Nardin Academy High School
2013 Summer Reading List and info for English 10
Please read the following three selections. Many local bookstores stock the assigned summer reading.
It is best to call before going, to be sure the books you need are in stock. All selections are also available
through the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. I have included a published summary from Barnes
and Noble for each of the works, to familiarize you with the readings. I think you will love them.
The “Nardin Reads” selection this year is “Hana’s Suitcase,” by Karen LeVine. You should read this brief
work in order to be prepared for discussion groups early in the school year.
Sandra Cisneros, “The House on Mango Street”
This greatly admired and bestselling book is about a young girl growing up in the Latino section of
Chicago. Both heartbreaking and deeply joyous, the novel depicts a new American landscape through its
multiple characters. Esperanza Cordero, a girl coming of age in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, uses
poems and stories to express thoughts and emotions about her oppressive environment.
Lorraine Hansberry, “A Raisin in the Sun”
This award-winning dramatic play is about the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class
family living on the South Side of Chicago. When it came out in 1959, it connected profoundly with the
psyche of black America—and changed American theater forever. The title comes from a Langston
Hughes’s poem, “Harlem,” which warns that a dream deferred might “dry up/like a raisin in the sun.”
John Knowles, “A Separate Peace”
Set in a boarding school for boys in New England during the early World War II years, this is a harrowing
and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas
is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like
the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world.
One of the best ways to remember what you read is to take notes as you proceed. These notes will
come in handy when we begin our class discussions and take tests which will occur early in September.
Please do not substitute films, Cliffs Notes or Spark Notes for the actual reading.
Assignment: For the first day of school please select and type up five separate lines/quotes from “A
Separate Peace,” and five separate lines/quotes from “The House on Mango Street.” Under each line or
quote, please describe why you chose the line and its significance to the work as a whole. Keep in mind
that these are both coming-of-age novels, so think about the struggles that each character has while
growing up.
Have a great summer and I will look forward to meeting all of you in September!