Penncrest High School
Required Summer Reading Program
2015
The goal of the Penncrest Summer Reading Program is to expose students to quality literature that will
inspire them to expand and explore connections to the classroom, to the community, and to the world.
All students entering Penncrest High School’s grades 9 through 12 must select two books to read during
the summer. One selection is a mandatory core reading, and the other may be self-selected. Students
entering Rank Level I and Advanced Placement courses are required to read a third book. Your English
teacher will assess your reading in September. Please bring any optional reading records or completed
parent interview responses with you on the first day of class.
I. Mandatory Core Reading: Choose one (1) book in your incoming grade level category. Students
entering rank 1 or A. P. courses must read two books from the list: the required Rank 1/A.P. book
and any other menu selection.
Grade 9
Grade 10
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
The Queen of Water by Laura Resau
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Phoenix Island by John Dixon
Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork
Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse
Anderson
Rank One Selection:
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Rank One Selection:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Grade 11
Grade 12
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman
Alexie
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark
Haddon
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Rank One Selection:
The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy
Rank One Selection:
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines
AP Selection:
Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
AP Selection:
Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
II. Self-selected Reading: Choose and read a book that interests you. You may choose any book that you
would like to read. See the back of this sheet for more ideas about where to go for ideas.
Ideas for Self-Selected Reading
From Penncrest Students
Promise Not To Tell by Jennifer McMahon
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
Playing For Pizza by John Grisham
Safe Haven by Jodi Picoult
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Project 17 by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Dog On It! by Spencer Quinn
The Long Walk by Stephen King
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Marley and Me by John Grogan
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Boot Camp by Todd Strasser
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Play Like You Mean It by Rex Ryan
Diary by Chuck Palahniuk
Mythology by Edith Hamilton
No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre
Looking for Alaska by John Green
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moors
From Penncrest Parents
Twenty Chickens for a Saddle by Robyn Scott
Standing Tall by C. Vivian Stringer
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Cane River by Lalita Tademy
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
From Penncrest Teachers
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Profiles in Courage by John Kennedy
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Bright Lights, Big City by Jay Mcinerney
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Freakonomics by Steven Levitt Stephen Dubner
Escape from Slavery by Francis Bok
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Devil in the White City by Eric Larsen
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred
Lansing
City of Thieves by David Benioff
For more ideas, visit these websites:
http://www.ala.org
The American Library Association
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Untouchables by Narenda Jadhav
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
Gifted Hands by Ben Carson and Cecil Murphey
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Days of Grace by Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales
Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi
Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell
Breaking Night by Liz Murray
Shantram by Gregory David Roberts
The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer
The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman
Homecoming by Cathy Kelly
Dragon Tattoo Trilogy by Stieg Larsen
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
11/22/63 by Stephen King
www.reading.org
The International Reading Association
libwww.freelibrary.org/onebook/obop09/index.cfm
“One Book, One Philadelphia”
www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/one-book.html
The Library of Congress
Penncrest High School
Required Summer Reading Program
2015
Mandatory Core Reading: Grade 9
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Beah's riveting memoir tells the tale of a childhood lost to the civil war raging in Sierra Leone. When he was
twelve, Beah was “recruited’ by rebel forces attacking his village and enlisted as a boy soldier. After four
years, during which he committed heinous acts and witnessed unimaginable brutality, Beah was aided by
UNICEF. He eventually moved to the U.S., where he finished high school and college. The savagery of his
early experiences during the war makes his ultimate survival and redemption all the more gripping and
powerful.
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
June Elbus had just one person in the whole world who truly understood her, and that was her brilliant, artistic,
gay uncle Finn. But Finn has died of AIDS and June is in shock. To make matters more upsetting, Toby—
Finn’s partner and the person June’s family blames for Finn’s death—is trying to contact June secretly. June is
also worried about her sister Greta, who seems to be spiraling out of control. Against her better judgment June
forges a fragile, hidden friendship with Toby, which holds unexpected joys and as well as sorrows. June
discovers truths about herself and her family and about muddling through the complications of life.
Phoenix Island by John Dixon
Carl is standing in front of the judge yet again. Troubled by a tragic past, alone in the world, he bounces from
foster home to foster home and gets in trouble every place he goes. Only it’s not his fault. Carl is just a guy
who sticks up for what’s right–and maybe goes a little too far. The judge sentences Carl, not to jail, but to
Phoenix Island, a military confinement camp, where he will have no contact with the outside world, but if he
follows the rules, he can leave on his 18th birthday with a clean record and a chance for new start. Will Phoenix
Island be Carl’s last hope?? Former RTM teacher, author John Dixon, sets us off on an action packed,
disturbing story about survival and conspiracy and a fight against all odds.
*Warning for violence
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar
Scott Hudson fumbles through his freshman year of high school. He is hilarious as he juggles altering
friendships, a growing family, too much schoolwork, and an unexpected extra-curricular load. Throughout it
all, Scott writes letters to his unborn baby brother about how to survive freshman year—if Scott can make it
through himself!
Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
When fourteen year old Sophie leaves her Dad in Miami to spend the summer at her mother’s bonobo sanctuary
in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she never imagines what the summer holds for her. Unwittingly, Sophie
becomes the adoptive mother to an orphaned and abused baby bonobo named Otto; together they are swept up
in the midst of a revolution and trapped alone in the jungle. Because of the its great characters (both human and
primate!), vivid descriptions, and suspenseful, action-packed plot, you will find yourself thinking about this
book long after you have finished reading it!
Rank One Selection: The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
You might assume that when Prince Edward and the pauper Tom Canty accidentally change places, the pauper
is thrilled and the prince is repulsed. You would be partly right. Mark Twain shows through this relatively
short novel what Prince Edward learns about how the poor people live and are treated by the Crown, and the
pauper learns that there are many drawbacks to living the life of a prince. Twain has fun satirizing both
lifestyles in this work.
Mandatory Core Reading: Grade 10
The Queen of Water by Laura Resau
This poignant novel, based on a true story, is an eye-opener. Born in Ecuador, Virginia lives with her poor,
illiterate family until her parents literally give seven-year-old Virginia to a wealthy couple, for whom she
cleans and cooks for years, unpaid and not permitted to visit her parents. Frequently beaten by the
mother of the house and fearful of abuse at hands of the father of the house, she secretly teaches herself
to read and, although embarrassed, enters elementary school as a teenager. Virginia finds herself caught
between two cultures—her impoverished upbringing and the wealthier family with whom she lives. You
find it hard to believe that human trafficking takes place today? Read this book; you will never think of
human trafficking in the same way again.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
With a single act of kindness Richard Mayhew finds himself catapulted out of his ordinary life into an alternate
dimension--London Below, a dark and dangerous shadow city of lost people, places, and times. The only
chance of getting his old life back is to accompany a young woman named Door on a dangerous mission across
the London subway system to find out who hired the assassins who murdered her family and why. Their
companions are the Marquis of Carabas, a trickster who trades services for very big favors, and Hunter, a
mysterious lady who guards bodies and hunts only the biggest game. Funny and creepy at once, Neverwhere is,
“A fantastic story that is both the stuff of dreams and nightmares” (San Diego Urban-Tribune).
Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon
Cory Mackenson and his father accidentally witness a murder as a car plunges into a lake while they are
working together on his father’s milk-delivery route. On their journey to discover the killer, Cory encounters
monsters swimming in his hometown’s river, a woman well over 100 years old whose powers are feared and
legendary, and a violent gang of moonshiners. Amidst what at times seem to be magical experiences, Cory also
deals with the realities of 1960s Zephyr, Alabama—racism and the decline of old-fashioned ways of life.
Reality and fantasy blend as Cory and his father struggle to work together against real and otherworldly forces
of evil.
*Warning for language and violent situations
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork
Have you ever thought that your parents just don’t understand you? Meet seventeen-year-old Marcelo Sandoval
who, because of a developmental disability, has always attended a special school. He cannot wait for summer,
because he has plans to work with the therapeutic horses in the stables at his school. But his father, who does
not really understand Marcelo at all, pushes him instead to work at his law firm's mailroom to experience what
it is like in "the real world.” Marcelo finds a world filled with jealousy, competition, and injustice but also
friendship, compassion, and trust.
The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
Both funny and intense, this book tells the story of Hayley as she attempts to readjust to traditional high
school after years of being taught while on the road by her military veteran turned truck driver father.
Unprepared for tests and the college application, Hayley treads carefully at home too, where her father is
battling severe post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and reconnecting with a former girlfriend with her
own demons. Hayley hates this former sort-of-stepmom and has repressed all painful memories involving
her and nearly all memories about her biological mother as well. Simultaneously starting to remember
and trying not to remember, Hayley has a hard time knowing where to turn, much like her father whose
struggles escalate with tragic consequences that both he and Hayley must face.
Rank One Selection: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley’s sole novel combines elements of science fiction and romance. Doctor Frankenstein creates his
famous monster, and in a unique narrative style, we learn about the consequences of manipulation in all things - nature, science, and the human heart.
Mandatory Core Reading: Grade 11
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Junior is an underdog; he’s an amateur cartoonist, a boy born with several medical problems, a victim of
bullying, and, at his core, a Native American teen searching for a brighter future. Determined to receive a good
education, Junior leaves “the rez” to attend a privileged, all-white school in the neighboring town. Junior faces
both serious family problems and jeers from his new and old classmates, and the story he tells, both
heartbreaking and hysterical, is about finding your own way and your own strength.
*Warning for sexual references and language
Ready Player One by Ernest ClineIn the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade
Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life
to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's
obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can
unlock them. But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to
take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real
world he's always been so desperate to escape.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
This novel tells the stories of two teenagers coming of age on opposite sides of the conflict during World
War Two: blind Marie-Laure LeBlanc, who takes part in the French Resistance, and the very Aryanlooking German orphan Werner Pfennig, whose talent at fixing radios lands him in the service of Hitler’s
army. The chapters of the novel alternate between their stories until the two finally collide thrillingly in
the last days of the war. The short chapters make this book easy to read, and its beautiful, lyrical writing,
fully realized characters, and thrilling plot lines will resonate long after you’ve finished reading.
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
This gripping novel hits close to home as a community attempts to make sense of a horrific shooting at Sterling
High School. Picoult creates a compelling cast of characters who must come to terms with powerful issues of
bullying, conformity, and violence and who, eventually, learn to take responsibility for allowing the worst to
happen.
Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
Tsukiyama takes her readers back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women form friendships as they
work in a vast silk factory from dawn until dusk. Please do not be put off by the time/setting. The San
Francisco Chronicle says of the novel: "One of the loveliest and most beautifully written first novels published
this year...The pages turn themselves." The young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and
friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own. The author's graceful prose
weaves the detail of "the silk work" and Chinese village life into a story of miraculous courage and
strength. Ms. Lobitz and Mrs. Bury give this novel "two thumbs up"! Go for it, and challenge yourself!
Rank One Selection: The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy
This memoir is based on his work as a teacher on a poor rural island in South Carolina. The book details
Conroy’s unconventional efforts to connect with his disenfranchised students and invigorate learning for them.
AP Selection: Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A story that manages to be both sweeping and intimate in scope, Half of a Yellow Sun follows five
people—Ugwu, the bright village boy; Odenignbo, his idealistic and charismatic master; Olanna,
Odenigbo’s beautiful and cultured mistress; Kainene, her willful, sardonic twin sister, and Richard,
Kainene’s shy British lover—through 1960s Nigeria. Daily life, complete with family tensions, love
interests, political idealism, and tender personal moments, gives way to ethnic cleansing, civil war, and
starvation, as the attempt to create the independent state of Biafra implodes. The five must forge their
way through, and the bond you form with them as they do will last long after you read the final page.
Mandatory Core Reading: Grade 12
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon
Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted and socially hopeless. For a school project, he
investigates the mysterious murder of a neighborhood dog and discovers family secrets along the way.
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Two worlds collide in this gripping novel. The fates of three people, a 16-year-old Nigerian orphan and
two vacationing British journalists, tangle one fateful day, and one of them is forced to make a terrible,
life-changing choice. Two years later when they meet again, the story of forgiveness, heroism, and
sacrifice unfolds.
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Owen Meany is a small boy with a strange voice who accidentally kills his best friend’s mother with a baseball.
He also believes he is an instrument of God, that he was born to be a hero, and that he can foresee the hour of
his own death. This extraordinary story of the friendship of two boys–one a social outcast, and the other an
orphan–is darkly comic, heartwarming, and poignant.
*Warning for language and sexual references
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic 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.
*Warning for language and sexual references
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
In this powerful memoir, Jeannette Walls, an underprivileged but intelligent young girl, tells of her troubled
childhood and her relationship with her three siblings and her unstable parents. Walls’ journey from poverty
and despair to success and acceptance is an inspiration to anyone who yearns to become more than what is
expected of him. This selection contains occasional strong language.
Rank One Selection: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines
Jefferson sits in a jail cell on death row, defeated by the knowledge of his innocence and the impending doom
of the electric chair. Grant Wiggins is thrust into a role that he never asked for and never wanted: hero. The
worlds of these two men collide in a gripping tale of one man’s quest to save the dignity of another.
AP Selection: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas HardyIn a fit of drunken anger, Michael Henchard
sells his wife and baby daughter to a stranger at a country fair. Although he eventually establishes himself
as a respected and wealthy man in the community of Casterbridge, the shameful secret of his past is everpresent, waiting to be revealed.