MALIBU HIGH SCHOOL – ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
SUMMER READING 2014
All students who will be in grades 9-12 during the 2014-2015 school year, must read The
Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida. You will discuss the book in your English class, and
you will also write an in-class essay on The Reason I Jump shortly after school begins.
Sallie Tisdale, Aug. 2013, NY Times book review:
Autism is an endless mystery, largely unknowable by its nature, yet there are dozens
of books by or about autistic people determined to explain the lives of those affected.
The newest is “The Reason I Jump,” popular in Japan since it was published in 2007.
The author, Naoki Higashida, was 13 years old at the time he wrote the memoir, and
nonverbal. He wrote by spelling out words on a Japanese alphabet letter board.
The slim volume consists of short chapters beginning with questions like “Why do
you speak in that peculiar way?” and “Why do you like spinning?” Describing why,
exactly, he likes to jump, Higashida tells us: “The motion makes me want to change
into a bird and fly off to some faraway place. But constrained by ourselves and by the
people around us, all we can do is tweet-tweet, flap our wings and hop around in a
cage.”
IN ADDITION, HONORS AND AP STUDENTS MUST ALSO READ:
Incoming 9 HP students must ALSO read:
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
OR
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Incoming 10 HP students must ALSO read Every Day by David Levitham
Incoming 11 AP students must ALSO read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson. You are also required to post some responses to the book
on MyBigCampus and write a 2-3 page paper that is due the second day of school. See
your AP teacher or the Malibu High School web site for complete information about the
summer work.
Incoming 12 AP students must ALSO read Catch- 22, Joseph Heller. Additionally
students must have a copy of Candide, Voltaire the first full week of school. See your AP
teacher or the Malibu High School web site for list of assignments and more information.