Quarter 3 Reading Project - AS English Language & Literature
As we talked about with our College Bound Reading Project, it’s important not only
that we read but what we read. Part of being “college-ready” is having a brain that
is ready for college-level material and content.
This quarter, you will read at least TWO books that will contribute to your ongoing
mental and academic preparation for college and beyond. One of these books must be
categorized as nonfiction or memoir. The other is a book of your choice and may include fiction,
young adult literature, poetry, and/or graphic novels. You will complete two written assignments
and give one oral presentation to the class to report on what you read.
Remember the kinds of books that will stretch your thinking and prepare you for college:
● literary and historical classics
● book-length nonfiction
● books that have won prestigious awards (or by authors who have won awards)
● a book that is out of your usual comfort zone
● books recommended to you by educated/professional adults
Reading Choice Criteria
● ONE nonfiction/memoir book and ONE additional novel of student choice; both must be of novel
length and literary value.
● Must be of appropriate length and reading level for your reading skills. If you are not sure, ask!
● Must be books you have not read before.
● Must be approved by Ms. Yap.
Project Tasks Summary
Task A: Reflection Sentence Starters
Task B: Book Rating
Book Talk Presentation: Three-Minute Persuasive Book Talk delivered to class
Book Proposal due
Task A due
Task B due
Book Talk
Presentations
Nonfiction & Memoir/Biography Book Recommendations from ASU Prep Faculty
Recommended
by
Ms. Campbell
Ms. Anzur
Ms. Pelotte
Ms. Hsiao
Ms. Calvelage
Mrs. McClue
Title & Author
First, Do No Harm
Kill as Few Patients as Possible: And Fifty-Six Other Essays on How to Be the World’s
Best Doctor
Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance
Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science
How Doctors Think
Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor
Strength in What Remains
Cutting for Stone
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Genome: An autobiography of a species in 23 chapters
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Persepolis I & II
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Outliers: The Story of Success
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
The End of Overreating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life
Uncle Tungsten
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Silent Spring
The Double Helix
any biography of Rosalind Franklin
Madame Curie: A Biography
Microbe Hunters
Rocket Boys
My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile
High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never
Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Ms. Yap
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Hiroshima
Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His
Mother
The New Brain: How the Modern Age is Rewiring Your Mind
Night
Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and
After the World War II Internment
Lisa Belkin
Oscar London
Atul Gawande
Atul Gawande
Jerome Groopman
Paul Farmer
Tracy Kidder
Abraham Verghese
Rebecca Skloot
Matt Ridley
Dave Eggers
Marjane Satrapi
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
David Kessler
Eric Schlosser
J. Craig Venter
Oliver Sacks
Atul Gawande
Rachel Carson
James D. Watson
Eve Curie
Paul de Kruif
Homer Hickam
Isabel Allende
Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Ehrenreich
Steven D. Levitt &
Stephen J. Dubner
Mary Roach
John Hersey
Sonia Nazario
Richard Restak
Elie Wiesel
Jeanne Wakatsuki
Houston
More Suggestions
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by
Jared Diamond
The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the
Ebola Virus by Richard Preston
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American
Slave by Frederick Douglass
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
by Jon Krakauer
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution & Future of the Human
Animal by Jared Diamond
The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War,
and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by
Michael Pollan
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of
the Human Body by Neil Shubin
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical
Tales by Oliver Sacks
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by
Richard Dawkins
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical
Questions by Randall Munroe
The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene by
Richard Dawkins
A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth
Kolbert
On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins & Sandra Blakeslee
On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett
Unnatural Selection by Mara Hvistendahl
Regenesis by George Church
Blood Work by Holly Tucker
Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria
Konnikova
The Story of the Human Body by Daniel E. Lieberman
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the
American West by Dee Brown
The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century
by Thomas Friedman
The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report by
Timothy Ferris
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
The Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and
Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age
in Apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane
An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safron Foer
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White
Mother by James McBride
When I Was Puerto Rican: A Memoir by Esmeralda Santiago
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood by Richard E.
Kim
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
My War: Killing Time in Iraq by Colby Buzzell
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the
Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by Marya
Hornbacher
Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by
Nicholas Carr
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
by Daniel H. Pink
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
The Devil and the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness
at the Fair That Changed America Eric Larson
The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the
American Dream by Steve Fainaru & Ray Sanchez
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and A Dream by H.G.
Bissinger
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon
Krakauer
If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home by
Tim O'Brien
*Please be aware that some of these book choices may include graphic language or adult subject matter. You
are expected to use your discretion when deciding what is appropriate for you to read.
NAME
PERIOD
QUARTER 3 READING PROJECT – BOOK PROPOSAL FORM
BOOK A – NONFICTION/MEMOIR
Title
Author
Year Published
Number of
Pages
Year Published
Number of
Pages
Year Published
Number of
Pages
Year Published
Number of
Pages
Please explain in complete sentences why you want to read this book:
BOOK B – YOUR CHOICE
Title
Author
Please explain in complete sentences why you want to read this book:
NAME
PERIOD
QUARTER 3 READING PROJECT – BOOK PROPOSAL FORM
BOOK A – NONFICTION/MEMOIR
Title
Author
Please explain in complete sentences why you want to read this book:
BOOK B – YOUR CHOICE
Title
Author
Please explain in complete sentences why you want to read this book: