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
- Night by Elie Wiesel (Required)
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston (non-fiction)
- The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
- Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg (non-fiction)
Sophomores
-
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Required)
- The Help by Kathryn Stockett
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
- The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt & Greg Lukianoff (non-fiction)
Juniors
-
The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde (Required for CP)
- Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (Required for Honors)
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs (non-fiction)
Seniors
-
The Oedipus Cycle (Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone) by Sophocles (Required)
- The Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus
- Medea by Euripides
- A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
- Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
- How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster (non-fiction)