Summer Reading

Updated 2/26/2021

Structure

Each year, students will be required to read 1 text selected by the English Department, and 2-4 additional texts (depending on level) from a provided book list.

  • College Prep: 1 required text, 2 student-selected texts
  • Honors: 1 required text, 3 student-selected texts
  • AP: 1 required text, 4 student-selected texts 

 

Grading

Near the end of September, students will be assessed on their summer reading through a traditional exam on the required text AND collecting notes the students wrote about their student-selected books.

College Prep

  • Exam on required text (60 points)
  • Notes on 1st selected text (20 points)
  • Notes on 2nd selected text (20 points)

Honors

  • Exam on required text (70 points)
  • Notes on 1st selected text (10 points)
  • Notes on 2nd selected text (10 points)
  • Notes on 3rd selected text (10 points)

AP

  • Exam on required text (60 points)
  • Notes on 1st selected text (10 points)
  • Notes on 2nd selected text (10 points)
  • Notes on 3rd selected text (10 points)
  • Notes on 4th selected text (10 points)

 

Note-taking Rubrics

College Prep

Outstanding  Exceeds Expectations Acceptable Unsatisfactory No Credit
The student’s handwritten notes on the novel are neat, clear, and go above and beyond what was required. They are well-organized by chapter and have abundant details about the characters, setting, plot, and narration. 
20 points		 The student’s handwritten notes on the novel are mostly neat and clear. They are organized by chapter with several details about the characters, setting, plot, and narration. 
17 points		 The student’s handwritten notes on the novel are somewhat organized by chapter and have some details about the characters, setting, plot, and narration. 
13 points		 The student’s handwritten notes on the novel are rarely organized by chapter and have few details about the characters, setting, plot, and narration. 
10 points		 The notes were not handwritten OR not submitted.
0 points

Honors & AP

Outstanding  Exceeds Expectations Acceptable Unsatisfactory No Credit
The student’s handwritten notes on the novel are neat, clear, and go above and beyond what was required. They are well-organized by chapter and have abundant details about the characters, setting, plot, and narration. 
20 points		 The student’s handwritten notes on the novel are mostly neat and clear. They are organized by chapter with several details about the characters, setting, plot, and narration. 
8 points		 The student’s handwritten notes on the novel are somewhat organized by chapter and have some details about the characters, setting, plot, and narration. 
6 points		 The student’s handwritten notes on the novel are somewhat organized by chapter, but have few details about the characters, setting, plot, and narration. 
4 points		 The notes were not handwritten OR did not have sufficient details about the characters, setting, plot, and narration.
0 points


Reading List

Freshmen

  1. Night by Elie Wiesel (Required)
  2. Animal Farm by George Orwell
  3. Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston (non-fiction)
  4. The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
  5. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
  6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  7. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
  8. Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg (non-fiction)

Sophomores

  1. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Required)
  2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
  3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  4. Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  5. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
  6. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  7. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
  8. The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt & Greg Lukianoff (non-fiction)

Juniors

  1. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde (Required for CP)
  2. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (Required for Honors)
  3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  4. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
  5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
  6. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
  7. Dracula by Bram Stoker
  8. Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs (non-fiction)

Seniors

  1. The Oedipus Cycle (Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone) by Sophocles (Required)
  2. The Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus
  3. Medea by Euripides
  4. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
  5. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
  6. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
  7. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
  8. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster (non-fiction)