St. Margaret’s School
Tappahannock, Virginia
22560
Dear
I understand from Mrs. Farmer that you are enrolled in Advanced Placement
United States History and Government. This will be a challenging class since our
goal is to finish the material by early May and to prepare in such a way that you
will be ready to take an examination which may qualify you for college credit. With
this ambitious goal in mind, I am enclosing a reading list.
These books may substitute for or be in addition to the school summer reading list. I
will read and grade the books you choose from this list. I have tried to pick books
that focus on people and how life and time both make history.
Requirements
1. Read any 2 books. (It would be an advantage to choose from different
time periods.) Remember you need a total
of 3 for the school requirement.
2. Respond by using the attached questions.
3. Having the assignment finished on time is a must.
The List
Love and Hate in Jamestown : John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation
(Vintage) (Paperback)
by David A. Price
Big Chief Elizabeth : The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America
(Paperback)
by Giles Milton
What Would the Founders Do?: Our Questions, Their Answers (Hardcover)
by Richard Brookhiser
Founding Father (Paperback)
by Richard Brookhiser
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, American (Paperback)
by Richard Brookhiser
American Sphinx : The Character of Thomas Jefferson (Vintage) (Paperback)
by Joseph J. Ellis
Founding Mothers : The Women Who Raised Our Nation (Paperback)
by Cokie Roberts
Miracle At Philadelphia : The Story of the Constitutional Convention May - September
1787 (Paperback)
by Catherine Drinker Bowen
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the
American West (Paperback)
by Stephen Ambrose
Strength And Honor: The Life Of Dolley Madison (Hardcover)
by Richard N. Cote
The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier (Hardcover)
by Scott Zesch
The Age of Gold : The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream (Paperback)
by H.W. Brands
The Boys' War : Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War (Paperback)
by Jim Murphy
America Goes to War: The Civil War and Its Meaning in American Culture (Paperback)
by Bruce Catton
April 1865: The Month That Saved America (Paperback)
by Jay Winik
LINCOLN (Paperback)
by David Herbert Donald
General Lee: A Biography of Robert E. Lee (Paperback)
by Fitzhugh Lee
America 1900: The Sweeping Story of a Pivotal Year in the Life of a Nation (Paperback)
by Judy Crichton
Only Yesterday : An Informal History of the 1920's (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)
by Frederick L. Allen
Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940 : How Americans Lived During the Roaring
Twenties and the Great Depression (Paperback)
by David E. Kyvig
Since Yesterday : The 1930's in America, September 3, 1929 to September 3, 1939
(Paperback)
by Frederick L. Allen
The Longest Day: The Classic Epic of D-Day (Paperback)
by Cornelius Ryan
The Greatest Generation (Paperback)
by Tom Brokaw
The Greatest Generation Speaks : Letters and Reflections (Paperback)
by Tom Brokaw
Slaves in the Family (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)
by Edward Ball
Having Our Say : The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (Paperback)
by Sarah L. Delany, A. Elizabeth Delany, Amy Hill Hearth
First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents (Paperback)
by Bonnie Angelo
Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to
1970 (Paperback)
by Lynne Olson
The Sixties : Years of Hope, Days of Rage (Paperback)
by Todd Gitlin
RONALD REAGAN: HOW AN ORDINARY MAN BECAME AN EXTRAORDINARY
LEADER (Paperback)
by Dinesh D'Souza
Questions
Summer Reading will be one of your first grades in the 1st trimester. In thoughtful paragraphs,
which represent careful reading, answer all of the following questions.
1. Which person faced the greatest challenge? What was that challenge? What methods did the
person use to overcome the challenge?
2. All biography is really about what we value. Comment on three core values you
Demonstrated in what you read? What are the values? Why are they Important?
How have you used them in your life?
3. Character is developed by how we deal with loss. Describe a great loss someone
In the book had to endure. What methods did the person use to deal with the loss?
What element of character was built by facing the loss and by taking action?
4. How does the author develop the importance of a "sense of place"? How does
The importance of "place" influence the characters in the story?
5. History is the story of people in time. How is the time of the book you read
Different from your time? How it the same?
Happy reading! Remember the discount you get by ordering through the St.
Margaret’s School Amazon.com bookstore. I look forward to having you in this class
next year. If you have any questions, feel free to call over the summer. My Number
is 804-443-3563.
Yours truly,
Louise M. Velletri
Head of the History Department