Newton South
High School
SUMMER 2007
FRESHMAN READING LIST - annotated
Now that
you have graduated from middle school, we want to encourage you to continue to
read over the summer.
During the
summer, all students entering Curriculum I are required to read The House
of the Scorpion,
by Nancy Farmer, which tells of an
unusual hero's journey, a central theme of the ninth grade year.
Students
entering Curriculum II are required to read 47 by Walter Mosley.
All
students are also
required to read one book from the list below, and one book of their choice.
Be sure to read books that you have not read previously, in or out of school.
At the beginning of the school year,
students will be asked to consider, discuss, and respond to the books verbally
and in written form. A summer
reading examination is commonly given. Students should be prepared to bring
either the books or detailed notes, or both, to class sometime during the first
weeks of school.
Have a
great summer and Read, Read, Read
Albanov,Valerian,
In the Land of White Death (nonfiction)
Tells the true story
of experiences of the captain and crew of the Russian vessel, Saint Anna, that
was trapped in a frozen polar ice cap in 1912 where it remained for two years.
Allende, Isabel, City of
the Beasts (fiction)
Fifteen-year-old
Alexander Cold accompanies his fearless grandmother, a magazine reporter for
International Geographic, on an expedition to the dangerous, remote world of
the Amazon to document the legendary Yeti known as The Beast. Translated from
Spanish.
Alvarez, Julia,
Before We Were Free
(fiction)
Early 1960s in the
Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in
the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General
Trujillo.
Anderson, Laurie Halse, Speak (fiction)
A traumatic event
near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year
in high school.
Beals, Melba Patillo,
Warriors Donšt Cry (nonfiction)
A riveting true
story of an embattled teenager who paid for integration with her
innocence. Beals chronicles her
harrowing junior year at Central High where she underwent the segregationists'
brutal organized campaign of terrorism which included telephone threats,
vigilante stalkers, economic blackmailers, rogue police, and much more.
Bennett, James, The Squared Circle (sports fiction / mystery)
Sonny, a university
freshman and star basketball player, finds the pressures of college life, NCAA
competition, and an unsettling relationship with his feminist cousin bring up
painful memories he must face before he can decide what is important in his
life.
Berg, Elizabeth,
Durable Goods (fiction)
Adolescent Katie
spends the lazy days of summer waiting for life to begin; waiting for womanhood
to begin; waiting to fall in love; and waiting for the beatings to stop. Since
the death of her mother, she and her sister have struggled to understand their
father's violent behavior. Soon an adventure will transform Katie's life.
Bradbury, Ray,
Dandelion Wine (fiction)
During the golden
summer of 1928, twelve-year-old Douglas and his brother wander in and out of
the lives of their elders.
Bradley, Marion,
Firebrand (fiction)
Blending
archaeological fact and legend, the myths of the gods and the feats of heroes,
Marion Zimmer Bradley breathes new life into the classic tale of the Trojan
War-reinventing larger-than-life figures as living people engaged in a
desperate struggle that dooms both the victors and the vanquished. Their fate is seen through the eyes of
Kassandra - priestess, princess, and passionate woman with the spirit of a
warrior.
Card, Orson Scott,
Ender's Game
(science
fiction)
Ender, who is the result
of genetic experimentation, may be the military genius Earth needs in its war
against an alien enemy.
Card, Orson
Scott, Ender's Shadow (science fiction)
An urchin is picked off the street by a nun and sent to war school to
become a brilliant space-war strategist. He is Bean, so called because of his
diminutive stature, the result of an illegal genetic experiment.
Chbosky, Stephen,
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
(fiction)
Charlie struggles to
cope with the complex world of high school as he deals with the confusions of
sex and love, the temptations of drugs, and the pain of losing a close friend
and a favorite aunt.
Chin, Frank, Donald
Duk (fiction)
Donald Duk attempts
to deal with his comical name and his feelings for his cultural heritage.
Cormier, Robert,
Tenderness (fiction)
A psychological
thriller told from the points of view of a teenage serial killer and the
runaway girl who falls in love with him.
Courtenay, B., Power
of One (fiction)
Peekay's childhood
in South Africa was marked by humiliation and abandonment. Yet he vowed to
survive. He would become welterweight champion of the world and he would dream
heroic dreams. On his epic
journey, he learns the power of words, the power to transform lives, and the
mystical power that would sustain him even when it appeared that villainy would
rule the world.
Crutcher, Chris Running Loose (fiction)
Louie, a high school
senior in a small Idaho town, learns about sportsmanship, love, and death as he
matures into manhood.
Crutcher, Chris Ironman (fiction)
While training for a
triathlon, seventeen-year-old Bo attends an anger management group at school
which leads him to examine his relationship with his father.
Crutcher, Chris Whale Talk (fiction)
Intellectually and
athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized
sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a
swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students.
Demetz, Hanna, The
House on Prague Street (fiction)
Half-Jewish Helene
Richter sensitively shares her experiences in Czechoslovakia as things become
desperate for the Jews
Dickens, Charles,
Oliver Twist (fiction)
Dickens' classic
story of a boy forced to live in a dark and dismal London workhouse lorded over
by the awful Mr. Bumble. Desperate but determined, Oliver makes his escape and
discovers that life in the harsh streets of London's underworld makes the
workhouse look like a picnic.
Doyle, Roddy, The
Snapper (fiction)
Twenty-year-old Sharon
Rabbitte is pregnant. She's also unmarried, living at home, working in a
grocery store, and keeping the identity a secret. Her own father, Jimmy Sr., is
shocked by the news. Her mother says very little. Her friends and neighbors all
want to know whose "snapper" Sharon is carrying. The story follows
the progression of Sharon's pregnancy and its impact on the Rabbitte
family-- especially on Jimmy Sr -- with wit, candor, and surprising authenticity.
duMaurier, Daphne, Rebecca
(fiction)
Rebecca chronicles
the nameless narrator's marriage to Maxim de Winter, a marriage which is
overshadowed by the memory of Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, who was killed in a
mysterious sailing accident. As Maxim's second wife learns more about Rebecca,
she becomes more intimidated and jealous, until Maxim reveals the intriguing
details of the marriage.
Gaines, Ernest ,
A Gathering of Old Men (fiction)
Set on a Louisiana
sugar cane plantation in the 1970s, "A Gathering of Old Men" is a
powerful depiction of racial tensions arising over the death of a Cajun farmer
at the hands of a black man.
Gaines, Ernest , A Lesson Before Dying (fiction)
Set in a small Cajun community in the late
1940s, a novel of one man condemned to die for a crime he did not commit and a
young man who visits him in his cell. The two men forge a bond as they both
come to understand the simple heroism of resisting - and defying - the expected.
Geras, Adčle, Troy (fiction)
The last weeks of
the Trojan War find the women sick of tending the wounded, men tired of
fighting, and bored gods and goddesses trying to find ways to stir things up.
Gibbons, Kaye, Ellen
Foster (fiction)
Having suffered
abuse and misfortune for much of her life, a young child searches for a better
life and finally gets a break in the home of a loving woman with several foster
children.
Gordon, Sheila,
Waiting for the Rain: a novel of South Africa (fiction)
Chronicles nine years in the lives of two South African youth - one black, one white - as their friendship ends in a violent confrotation between student and soldier.
Hamill,
Pete, Snow in August (fiction)
Eleven-year-old
Michael Devlin, an Irish Catholic from Brooklyn, and Judah Hirsch, a rabbi and
refugee from Prague, meet during a swirling blizzard on the Saturday morning.
For Michael, Hirsch is an extraordinary window to ancient times and foreign
lands; for the Rabbi, Michael is an encyclopedia of cultural knowledge of his
new land. In baseball, the two find a common love, but when some anti-Semitic
hoodlums threaten them with violence, the two must look for a miracle in a most
unlikely place
Haruf, Kent, Plainsong (fiction)
In the small town of Holt, Colorado, a high
school teacher is confronted with raising his two boys alone after their mother
retreats first to the bedroom, then altogether.
Hemingway, Ernest,
The Old Man and the Sea (fiction)
The story of an old Cuban fisherman and his
supreme ordeal: a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in
the Gulf Stream.
Katz, Jon, Geeks: how two lost boys rode the Internet out
of Idaho (nonfiction)
The true story of
Jesse and Eric, nineteen-year-old roommates in the small town of Caldwell,
Idaho who changed their lives and built a new future for themselves with the power
of the Internet.
Kincaid, Jamaica,
Annie John (fiction)
On the West Indies island
of Antigua, young Annie John comes of age and encounters many adolescent
problems until a crisis of emotions wrenches her away from her island home.
King, Stephen, The Shining (fiction)
The Overlook Hotel
is more than just a home-away-from-home for the Torrance family. For Jack,
Wendy, and their young son, Danny, it is a place where past horrors come to
life. And where those gifted with the shining do battle with the darkest evils.
Kinsella, W.P.,
Shoeless Joe
(fiction)
Following the advice of a phantom baseball announcer, Iowa farmer Ray
Kinsella builds a stadium in his cornfield
hoping to attract a number of baseball's greatest players for a game which only few can actually see.
Kipling, Rudyard, Captains Courageous (fiction)
Harvey Cheyne, born
of wealthy parents, is swept overboard from the deck of a liner. A fishing boat
hauls him aboard and then it is up to him to prove he deserves to live.
Lubar, David, Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie (fiction)
This hilarious novel
chronicles Scott's freshman year, as he decides that high school would be a lot
less overwhelming if it came with a survival manual. Scott records his first
year of bullies, romance, honors, classes, and brotherhood.
Lynch, Chris, Iceman (fiction)
Fourteen-year-old
Eric, a ruthless hockey player prone to violence on the ice, tries to reconcile
his own needs with those of his parents.
Lynch, Chris,
Inexcusable (fiction)
High school senior
and football player Keir sets out to enjoy himself on graduation night, but
when he attempts to comfort a friend whose date has left her stranded, things
go terribly wrong.
Maguire, Gregory,
Wicked (fiction)
A fable for adults
on the subject of destiny and free will by a writer of children's books. It
tells the story of Elphaba before she became the Wicked Witch of the West in
the land of Oz. The novel traces her career as nun, nurse, pro-democracy
activist and animal rights defender.
Malamud, Bernard, The Assistant (fiction)
Frank, a troubled,
somewhat desperate, Italian American, works long hours in the grocery store of
a struggling Jewish family in a Brooklyn neighborhood where he develops a
secret passion for his employer's attractive daughter.
Malamud, Bernard, The Natural (fiction)
The story of Roy
Hobbs - an athlete born with rare and wondrous gifts - who is robbed of his prime
playing years by a youthful indiscretion that nearly costs him his life. But at
an age when most players are considering retirement, Roy re-enters the game,
lifting the lowly New York Knights from last place into pennant contention and
becoming an instant hero in the process. Now all he has to worry about is the
fixers, the boss, the slump, the jinx, the fans...and the dangerously seductive
Memo Paris, the one woman Roy can't seem to get out of his mind.
Martinez, Victor,
Parrot in the Oven, Mi Vida
Manny relates his
coming of age experiences as a member of a poor Mexican American family in
which the alcoholic father adds to everyone's struggle.
Mathabane,
Mark, Kaffir Boy: the true
story of a Black youth's coming of age in Apartheid South
Africa
(autobiography)
Autobiography of a Black
youth who grows up under Apartheid in South Africa and wins a scholarship to
study in America.
McCafferty, Megan, Sloppy Firsts
(fiction)
Sixteen-year-old
Jessica Darling is devastated when her best friend moves away and leaves
Jessica to face the trials of high school on her own.
McCall, Nathan Makes
Me Wanna Holler (biography)
In this "honest
and searching look at the perils of growing up a black male in urban
America" ("San Francisco Chronicle"),"Washington Post"
reporter Nathan McCall tells the story of his passage from the street and the
prison yard to the newsroom of one of America's most prestigious papers.
Monroe, Mary, God
Donšt Like Ugly (fiction)
Set in Ohio during
the 50's, 60's and 70's, this richly-drawn coming-of-age tale is about a
sexually abused young black woman and her beautiful and diabolical best friend
who comes to the rescue. Resonating with clear-eyed wit and uncompromising
honesty, it is a tale of endurance, hope and triumph, full of laughter and pure
enjoyment.
Mori, Kyoko, Shizuko's
daughter (fiction)
After her mother's
suicide when she is twelve years old, Yuki spends years living with her distant
father and his resentful new wife.
Cut off from her mother's family, Yuki relies on her own inner strength
to cope with the tragedy.
Myers, Walter Dean, Fallen Angels
(fiction)
Seventeen-year-old
Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the
summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.
Myers, Walter Dean Hoops
(fiction)
A teenage basketball
player from Harlem is befriended by a former professional player who, after
being forced to quit because of a point-shaving scandal, hopes to prevent other
young athletes from repeating his mistake.
Myers, Walter Dean Monster (fiction)
While on trial as an
accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences
in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come
to terms with the course his life has taken.
Otsuka, Julie, When
the Emperor Was Divine (fiction)
A haunting evocation of a family during WWII,
with a resonant lesson for our times
Peters, Julie Ann,
Luna (fiction)
Fifteen-year-old Regan's life, which has always
revolved around keeping her older brother Liam's transsexuality a secret,
changes when Liam decides to start the process of "transitioning" by
first telling his family and friends that he is a girl who was born in a boy's
body.
Potok, Chaim, The
Chosen (fiction)
The story of the
friendship that develops between two Jewish boys in New York City.
Pullman, Phillip,
The Golden Compass
(fiction/
fantasy)
Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets
out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the
subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.
Renault, Mary, The
King Must Die (historical fiction)
The story of mythical hero Theseus, slayer of
monsters, abductor of princesses and king of Athens.
Rouse, The
Iliad (fiction)
Recounts the
triumphs and defeats of the Greek and Trojan heroes during the Trojan War and
the destruction of Troy by combined Greek armies
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows (fiction)
The
final episode !
Rushdie, Salman,
Haroun and the Sea of Stories (fiction)
Set in an exotic Eastern landscape peopled by
magicians and fantastic talking animals, Haroun sets out on an adventure to
restore the poisoned source of the sea of stories. On the way, he encounters
many foes, all intent on draining the sea of all its storytelling powers.
Santiago, Esmeralda,
When I Was Puerto Rican (nonfiction)
Magic, sexual
tension, high comedy, and intense drama move through an enchanted yet harsh
autobiography, in the story of a young girl who leaves rural Puerto Rico for
New York's tenements and a chance for success.
Senna, Danzi,
Caucasia (fiction)
A sensitive
coming-of-age bestseller about two sisters divided by politics and race at the
beginning of the 1970s.
Shange, Ntozake,
Betsey Brown: a novel (fiction)
The portrait of an
extended African-American family in which the thirteen-year-old daughter
strives to be grown-up while facing prejudice and school busing pressures
outside of the family.
Smith, Betty, A
Tree Grows in Brooklyn (fiction)
A poignant tale of
childhood and the ties of family, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" will
transport the reader to the early 1900s where a little girl named Francie
dreamily looks out her window at a tree struggling to reach the sky.
Stoker, Bram, Dracula (fiction)
An awesome tale of a
thrillingly bloodthirsty vampire whose nocturnal atrocities reflect the dark
underside of a supremely moralistic age.
A story of suspense and horror, boasting one of the most terrifying
characters in literature.
Tolkien, J.R.R.,
The Hobbit (fiction)
Bilbo Baggins, a
respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the
day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to share in an adventure from
which he may never return.
Townsend, Sue,
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 (fiction)
Story about the ups
and downs of a British teenager's life in diary form.
Twain, Mark ,
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
(fiction)
The escapades of Tom
Sawyer and his friends in a small, nineteenth-century town on the Mississippi
River.
Twain, Mark ,
The Prince and the Pauper
(fiction)
When young Edward VI
of England and a poor boy who resembles him exchange places, each learns something
about the other's very different station in life.
Wallis, Velma,
Two Old Women (fiction)
An Alaska legend of betrayal, courage and
survival this classic Athabascan Indian tale of survival is filled with
suspense and wisdom. Based on a legend told for many generations in the remote
Yukon River region of northeast Alaska, this is the tragic and shocking story
(with an unexpected upbeat ending) of two elderly women who are abandoned by a
migrating band facing starvation because of unusually harsh Arctic weather and
a shortage of fish and game.
White, T. H.,
The Sword in the Stone (fiction)
A retelling of the
Arthurian legend of King Arthur.
White, T. H.,
The Once and Future King (fiction)
Tells the story of
the youth and reign of King Arthur, the establishment of the Round Table, and
the search for the Holy Grail.
Wideman,John Edgar, Brothers and Keepers (biography)
As John Wideman was
building a reputation as one of our finest writers, his brother Robby went from
the streets of Philadelphia to a life sentence in prison for murder. This
memoir
Wilhelm, Kate,
Good Children (fiction)
Four children in Oregon hide their mother's death for fear
of being sent to foster homes. Eventually, they are forced to report her
disappearance. A lawyer is appointed and falls in love with the eldest daughter
who narrates the tale.
Williams-Garcia, Rita, Like Sisters on the Homefront (fiction)
Troubled fourteen-year-old Gayle is sent down South
to live with her uncle and aunt, where her life begins to change as she
experiences the healing power of the family.
Revised May
2007