Northern Valley Regional High School District
English Department
Summer Readings 2015-2016
All seniors must read a choice of one of the following: Acceptance by David
Marcus, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn, City of
Thieves by David Benioff, Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt, A
Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony
Doerr, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larsen, Let the Great
World Spin by Colum McCann, Once We Were Brothers by Ronald Balson
Seniors taking Asian Literature Honors must ALSO read: The Bonesetter’s
Daughter by Amy Tan
Seniors taking World Mythology and Archetypal Literature must ALSO read:
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Seniors taking English Literature and Composition Advanced Placement
English must ALSO read: How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C.
Foster AND The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Students taking Language and Composition Advanced Placement in Demarest
must ALSO read Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood in addition to their other
assignments. Students Taking Language and Composition Advanced Placement
in Old Tappan must ALSO read Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury in addition
to their other assignments.
All juniors must read a choice of one of the following: High Fidelity by Nick
Hornby, The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins,
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the
Heart of Italy by Joe McGinniss, The Fear Index by Robert Harris,A Higher Call: An
Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II by
Adam Makos, Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting by in America by Barbara
Ehrenreich, or Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
Junior Honors must ALSO read: 1984 by George Orwell
All sophomores must read a choice of one of the following: The Art of Racing in
the Rain by Garth Stein, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, Into the Wild by John
Krakauer, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosney, Pigs in Heaven by Barbara
Kingsolver, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric
Schlosser, The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, An Invisible Thread: The True
Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting
With Destiny by Laura Schroff, or Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol
Dwek
Sophomore Honors must ALSO read: The Crucible by Arthur Miller AND the
short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula LeGuin.
Sophomore Honors students must ALSO view The Crucible (1996) directed by
Nicholas Hytner.
All freshmen must read a choice of one of the following:
Look me in the Eye: My Life with Aspergers by John Elder Robison, They Cage the
Animals at Night by Jennings Michael Burch, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy
Soldier by Ishmael Beah, I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education And Was
Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park,
Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas
Freshmen Honors should ALSO read: Flowers for Algernon (the novel) by Daniel
Keyes