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| High Schools Summer Reading Lists 2008 for Grade 11
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Please read this note
on viewing the lists.
The reading lists for summer 2008 can be viewed for Elementary
Grade K or Grade 1, Grade 2 or Grade 3,
Grade 4 or Grade 5; Middle School Grade 6,
Grade 7, Grade 8 or
High School Grade 9,
Grade 10, Grade 11,
Grade 12. Also, the reading lists have a printer friendly link for
students to print the list for use at home during the summer or when
returning to school in the fall. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to
read and print the complete list. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat
Reader, you can
Get Adobe Acrobat Reader for Free Here 
All required books for summer reading will be available for sale at Barnes and
Noble, Borders, independent book stores and on-line. Please be advised that
there may be a limited number of summer reading books available for circulation
at the Middletown Public Library and the smaller branches (Lincroft, Navesink
and Bayshore) due to the volume of readers. If you are planning to visit the
Monmouth County Library (Shrewsbury Branch), you must have a paid membership
card in order to borrow books.
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| Summer Reading for High School Students entering as a Junior 2008 |
You are viewing this High School Summer Reading List displayed in your web
browser.
For a printer friendly link, go to
High School Reading List for Students entering Grade 11.
MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP BOARD OF EDUCATION
High School North and South English Departments
Middletown, NJ 07748
|  |
Carol Buckley
Assistant Principal – North
(732) 706-6061 x1221
| Marie D. Caldaro
Assistant Principal – South
(732) 706-6111 x2162 |
Karen L. Bilbao
Superintendent of Schools |
Marjorie M. Caruso
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum |
June 2008
Parents and Junior Students, Class of 2010,
All junior studetns entering High School North or High School South in
September 2008 are required to read two novels this summer. Read and
follow the directions below:
11 Honors’ students must read: A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
All other grade 11 levels must read: Fallen Angels
by Walter Dean Myers
For the above stated novels, all students must submit a completed reader
response journal to their English teacher on or before the first Monday
of school. The student is to:
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Choose ten (10) quotations from the text and respond to each, explaining their
significance in the overall context of the novel and/or give a personal
response to the quote.
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Quotes must be spread out over the entirety of the book (i.e., the quotes
cannot come from the first few chapters).
-
Students may use the
attached reader-response form or type their responses in the same
format.
In addition, all junior students must choose and read one book* from
the following list. English teachers will assess the second book in September.
The Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book I) by Stephenie
Meyer
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
Nickel & Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
by Sara Gruen
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book I) by Barbara
Ehrenreich
Books may be borrowed from the Middletown Public Library. They may, also, be
purchased at Barnes and Noble (in Holmdel or Eatontown) or at Borders (in
Eatontown). All locations have received requests from us to have the books in
stock.
*See below for book descriptions.
Please address any questions to the Assistant Principals of Curriculum
indicated below.
Sincerely yours,
Carol Buckley, Assistant Principal
High School North |
Marie D. Caldaro, Assistant Principal
High School South |
The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
Mixing nostalgia, baseball and a boy's friendship with a 1940s baseball star,
this hysterically funny, inventive, and sentimental novel consists entirely of
letters, fictional newspaper clippings, telegrams, war dispatches, report cards
and other documentary fragments. Growing up Jewish in a tough, Italian Brooklyn
neighborhood, Joey Margolis is troubled by anti-Semitic neighbors, by Hitler's
rising power, by his parents' divorce and by his absent cad of a father.
Craving a surrogate dad, Joey strikes up a correspondence with Wisconsin-born
New York Giants slugger Charlie Banks. The boy's outrageous fibs, tough-guy
posturing, and desperate pleas grab the reluctant attention of the superstar,
whose racy vernacular guy-talk (peppered with amusing misspellings and
misusages) hints at his deepening affection for Joey.
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
Why do so many girls allow themselves to get into abusive relationships--and
what keeps them there? In this riveting novel, Sarah Dessen searches for
understanding and answers. Caught in a trap that is baited with love and need,
Caitlin must frantically manage her every action to avoid being hit by the
hands that once seemed so gentle. All around her are women who care--best
friends, mother, sister, mentor--but shame keeps her from confiding in any of
them, especially Cass, her brilliant older sister, whose own flight from home
had seemed to point the way.
The Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks
Flunking out of school and already hooked on drugs, the 14-year-old narrator,
secretly molested by his stepfather, emotionally abandoned by his weak mother,
leaves his mobile home in the depressed upstate New York community of Au Sable
and becomes a homeless mall rat. In a burst of bravado, he acquires a crossed
bones tattoo, changes his name from Chappie to Bone, and attempts to find some
focus in his dead-end existence. Convinced that he is destined for a criminal
career, Bone vents his anger in acts of senseless destruction.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to
Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens
from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we
follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on
his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who
witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
"Monster" is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his
supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner. But was Steve
really the lookout who gave the "all clear" to the murderer, or was he just in
the wrong place at the wrong time? In this innovative novel by Walter Dean
Myers, the reader becomes both juror and witness during the trial of Steve's
life. To calm his nerves as he sits in the courtroom, aspiring filmmaker Steve
chronicles the proceedings in movie script format. Interspersed throughout his
screenplay are journal writings that provide insight into Steve's life before
the murder and his feelings about being held in prison during the trial.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
A Pulitzer Prize winning feminist novel about an abused and uneducated Black
woman's struggle for empowerment, this novel was praised for the depth of its
female characters and for its eloquent use of Black English vernacular.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words,
an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot
of thievery. . . .Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s
groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living
outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by
stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of
her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen
books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man
hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau. This is an unforgettable
story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the
volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years -- from the Soviet invasion
to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding -- that puts the
violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is
a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the
tragic sweep of war, where personal lives -- the struggle to survive, raise a
family, find happiness -- are inextricable from the history playing out around
them. Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner
a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable
chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of
family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving
time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love -- a stunning
accomplishment.
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
A coming-of-age tale for young adults set in the trenches of the Vietnam War in
the late 1960s, this is the story of Perry, a Harlem teenager who volunteers
for the service when his dream of attending college falls through. Sent to the
front lines, Perry and his platoon come face-to-face with the Vietcong and the
real horror of warfare. But violence and death aren't the only hardships. As
Perry struggles to find virtue in himself and his comrades, he questions why
black troops are given the most dangerous assignments, and why the U. S. is
even there at all.
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of
Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said
goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league
glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad
habits—drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental illness.
Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day
on her sofa. In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue
Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve
the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and
his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with
capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on
junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz
was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death
row. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this
book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will
disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will
infuriate you.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that
was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the
early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world
he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student
just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie.
It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to
August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an
untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling
show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust,
and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book I) by Stephenie
Meyer
"Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be
very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. Slowly, never moving
his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he
rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat." As
Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight
, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers
who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns
her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she
arouses in him, because--he's a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their
passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. But,
Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay
near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and
necessarily chaste relationship.
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports
history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more
coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the
racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with
the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes: Charles Howard was a
onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United
States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his
new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the
Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement
price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in
one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad
fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic,
pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon. Author Laura
Hillenbrand brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story, one that proves
life is a horse race.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver
his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter
is born, he sees immediately that she has Down's Syndrome. Rationalizing it as
a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split-second decision that will
alter all of their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an
institution and never to reveal the secret. But Caroline, the nurse, cannot
leave the infant. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child
herself. So begins this beautifully told story that unfolds over a quarter of a
century in which these two families, ignorant of each other, are yet bound by
the fateful decision made that long-ago winter night. A brilliantly crafted,
stunning debut, The Memory Keeper's Daughter explores the way life
takes unexpected turns, and how the mysterious ties that hold a family together
help us survive the heartache that occurs when long-buried secrets burst into
the open.
Nickel & Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
by Barbara Ehrenreich
Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara
Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric
surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life.
But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? To find
out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest
lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner,
nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the
"lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one
job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors. Nickel
and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and
surprising generosity--a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate
strategies for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and
passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.
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