10th Grade English Language Arts Summer Reading Assignment
Libba Bray
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Holly Black
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Cassandra Clare
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Justine Larbalestier
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Carrie Ryan
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Scott Westerfeld
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Veronica Roth
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J.R.R. Tolkien
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The Gemma Doyle Trilogy
A Great and Terrible Beauty
Rebel Angels
The Sweet Far Thing
Curse Workers Series
White Cat
Red Glove
Black Heart
The Mortal Instruments
City of Bones
City of Ashes
City of Glass
Magic or Madness Trilogy
Magic or Madness
Magic Lessons
Magic's Child
The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy
The Forest of Hands and Teeth
The Dead-Tossed Waves
The Dark and Hollow Places
Leviathan series
Leviathan
Behemouth
Goliath
Divergent series
Divergent
Insurgent
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
(The Hobbit)
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
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zombies
witches
werewolf
war
vampires
telepathy
supernatural creatures
steampunk
sorcery
sci-fi
science
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romance
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prison
present-day
past
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math
magic
male protagonist
humor
horror
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history
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future
fairies
female protagonist
fantasy
dystopia
alternate universe
action
Step one: Choose a trilogy from selections 1-15 on this list.
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If you like the looks of the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfield, for example (and it’s excellent), you’ll be reading all three titles grouped together
in the row numbered 5 on the list above. Don’t choose one of the books from group 4 and one of the books from group 7 and so on. That kind of
whimsy defeats the purpose of assigning grouped books.
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Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
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Paolo Bacigalupi
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Melissa Marr
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James Dashner
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Kristin Cashore
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Cherie Priest
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Ray Bradbury
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Jane Austen
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Jane Austen
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Louisa May Alcott
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Charlotte Bronte
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Leo Tolstoy
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Midnighters series
The Secret Hour
Touching Darkness
Blue Noon
Beautiful Creatures series
Beautiful Creatures
Beautiful Darkness
Beautiful Chaos
Ship Breakers series:
Ship Breakers
The Drowned Cities
Wicked Lovely series
Wicked Lovely
Ink Exchange
Fragile Eternity
Radiant Shadows
Darkest Mercy
The Maze Runner Trilogy
The Maze Runner
The Scorch Trials
The Death Cure
The Graceling Trilogy
Graceling
Fire
Bitterblue
Clockwork Century series
Boneshaker
Dreadnought
Ganymede
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Martian Chronicles
Farenheit 451
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Little Women
Little Vampire Women
Jane Eyre
Jane Slayre
Anna Karenina
Android Karenina
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zombies
witches
werewolf
war
vampires
telepathy
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supernatural creatures
steampunk
sorcery
sci-fi
science
romance
prison
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present-day
past
math
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magic
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male protagonist
humor
horror
history
future
fairies
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female protagonist
fantasy
dystopia
alternate universe
action
Scott Westerfeld
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(Or, instead of a trilogy, you might pick a nice novel with monsters or an old classic romance paired with a monsteriffic reboot, as seen in selections
16-21.)
You’re responsible for acquiring these books on your own from a store, library, or web source, at your own expense and inconvenience.
If you’re in AP World History, stop here for Step two.
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Jared Diamond
Mark Kurlansky
William Manchester
Louise Levathes
Ian Mortimer
Tom Standage
Regine Pernoud
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Guns, Germs, Steel
Salt
Cod
A World Lit Only By Fire
When China Ruled the Seas
The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England
History of the World in Six Glasses
Those Terrible Middle Ages: Debunking the Myths
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zombies
witches
werewolf
war
vampires
telepathy
supernatural creatures
steampunk
sorcery
sci-fi
science
romance
prison
present-day
past
math
magic
male protagonist
humor
horror
history
future
fairies
female protagonist
fantasy
dystopia
alternate universe
action
ALL OTHERS SKIP TO Step three.
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Step two: (AP World History students) Select a nonfiction title from items 22-28.
The nonfiction book you choose will pair well with your summer reading for AP World History, and it will help to hone your global perspective.
When you compare the fiction series with the concepts in the nonfiction book, you’ll have a unique outlook on the struggles of the protagonist.
Step three: Make sure they’re the right books for you.
Now that you’ve got your books picked out, make sure they’re the books for you. Flip through them.
If you’re shopping online, most outlets have this feature now. You can read a few pages of your selection before you buy. If not, read the reviews.
If you’re shopping in a bookstore, open the book and read a page. Don’t worry about spoilers. Just make sure you find the author’s style
interesting, not too complex, and not too simple.
Step four: Read the Books. Read all of the books.
I can hear you now.
“Why? It’s summer! We shouldn’t have to do WORK on our holiday,” you say.
Well, just so you know, this is the school’s policy, not my own, but it’s a good idea for many reasons.
1. Over the summer, your brain will lose some of that edge you’ve built up over the year—especially over the past month of rigorous study—if
you don’t use it. No one wants to deal with the effects of “summer slide” in August.
2. The selections I’ve picked for you to choose from are books that I hope will be FUN for you to read, and they should STIMULATE YOUR
IMAGINATION. I want you to become involved in the life of a fictional character over the summer.
3. The Summer Assignment is GRADED. The grade for this assignment will be the first major grade you receive when school recommences in
the fall, so to start off on the right foot, you do NOT want a zero for it.
So, now you’re wondering what exactly you’ll be assigned to do once you’ve read the books.
Step five: Choose your assignment.
1. The analytical approach: Write a critical analysis of the main character’s evolution throughout the story. As the conflict evolves, how does
the character evolve to meet the challenges that face him or her? How does the author keep the reader empathetic to the character
throughout these changes? (AP students: How has human history (look at the nonfiction book you read) affected the world the author
created for this story and the development of the character’s flaws?) Be insightful. Minimum three pages.
2. The creative writing approach: Continue the story in the style of the original work. Write missing scenes, rewrite an element of the story the
reader through should have been different, write from a different character’s point of view, or change the ending of one or more of the
books. Keep a journal for a month as a character. (AP students: Keep the historical outlook gained through reading the nonfiction book you
selected in mind as you write. Alluding to a historical fact that might be significantly poignant to your character or the world about which
you’re writing is encouraged.) Be creative. 1500 to 5000 words, minimum.
3. The multimedia approach: Film a character’s daily life. Make a video brochure of the place where they live or work or are imprisoned.
Interview the characters on your talk show. Create a theme song and music video for a scene in one of the books. Be creative. Minimum 4
minutes of media.
4. The fine arts approach: Create artwork, preferably in three-dimensions, to illustrate the books. For example, a fine arts project for the Lord
of the Rings trilogy might be a 3D relief map of Middle Earth with hobbits, elves, dwarves, orks, and trees that can be moved around. If your
hobby is photography, create a photojournal of a day in the character’s life, capturing images of each place the character goes and attaching
it to a board with creative captions. Try other creative media: oil and canvas, graffiti, woodwork, dance, theatre, etc. Be Creative. (Note:
Abstract or minimalistic works may require a written explanation of form and substance to accompany the artwork, if so directed by the
teacher.)
5. AP students: (This is just an additional option for you, not a REQUIREMENT for AP students.) The historical perspective approach: Let the
non-fiction book take the front seat for the assignment. Apply historical knowledge that is new to you toward an understanding of the
fiction author’s presentation of human interactions, struggles, conflicts, and treatment of one another in the story. Be insightful. Minimum
three pages.
Always cite your sources using current MLA standards.
Don’t show up to school without this. This assignment will be due on the first day of school. I will ask you for it on the first day of school. If you
have forgotten to bring it because of all the hustle and bustle and mania of the occasion, I will remind you to bring it on the second class day. If
you don’t have it by then, you’ll receive your first 0 of your high school career.