10 Grade Reading List
All Sophomores will read The Alchemist by Paul Coelho and one book
from the choice list.
The Alchemist by Paul Coelho
Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy, sets
out from his home in Spain to the Egyptian
desert in search of buried treasure, but
through his encounters with a Gypsy
woman, a man who calls himself a king, and
an Alchemist, he learns the value of the
treasures found within himself.
Required reading for all 10th Grade Standard English
Choose one from the choice list below
(1 fiction or non-fiction or 3 graphic novels)
10th Grade Choice List - Fiction
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Henry Lee, a Chinese American in Seattle in 1986, comes upon a crowd
gathered outside the Panama Hotel, where the new owner has discovered the
belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during
World War II, and the opening of a long-lost parasol sends Henry's thoughts
back to 1940 and the memory of an innocent love.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Friends Snow Flower and Lily find solace in their bond as they face isolation,
arranged marriages, loss, and motherhood in nineteenth-century China.
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
A traditional peasant woman in early twentieth-century India struggles
with poverty and the changes arriving in her agrarian village,
particularly the tanning factory that takes her son's life.
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
On November 25, 1960 , the bodies of three sisters were found near the bottom
of a cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic . The official daily 'El
Caribe' reports that it had been an accident, but it does not mention that a fourth
sister lives. Nor does it mention the sisters' fierce opposition to the General
Trujillo's dictatorship.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Daj Sijie
Two boys, moved to the country for "re-education" as part of Mao's Cultural
Revolution, find little to amuse them, but things change when they discover a stash
of Western classics in Chinese translation and use the stories of Balzac to capture
the attention of the beautiful daughter of the local tailor.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Amir, haunted by his betrayal of Hassan, the son of his father's servant and a
childhood friend, returns to Kabul as an adult after he learns Hassan has been
killed, in an attempt to redeem himself by rescuing Hassan's son from a life of
slavery to a Taliban official.
What is the What : the Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng : a Novel by
Dave Eggers
A fictionalized memoir of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee who was
forced from his home by the Second Sudanese Civil War and faced many
difficulties before coming to the United States.
10th Grade Choice List – Non-Fiction
My Forbidden Face : Growing up under the Taliban: A Young
Woman's Story by Latifa, Shekeba Hachemi, Linda Coverdale
(Translator)
In a moving tale of oppression and courageous defiance, sixteenyear-old Latifa tells her story of growing up in war torn
Afghanistan.
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
The author chronicles his impoverished childhood in Limerick,
Ireland, in the 1930s and 1940s, describing his father's alcoholism
and talent for storytelling; the challenges and tragedies his mother
faced, including the loss of three children; and his early
experiences in the Catholic church, and balances painful memories
with humor.
The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara
The author writes of her experiences as a child in Sierra Leone
during the brutal war of the 1990s. her hands cut off by rebels, she
must endure a long walk to get medical aid. She survives to
become an active speaker and leader in UNICEF.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael
Beah
Ishmael Beah describes his experiences after he was driven from
his home by war in Sierra Leone and picked up by the government
army at the age of thirteen, serving as a soldier for three years
before being removed from fighting by UNICEF and eventually
moving to the United States.
Graphic
Novels
You must read all three books in this
category
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (stories/graphic
novel)
Alternates three interrelated stories about the problems of young
Chinese Americans trying to participate in the popular culture.
Presented in comic book format.
Winner of the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Contains black-and-white comic strip images in which the author
shares the story of her life in Tehran, Iran, where she lived from
ages six to fourteen while the country came under control of the
Islamic regime.
Maus by Art Spiegelman
A memoir about Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's
Europe, and about his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms
with his father, his story, and with history itself. Cartoon format
portrays Jews as mice and Nazis as cats.