High School at Mt.ViewCollege
“College ready. Career ready. Life ready.”
Summer Reading List
Incoming 11th Grade
Reading is a vital skill that students can fall behind in during the summer break. To offset this potential loss of skills, please select at least three books to read over the summer break. To make this a more interactive experience, students are asked to participate in discussion boards on Edmodo. For your free reading selections, tell us why you chose the book. Ask questions about the text. Respond to other people’s questions. Discussion boards will be set up on Edmodo to enable interaction between you and your classmates. Access the Edmodo site at or by downloading the free app. Our group code is: qkhm4l. The list is on the back of this page. You have several different types of nonfiction to explore, so choose something you are interested in.
If you do not wish to participate in the Edmodo discussions, you may instead complete the following tasks. For each book that you read, write about the following: Did you like the text? Why? Show three examples from the text that illustrate what you enjoyed or did not enjoy. How do those examples show what you liked or disliked? Bring the three completed assignments on the first day of class.
Additionally, youmay want to participate in the Dallas Mayor’s Summer Reading Program (information available at your local branch library or Prizes are often available for participation.
AP Language Non-Fiction Summer Reading List
Memoirs:
The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
Growing Up, Russell Baker
This Boy’s Life, Tobias Wolff
Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriquez
Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt
An American Childhood, Annie Dillard
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman
Naked, David Sedaris
Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi
Travel Narrative:
The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux
Balkan Ghosts, Robert Kaplan
Confederates in the Attic, Tony Horwitz
A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg, Tim Cahill
A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle
Road Fever, Tim Cahill
Coming into the Country, John McPhee
Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl
Under the Tuscan Sun, Francis Mayes
Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck
Travels with Lisbeth, Lars Eighner
Essayists and other General Non-Fiction:
The Art of Eating, M.F.K. Fisher (food critic)
I Lost It At the Movies, Pauline Kael (film critic)
Made in America, Bill Bryson (language)
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain (food)
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (food)
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (true crime)
Bad, or The Dumbing of America, Paul Fussell (cultural criticism)
Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon, Joe Queenan (cultural criticism)
The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf (cultural criticism)
Killed Cartoons, David Wallis (media studies)
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell (sociology/psychology)