S OMERVILLE H IGH S CHOOL
222 DAVENPORT STREET ● SOMERVILLE, NJ 08876
PHONE: (908) 218-4108 ● FAX: (908) 707-0971
GERARD T. FOLEY
PRINCIPAL
SCOTT E. HADE
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
CHRISTOPHER M. MULLIGAN
DIRECTOR OF GUIDANCE
KYLE T. FRANEY
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR
JENNIFER G. DITRE
SUPERVISOR OF STUDENT AFFAIRS AND INSTRUCTION
May 15, 2015
Dear Parents/Guardians and Students,
With another academic year completed, this is the perfect time of year to grab some books,
dive in, and develop the habits of life-long readers. As part of its mission to foster the concept
of reading for enjoyment and to encourage students to become and remain active readers,
Somerville High School has established a summer reading program that fulfills Common Core
Standards, but also aims to provide an informative and interesting reading experience for all
students.
Prior to the first day of school, all students entering grades 9 through 12 are to select and read
one book, fiction or nonfiction from the lists provided. Students should choose one book from
the grade level they will be enrolled in on September 9, 2015. Enclosed you will find a copy of
the Summer Reading lists. It is highly recommend that students read more than one selection,
although it is not a requirement.
In addition to reading one book, students will be required to complete a Summer Reading
Assignment. Students are expected to submit their Summer Reading Assignment to their
English teacher during the first week of school. (Their teacher will provide them with the
specific date.)
Please refer to the district website at: http://www.somervillenjk12.org for electronic versions of
all summer reading materials and links.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (908)-243-1593.
Have a great summer.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Ditre
Supervisor of Student Affairs and Instruction
Students Entering Grades 9-10
Summer Reading Book List
Title: Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
Author: Tanya Lee Stone
ISBN-13: 9780763645021
Overview:
They had the right stuff. They defied the prejudices of the time. And they blazed a trail for
generations of women to follow.
What does it take to be an astronaut? Excellence at flying, courage, intelligence, resistance to
stress, top physical shape — any checklist would include these. But when America created
NASA in 1958, there was another unspoken rule: you had to be a man. Here is the tale of
thirteen women who proved that they were not only as tough as the toughest man but also
brave enough to challenge the government. They were blocked by prejudice, jealousy, and the
scrawled note of one of the most powerful men in Washington. But even though the Mercury
13 women did not make it into space, they did not lose, for their example empowered young
women to take their place in the sky, piloting jets and commanding space capsules. ALMOST
ASTRONAUTS is the story of thirteen true pioneers of the space age.
Title: Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem
by Rosalyn Schanzer
ISBN-13: 9781426308697
Overview:
In the little colonial town of Salem Village, Massachusetts, two girls began to twitch, mumble,
and contort their bodies into strange shapes. The doctor tried every remedy, but nothing cured
the young Puritans. He grimly announced the dire diagnosis: the girls were bewitched! And
then the accusations began.
The riveting, true story of the victims, accused witches, crooked officials, and mass hysteria
that turned a mysterious illness affecting two children into a witch hunt that took over a dozen
people’s lives and ruined hundreds more unfolds in chilling detail in this young adult book by
award-winning author and illustrator Rosalyn Schanzer.
With a powerful narrative, chilling primary source accounts, a design evoking the period, and
stylized black-white-and-red scratchboard illustrations of young girls having wild fits in the
courtroom, witches flying overhead, and the Devil and his servants terrorizing the Puritans, this
book will rivet young readers with novelistic power.
Taught in middle and high schools around the U.S., the 17th-century saga remains hauntingly
resonant as people struggle even today with the urgent need to find someone to blame for their
misfortunes.
Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
ISBN-13: 9780142402511
Overview:
The award-winning, genre-defining debut from #1 bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
New York Times bestseller
Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one
big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great
Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and
anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite
of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge
into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. After. Nothing
is ever the same.
Title: I Am Number Four
Author: Pittacus Lore
ISBN-13: 9780061969577
Overview:
The narrator of this action adventure novel calls himself Number Four, but the three previous
numbers have all been caught and killed. Each of these superhuman entities resembles we mere
earthlings, but that resemblance conceals powers new to our weakling planet. Pittacus Lore's
unconventional fantasy series starter will cause you to look closely at suspicious strangers.
Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you—but we are not
you. We have powers you dream of having. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and
comic books—But we are real. They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in
England. And Number Three in Kenya. They killed them all. I am Number Four. I am next.
Students Entering Grades 11-12
Summer Reading Book List
Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
Author: Mark Haddon
ISBN-13: 9781400032716
Overview:
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every
prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions.
He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic.
Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and
predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher’s carefully
constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden
fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.
Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional
character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him
down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his
parents’ marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the
workings of Christopher’s mind.
And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon’s choice of narrator: The most wrenching
of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling,
making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose
curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years: a comedy, a
heartbreaker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.
Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
ISBN-13: 9780142414934
Overview:
When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed
like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always
planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving
Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished.
Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.
Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping
emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers.
Title: Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
Author: Eric Schlosser
ISBN-13: 9780547750330
Overview:
In 2001, Fast Food Nation was published to critical acclaim and became an international
bestseller. Eric Schlosser’s exposé revealed how the fast food industry has altered the
landscape of America, widened the gap between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity,
and transformed food production throughout the world. The book changed the way millions of
people think about what they eat and helped to launch today’s food movement.
In a new afterword for this edition, Schlosser discusses the growing interest in local and
organic food, the continued exploitation of poor workers by the food industry, and the need to
ensure that every American has access to good, healthy, affordable food. Fast Food Nation is
as relevant today as it was a decade ago. The book inspires readers to look beneath the surface
of our food system, consider its impact on society and, most of all, think for themselves.
Title: Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better
Author: Clive Thompson
ISBN-13: 9780143125822
Overview:
A revelatory and timely look at how technology boosts our cognitive abilities—making us
smarter, more productive, and more creative than ever
It’s undeniable—technology is changing the way we think. But is it for the better? Amid a
chorus of doomsayers, Clive Thompson delivers a resounding “yes.” In Smarter Than You
Think, Thompson shows that every technological innovation—from the written word to the
printing press to the telegraph—has provoked the very same anxieties that plague us today. We
panic that life will never be the same, that our attentions are eroding, that culture is being
trivialized. But, as in the past, we adapt—learning to use the new and retaining what is good of
the old. Smarter Than You Think embraces and extols this transformation, presenting an
exciting vision of the present and the future.
Honors and AP Selections
*Students enrolled in one of these courses should read the book(s) specific to that class, as
well as a selection listed above for their grade level.
9th Grade Honors –
Title:
Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
ISBN: 13: 978-1502492791
10th Grade Honors –
Title:
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
ISBN: 13: 9780618711659
11th Grade Honors –
Title:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Author: Maya Angelou
ISBN: 13: 978-0345514400
Title:
Death of a Salesman
Author: Arthur Miller
ISBN:
13: 978-0140481341
Title:
A Farewell to Arms
Author: Ernest Hemingway
ISBN:
13: 978-1476764528
Advanced Placement –
Title:
Author:
ISBN:
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner
13: 978-0679732259
Title:
Author:
ISBN:
The Awakening
Kate Chopin
13: 978-1503293182
Title:
Author:
ISBN:
Long Day’s Journey into Night
Eugene O’Neill
13: 978-0300093056