are English teachers. We pretty much know what your past teachers have assigned.)
Read the book! As you read, use sticky notes, index cards, or paper inserts in order to mark significant passages/quotes in your chosen book that you find particularly interesting or important. On your insert, write a brief explanation (1-2 sentences) of the chosen important passages. (Why did you choose this passage? How do you know it is important?)You must have one annotation/insert per chapter! Be able to defend your choice!
- Those of you who choose books without chapters must make an annotation every ten pages, for a total of at least twenty annotations.
When you are finished with your chosen book and your annotations, design a 2-3 minute presentation for your class in which you inform your peers regarding whether or not they should purchase the book based on your own evaluation. (Consider the strengths and weaknesses of the book.) If you liked the book, “sell” it to the class. If not, use your presentation to convince students to avoid the book – still, of course, thoroughly covering the characterization and the themes. Get Creative! Consider: a video, a PowerPoint presentation, a poster, a website, a speech, or anything else that is appropriate for the rubric. Your presentation requirements are specified on the attached rubric – which you must read thoroughly before you even choose your book. (You must provide a printout or copy of your presentation.)
- Use your strengths! (Are you a photographer? A musician? An actor? A poet?)
Know and understand that this assignment will be worth 10% of your course grade in your first trimester English class. You must take it seriously.
Due Date: 2nd day of your Part A English course.
You must also download the Presentation Rubric, which must be presented to your teacher with your project.
Definitions
Theme – author’s lesson/moral/message shared with the reader through the novel
Ex: Spiderman II – “There’s a hero in all of us who helps us to be noble, even if we have to give up the thing we want the most.”
Characterization – author’s portrayal of the character, particularly the character’s personality, through the author’s narration, the character’s actions, and the character’s words
Ex: Napoleon Dynamite – The movie opens with Napoleon, dressed in tapered jeans, moon boots, an early 90’s t-shirt, toting a Trapper-Keeper, getting on the bus and throwing an action figure on a string out the window. This gives viewers clues to Napoleon’s idiosyncrasies and general attitude toward life.
Scott High School Summer Reading Book List
These pages list the books that students entering English 1, 2, 3 or 4 may read for their Summer Reading Assignment. The lists are drawn from two sources: Entertainment Weekly’s “New Classics” list, collecting the “best reads” from 1983 to 2008, and the Young Adult Library Services Association’s annual Alex Awards, honoring the best adult books of interest to teens. (You can find more information on the Alex Awards, and a synopsis of each book, at
A note of caution: Some of these books deal with topics and situations that some parents may feel are inappropriate for their teenagers. We encourage students and parents to select books together to find the most appropriate reading material for each student. Synopses and reviews for each of these books can be found on amazon.com and many other sites on the Internet; librarians and bookstore employees are also great sources of guidance.
Entertainment Weekly “New Classics”
The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
Money, Martin Amis (1985)
Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
America (the Book), Jon Stewart/The Daily Show (2004)
Alex Awards (2000-2010)
10th Grade, Joseph Weisberg
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch, Matthew Polly
An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Missisippi, 1962, William Doyle
As Simple As Snow, Gregory Galloway
Bad Monkeys, Matt Ruff
Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child, Elva Trevino Hart
Black Swan Green, David Mitchell
Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self, Rebecca Walker
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, Michael Lewis
The Bride’s Farewell, Med Rosoff
The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly ofAmerica, Steve Almond
Chang and Eng, Darin Strauss
City of Thieves, David Benioff
Color of the Sea, John Hamamura
Counting Coup: A True Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little Big Horn, Larry Colton
CrowLake, Mary Lawson
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon
Daughter of the Forest, Juliet Marillier
Diamond Dogs, Alan Watt
The Dive from Clausen’s Pier, Ann Packer
Donorboy, Brendan Halpin
The Dragons of Babel, Michael Swanwick
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, Z.Z. Packer
Eagle Blue: A Team, A Tribe, and a High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska, Michael D’Orso
Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year, Esmé Raji Codell
Ender’s Shadow, Orson Scott Card
Everything Matters!, Ron Currie, Jr.
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
The Fall of Rome, Martha Southgate
Finding Nouf, Zoë Ferraris
Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley and Ron Powers
The Floor of the Sky, Pamela Carter Joern
Gabriel’s Story, David Anthony Durham
Genghis: Birth of an Empire, Conn Iggulden
Gil’s All Fright Diner, A. Lee Martinez
The Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
The GlassCastle: A Memoir, Jeannette Walls
The God of Animals, Aryn Kyle
The Good Soldiers, David Finkel
The Good Thief, Hannah Tinti
High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places, David Breashears
The HungryOcean: A Swordboat Captain’s Journey, Linda Greenlaw
Imani All Mine, Connie Porter
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, Nathaniel Philbrick
Jesus Land: A Memoir, Julia Scheeres
Just After Sunset: Stories, Stephen King
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Kit’s Law, Donna Morrissey
Leave Myself Behind, Bart Yates
The Magicians, Lev Grossman
Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear
The Man Who Ate the 747, Ben Sherwood
Midnight at the Dragon Café, Judy Fong Bates
Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones
Motherland, Vineeta Vijayaraghavan
Mudbound, Hillary Jordan
My Abandonment, Peter Rock
My Jim, Nancy Rawles
My Losing Season, Pat Conroy
My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult
The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss
The Necessary Beggar, Susan Palwick
Never Le Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in Boom-Time America, Barbara Ehrenreich
The Night Birds, Thomas Maltman
One Hundred Demons, Lynda Barry
Over and Under, Todd Tucker
The Oxford Project, Stephen G. Bloom
Peace like a River, Leif Enger
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Plainsong, Kent Haruf
Project X, Jim Shepard
Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants, Robert Sullivan
The Reappearance of Sam Webber, Jonathon Scott Fuqua
River, Cross My Heart, Breena Clarke
The Rover, Mel Odom
The Sand-Reckoner, Gillian Bradshaw
Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril, Timothy Ferris
Shadow Divers, Robert Kurson
Sharp Teeth, Toby Barlow
Soldier: A Poet’s Childhood, June Jordan
Soulless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel, Gail Carriger
The Spellman Files, Lisa Lutz
Stardust, Neil Gaiman
Stiff, Mary Roach
Stitches: A Memoir, David Small
Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer, Lynn Cox
Tales from the Farm: EssexCounty, Jeff Lemire
The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa’s Wildlife, Kobie Kruger
The Whistling Season, Ivan Doig
The World Made Straight, Ron Rash
The Year of Ice, Brian Malloy
Thinner Than Thou, Kit Reed
Three Girls and Their Brother, Theresa Rebeck
True Notebooks, Mark Salzman
Truth & Beauty: A Friendship, Ann Patchett
Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, Kevin Wilson
Upstate, Kalisha Buckhanon
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
When the Emperor War Divine, Julie Otsuka
Wonder When You’ll Miss Me, Amanda Davis
Work of Wolves, Kent Meyers
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, Geraldine Broo
Summer Reading Presentation
Rubric****(No Rubric: -5) Rubric must be brought to class on presentation day
Category / 15 / 10 / 5 / 0Themes / Student discusses at least two themes and shows how these themes are represented in the novel, with full explanations of examples from the reading. / Student discusses two themes from the novel and shows how they are represented in the novel. There was good explnation of how these themes are presented in the novel, but more explanation or clarification would have been helpful. / Student discusses one to two themes from the novel, but examples and explanations are unclear or shaky. Student does not demonstrate that they understand the reading. / Student does not discuss a theme of the book.
Characterization / Student thoroughly discusses author’s portrayal of at least two characters, particularly the characters' personality, through the author’s narration, the character’s actions, and the character’s words. / Student discusses the characterization of two characters in the novel, but does not do so thoroughly, leaving questions about the characerization of one or both of the characters. / Student discusses one or two characters in the novel, but the discussion is shaky or unclear. / Student does not discuss the characters in the book.
Visual Aid / The visual aid for the presentation is an accurate and attractive representation of the novel and helps with the presentation of the book. / The visual aid for the presentation is accurate and attractive, but did not enhance or assist in the presentation of the book. / The visual aid is somewhat accurate, but does not demonstrate much effort or time and does not assist in the presentation of the book. / No visual aid was used in the presentation of the book.
Text / Student brought the book in on presentation day and had one annotation for each chapter or, if chapters don't exist, one annotation is written for every ten pages. / Student brought the book in on presentation day and had annotations for most chapters or every 15 pages if chapters did not exist. / Student brought the book in on the day of the presentation, but very few annotations were included in the book. / Student did not bring in the book on the day of the presentation and no or very few annotations were brought in for the book.
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