Summer Reading
 
Students -- This is the required summer reading for your English class next year that   you are expected to complete prior to the first day of school.  Note that this reading will be assessed during the first week of the school year.  

Hint:  THINK AHEAD!  There is often a rush on these books during the week prior to the beginning of school at local bookstores, so be sure to get your copy early in the summer -- you do NOT want to have to drive to Fort Worth the week before school starts to get the books needed for your required reading.  Besides these are good books and you'll enjoy them more if you can read them when not under pressure.

Parents—Please take the time to review the novels so they can discuss them with you as they read. Having a parent read these novels with the student can add another level to their understanding and enjoyment of the reading. When there is a choice novel, please look over all of them and help your student make a choice with which you are both comfortable.

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English I
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
OR
Shattering Glass by Gail Giles

English I Pre-AP
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
AND
Select one novel from the American Library Best of 2007 Young Adult Reading List: www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists

Global Studies
Please see the following website for the required assignment to accompany the reading: www.gcisd.net/~tammy.broker

Thunder on Sycamore Street by Reginald Rose.
AND
Choose one of the following books to read.

Non-fiction
Runaway Girl: the Artist Louise Bourgeois Jan Greenberg
Rocket Boys Homer Hickam
Seabiscuit Laura Hillenbrand

Fiction
Einstein’s Dreams Alan Lightman
Shooter Walter Dean Myers
Maus Art Speigelman
Girl in Hyacinth Blue Susan Vreeland
Pug Sheridan Sandra Cline

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English II
Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements
OR
Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
** Be prepared to analyze and discuss **

English II Pre-AP
Please see the following website for the required assignment to accompany the reading: www.gcisd.net/~tammy.broker or www.gcisd.net/~judy.huston

Choose one of the following:
Go and Come Back Joan Abelove
Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya
Girl with a Pearl Earring Tracy Chevalier
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon
The Secret Life of Bees Sue Kidd
Shooter Walter Dean Myers
The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving

World Studies
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankel
AND
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

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English III
Anthem by Ayn Rand

English III Pre-AP
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
AND
Anthem by Ayn Rand

English III AP
The Awakening by Kate Chopin: 
AND

Choose one of the following:
Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers by Alissa Quart
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal by Eric Schlosser
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
Stiff by Mary Roach

American Studies Please see the following website for more information on the required reading: www.gcisd.net/~jen.metcalf

The Awakening by Kate Chopin
AND
Choose a current event that you will follow throughout the summer and complete the following:
  • collect an article from a newspaper, magazine, or online journal for eight weeks
  • write a 1,000 word minimum paper on how the event progressed in the news
    • this can range from the actual event and how it changed throughout the eight weeks to how various news outlets chose to cover it to even the placement in the news itself (front page to second page to a blurb on the back page)
  • read a book, either fiction or non-fiction, that is related to that topic
    • Be prepared to write an in-class essay the first week of school on the book you have chosen

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English IV
Choose one of the following:
1984 by George Orwell
OR
Grendel by John Gardner

English IV AP
Required for all: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
AND
Select ONE: 1984 by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Emma by Jane Austen