Good Hope School
English KLA
Summer Reading Programme 2014
Summer is the best time for reading, and in order to help you make the most of this time the English and
Literature Panels have produced a list of books that you might enjoy reading. There are books of many
different genres and levels of difficulty so there is plenty for you to choose from. Don’t miss this
opportunity to sharpen up your language skills!
What should you do?
1. Choose the list for the form you will be in next year.
For example: if you are now a Secondary 1 student in Year 2013-2014 and will be promoted to Secondary
2 in Year 2014-2015, you should follow Pre-Secondary 2 reading list.
2. Enjoy the books on the list and complete the following tasks:
Pre S1-Pre S3 students:
Read as many books on the list as possible. Complete the tasks listed below using a different
book for each task. Your journals will be collected and graded by your English teacher in
September. You will also be asked to make presentations on some of the books you read during
English lessons and/or in your reading periods.
1.
Pretend you are a character in the book and write a diary entry.
2.
Make a timeline of the events of the story. Explain it.
3.
Make a series of 5 drawings depicting the major turning points in the story. Describe them.
4.
Create another character for the story. Tell how things would change with this new character's
presence.
5.
Rewrite your favorite part of the book using yourself as a character and a favourite place as a
setting.
6.
Create a poster advertising the book. Explain it.
7.
Construct a crossword puzzle of words and their definitions from the story.
8.
Write and illustrate a poem about the story.
9.
Design the front page of a newspaper with headlines and a story about what happened in the book.
10.
Draw a movie poster advertising the story, and cast a real actor in each character's role. Explain it.
11.
Pretend you are a movie critic. Criticize the book as if it were a movie.
12.
Sketch a portrait of a character and write a paragraph describing everything about him or her.
13.
Draw a map of the area where the story took place. Indicate where each event occurred and be sure
to include a key.
14.
Make a display of items mentioned in the book. Explain their significance.
1
15.
Construct a scrapbook of your favorite character. Explain it.
16.
Write a letter from a character to the reader explaining his or her actions in the story.
17.
Write a letter to a character telling them how you feel about them and why.
18.
Write a letter to the author giving your reactions to their book.
19.
Explain how the story would have been different if some major event had happened differently.
20.
Write about the most exciting part, or the most boring part, of the story.
21.
Rewrite your favorite part of the book using yourself as a character and a favorite place as a
setting.
22.
Write a book review that might be published in a newspaper.
23.
Pretend you are a character in the book. Describe your experience in the story during a conflict.
24.
Write the same story plot, only use a different setting (time and place).
25.
Plan a party that your characters would want to attend from your book. Where would they enjoy
going, what kind of food would they want to eat, what would they wear...?
26.
If you had written this book, what part would you have written differently? Explain what would
have happened if some major event had happened differently.
27.
Write a letter to the author giving reactions to the book.
28.
What object, person, or animal from this book would you most want to have at your house?
Explain why.
29.
Pretend you are a newspaper reporter whose job is to interview one of the characters. Write your
interview.
30.
Create a newspaper page for your story. Summarize the plot in one of your articles. Cover the
weather in another. Include an editorial and a collection of ads that would be pertinent to the story.
31.
Write a letter to the main character of the book asking questions or making complaints about the
situations in the book.
32.
Write a letter from one character to you, the reader, explaining his or her actions in the story.
33.
If you could change places with one of the characters, who would it be and why?
34.
Which character from the book would make a good friend? Why?
35.
Write about one problem in this story and how the character(s) solved it. Was it a good solution?
Why or why not?
36.
Why did the author write this story? Express your opinions.
37.
Compare and contrast your story with another you have read. Remember to include how the novels
are alike and how they are different.
2
38.
Describe the setting of the story, where and when it took place. Think about the setting of this story.
Write about why you would or would not like to spend a week visiting this place.
39.
Choose one character in this story. Think about what the character was like at the beginning of the
story. Write about how the character has changed by the end of the story. What events led up to the
changes in the character?
40.
Write a letter to a character in the story telling them about your reaction to him or her in the book.
41.
Pretend that you have been chosen to write a sequel to this story. Write a brief summary of the
sequel. Include information about the sequel's plot, setting and main characters.
42.
Write a letter to one of the characters in the novel. Ask him/her questions as well as telling them all
about yourself.
43.
Which character is most like you? Why do you think this?
44.
You have become a character in one of the novels. Describe your experience during a conflict.
45.
Create a triorama (check it out on Youtube) for your novel that depicts the most important scene.
Write a summary of this scene, explaining its role in the storyline.
46.
Design a story map for your novel. Include important information such as characters, setting, and
the plot. Write a brief explanation of your map.
47.
Try to write a short dialogue in the style of the author. Explain the language features you are trying
to show.
Pre S4-S6 students:
Read as many books on the list as possible. Be prepared for your SBA to be conducted in October.
You will be asked questions on the listed books and will be asked to make a presentation or take part in a
discussion. There will be questions covering all the books on the list, so you will have some choice in
which questions to answer. The more you read, the more bonus marks you can gain.
3
Pre-Secondary One Reading List
Title
Author
Lexile
(difficulty
level)
980
No. of
pages
Summary
74
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly
shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel
written by English author Lewis Carroll. It tells of a
girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a
fantasy world populated by peculiar creatures.
August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that,
up until now, has prevented him from going to a
mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher
Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an
ordinary kid - but his new classmates can’t get past
Auggie’s extraordinary face. WONDER, begins from
Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include
his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others.
These perspectives converge in a portrait of one
community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and
acceptance.
Non-fiction. In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland,
a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their
home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next
two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the
Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in
the "Secret Annex" of an old office building. Cut off
from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom,
the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters,
and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In
her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of
her experiences during this period. By turns
thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a
fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty
and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and
spirited young woman whose promise was tragically
cut short.
When two Mongolian brothers inexplicably appear
one morning in Julie's sixth grade class, no one, least
of all Julie, knows what to do with them. But when
Chingis, the older of the two brothers, proclaims Julie
as their "Good Guide" - a nomadic tradition of
welcoming strangers to a new land - Julie must
somehow explain soccer, school uniforms, and British
slang, all while trying to win Shocky's attention and
perhaps also an invitation to her friend Mimi's house.
At times funny, this moving and simply-told story tugs
at the heart. A unique tale of immigration both fierce
in its telling and magical in its characters.
1
Alice’s
Adventures in
Wonderland
Lewis
Carroll
2
Wonder
R.J.
Palacio
790
320
3
The Diary of
Anne Frank
Anne
Frank
1080
304
4
The
Unforgotten
Coat
Frank
Cottrell
Boyce
710
112
4
(Book summaries edited and adapted from amazon.com)
5
The Tale of
Despereaux
Kate
DiCamillo
670
272
6
Kensuke's
Kingdom
Michael
Morpurgo
730
176
7
The Wind in
the Willows
Kenneth
Grahame
940
184
Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse
who is in love with music, stories, and a princess
named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro,
who lives in the darkness but dreams about a world
filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a
slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple but
impossible wish. These three characters are about to
embark on a journey that will lead them down into a
horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and,
ultimately, into each other’s lives.
Description: When Michael is washed up on an island
in the Pacific after falling from his parent's yacht, the
Peggy Sue, he struggles to survive on his own. But he
soon realises there is someone close by, someone who
is watching over him and helping him to stay alive.
Following a close-run battle between life and death
after being stung by a poisonous jelly fish, the
mysterious someone – Kensuke – allows Michael into
his world and they become friends, teaching and
learning from each other, until the day of separation
becomes inevitable.
Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale of the pleasures of
country life and the dependability of good friends will
never grow old. Follow the most treasured moments
from THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS - Mole’s first
enraptured row on the river, Toad’s irrepressible
adventures in and out of automobiles, and many more.
So gather ’round to read or listen, and, as Mole and
Rat would heartily agree, a fine time will be had by
all.
5
Pre-Secondary Two Reading List
Title
Author
Lexile
(difficulty
level)
1
No. of
pages
Summary
(Book summaries edited and adapted from amazon.com)
The
Adventures of
Huckleberry
Finn
Mark
Twain
810
244
Meet Huckleberry Finn—orphan, treasure hunter, friend to
the infamous Tom Sawyer and the slave
Jim—Huckleberry must escape the clutches of his
drunken father, endure the strict rules of the widow and
find freedom on his raft on the Mississippi River.
2
Alice’s
Adventures in
Wonderland
Lewis
Carroll
980
74
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened
to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by
English author Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice
who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world
populated by peculiar creatures.
3
Love that Dog
Sharon
Creech
1010
128
Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech's Love That Dog, a
funny, sweet, original short novel written in free verse,
introduces us to an endearingly unassuming,
straight-talking boy who discovers the powers and
pleasures of poetry. Against his will. After all, "boys don't
write poetry. Girls do." What does he say of the famous
poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", or
William Carlos Williams’ poem about the Red
Wheelbarrow?
4
Millions
Frank
Cottrell
Boyce
650
272
5
Once
Morris
Gleitzman
640
176
His favorite poem of all is a short, rhythmic one by Walter
Dean Myers called "Love That Boy”. The words
completely captivate him, reminding him of the loving
way his dad calls him in the morning and of the way he
used to call his yellow dog, Sky. Jack's reverence for the
poem ultimately leads to meeting the poet himself, an
experience he will never forget.
It was a one-in-a-million chance. A bag crammed with
cash comes tumbling out of the air and lands right at
Damian's feet. Suddenly the Cunningham brothers are
rich. Very rich. They can buy anything they want. There's
just one problem - they have only seventeen days to spend
all the money before it becomes worthless. And the crooks
who stole the cash in the first place are closing in - fast!
Felix, a Jewish boy in Poland in 1942, is hiding from the
Nazis in a Catholic orphanage. The only problem is that
he doesn't know anything about the war, and thinks he's
only in the orphanage while his parents travel and try to
salvage their bookselling business. When he thinks his
parents are in danger, Felix sets off to warn them - straight
into the heart of Nazi-occupied Poland! To Felix,
everything is a story: Why did he get a whole carrot in his
soup? It must be a sign that his parents are coming to get
him. Why are the Nazis burning books? They must be
foreign librarians sent to clean out the orphanage's
outdated library. But as Felix's journey gets increasingly
6
dangerous, he begins to see horrors that not even stories
can explain. Despite his grim surroundings, Felix never
loses hope. Morris Gleitzman takes a painful subject and
expertly turns it into a story filled with love, friendship,
and even humor.
6
Looking for
Alaska
7
John
Green
930
160
The Boy in the John
Striped
Boyne
Pyjamas
1080
240
8
The Girl
Mechanic of
Wanzhou
Majorie
Sayer
620
184
9
Gratitude: The
seven
character
strengths of
highly
successful
students
Arie
Kaplan
--
--
Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home.
His whole life has been one big non-event, and his
obsession with famous last words has only made him
crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais,
poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and
anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding
School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because
down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever,
funny, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an
event in herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches
him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart, and
nothing is the same again…..
When Bruno returns home from school one day, he
discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates.
His father has received a promotion and the family must
move from their home to a new house far, far away, where
there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence
running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and
cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the
distance. But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides
that there must be more to this desolate new place than
meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he
meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very
different to his own, and their meeting results in a
friendship that has devastating consequences.
Twelve year old Zun lives in China, 1902. Like her father,
she’s at home in the world of machines. She knows
whether to grease or oil, how to true a wheel, and the
heartbreak of over-tightening. She believes great times are
ahead, as soon as her father builds China’s first bicycle
factory. That dream halts one terrible night.
E-book. Non-fiction. Gratitude has a way of increasing
the good things that come to and from us, as positivity
creates positivity.
7
Pre-Secondary Three Reading List
Title
Author
Lexile
(difficulty
level)
1170
No.
Summary
(Book summaries edited and adapted from amazon.com)
of
pages
150
A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated
animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans,
they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice,
and equality. A timeless, political allegory from
George Orwell.
448
Meet Ingrid Levin-Hill, 13, football player, amateur
detective and aspiring actress. This story offers a bit of
everything. Ingrid, cast as Alice for her community
theatre production of Alice in Wonderland, discovers
there is more to the theatre than acting. She must
travel ‘down the rabbit hole’ to uncover the mystery
behind the death of an odd woman. Her involvement
in the police investigation puts her in contact with the
police chief’s son, the handsome, Joey Strade. Can
Ingrid solve the murder, perform as Alice and keep her
budding romance alive?
1
Animal Farm
George
Orwell
2
Down the Rabbit
Hole (Echo Falls
Mystery)
Peter
680
Abrahams
3
Inside Out and
Back Again
Thanha
Lai
800
260
Inside Out and Back Again is a New York
Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor Book, and a winner
of the National Book Award! Inspired by the author's
childhood experience of fleeing Vietnam after the Fall
of Saigon and emigrating to Alabama, this
coming-of-age debut novel, told in verse, has been
celebrated for its touching child's-eye view of family
and immigration.
4
Number the Stars
Lois
Lowry
670
144
5
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi
Picoult
840
432
6
The Fault in our
Stars
John
Green
850
322
It's 1943 Copenhagen and the Jews of Denmark are
being "relocated," so Annemarie Johansen's best
friend, Ellen, moves in with the Johansens and
pretends to be part of the family. When Annemarie is
asked to go on a dangerous mission, she must find the
courage to save her friend's life.
Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age
thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries,
transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate,
can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her
since childhood. The product of pre-implantation
genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone
marrow match for Kate - a life and a role that she has
never challenged... until now. Like most teenagers,
Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But
unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in
terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that
for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will
tear her family apart and perhaps have fatal
consequences for the sister she loves.
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has
bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything
but terminal, her final chapter already written in her
diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named
8
Augustus Waters suddenly appears at her Cancer Kid
Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely
rewritten.
7. Chinese Cinderella
Adeline
Yen Mah
960
224
8
Sing Down the
Moon
Scott
O’Dell
820
144
9
Real Life Ghost
Encounters
Jeff
Belanger
--
--
Non-fiction. A riveting memoir of a girl's painful
coming-of-age in a wealthy Chinese family during the
1940s. A Chinese proverb says, "Falling leaves return
to their roots." In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen
Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful
childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the
face of despair. Adeline's affluent, powerful family
considers her bad luck after her mother dies giving
birth to her. Life does not get any easier when her
father remarries. She and her siblings are subjected to
the disdain of her stepmother, while her stepbrother
and stepsister are spoiled. Although Adeline wins
prizes at school, they are not enough to compensate for
what she really yearns for - the love and understanding
of her family. Following the success of the critically
acclaimed adult bestseller Falling Leaves, this memoir
is a moving telling of the classic Cinderella story, with
Adeline Yen Mah providing her own courageous
voice.
The Navajo tribe's forced march from their homeland
to Fort Sumner by white soldiers and settlers is
dramatically and courageously told by young Bright
Morning.
E-book. Non-fiction. People love to share their
personal encounters with ghosts and other spooky
subjects. There are hundreds if not thousands of ghost
encounters on the Internet. This volume delves deep
into some of the most famous stories of all time to get
the scoop on what really happened.
9
Pre-Secondary Four Reading List
Title
Author
1
Emma
Jane Austen
Lexile
(difficulty
level)
1080
No.
of
pages
512
2
A Walk to
Remember
Nicholas Sparks
1010
256
3
Poetry for
Young
People:
Robert
Frost*
Gary D. Schmidt
(Editor), Henri
Sorensen (Illustrator)
-
48
4
I Am
Malala
Malala: The Yousafzai and Christina
Lamb
Girl Who
Stood Up for
Education
and Was
Shot by the
Taliban
464
10
Summary
(Book summaries edited and adapted from
amazon.com)
Beautiful, clever, rich—and single—Emma
Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life
and sees no need for either love or marriage.
Nothing, however, delights her more than
interfering in the romantic lives of others.
But when she ignores the warnings of her
good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to
arrange a suitable match for her protegee
Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon
unravel and have consequences that she
never expected.
In 1958 Landon Carter is a shallow but
well-meaning teenager who spends most of
his time hanging out with his friends and
trying hard to ignore the impending
responsibilities of adulthood. Then Landon
gets roped into acting the lead in the
Christmas play opposite the most renowned
goody two-shoes in town: Jamie Sullivan.
Against his best intentions and the taunts of
his buddies, Landon finds himself falling for
Jamie and learning some central lessons in
life.
This collection of 25 poems introduces
Robert Frost to young people. The selections
are arranged by the seasons and Sorensen's
handsome watercolour illustrations capture
the feel of the New England landscape.
There's an excellent biographical essay and,
at the bottom of each page, Schmidt provides
a brief note on some of the possible ways to
read the lines...These nature poems show
that poetry holds feelings and ideas that
everyone can understand.
Non-fiction. When the Taliban took control
of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl
spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be
silenced and fought for her right to an
education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012,
when she was fifteen, she almost paid the
ultimate price. She was shot in the head at
point-blank range while riding the bus home
from school and few expected her to
survive.
5
The Coral
Island
6
7
R. M. Ballantyne
1250
296
Michael Robertson
-
277

The Baker
Street
Letters
A Long Way
Gone:
Memoirs of
a Boy
Soldier
Ishmael Beah
920
229

Compulsory for students taking Literature in English
11
One night, an awful storm burst upon our
ship. The first squall of wind carried away
two of our masts, and left only the foremast
standing. There was no room for me upon
the lifeboat; but being left behind saved my
life -- and the lives of Peterkin and Jack
Martin, my two companions. "Come, boys,"
said Jack Martin in a grave tone as we stood
on the quarterdeck awaiting our fate -- "You
see it is impossible that the little boat can
reach the shore, crowded with men." He had
us take hold of a loose oar, and guided us to
shelter on a deserted coral isle. . . and that
is the beginning of my harrowing tale.
In Los Angeles, a geological surveyor maps
out a proposed subway route—and then goes
missing. His eight-year-old daughter in her
desperation turns to the one person she thinks
might help—she writes a letter to Sherlock
Holmes.
That letter creates an uproar at 221b Baker
Street, which now houses the law offices of
attorney and man about town Reggie Heath
and his hapless brother Nigel. Instead of
filing the letter like he’s supposed to, Nigel
decides to investigate. Soon he’s flying off to
L.A., inconsiderately leaving a very dead
body on the floor in his office. His big
brother, Reggie, must come to the rescue.
Non-fiction. This absorbing account by a
young man who, as a boy of 12, gets swept
up in Sierra Leone's civil war goes beyond
even the best journalistic efforts in revealing
the life and mind of a child abducted into the
horrors of warfare. Beah's harrowing journey
transforms him overnight from a child
enthralled by American hip-hop music and
dance to an internal refugee bereft of family,
wandering from village to village in a
country grown deeply divided by the
indiscriminate atrocities of unruly,
sociopathic rebel and army forces. Told in
clear, accessible language by a young writer
with a gifted literary voice, this memoir
seems destined to become a classic firsthand
account of war and the ongoing plight of
child soldiers in conflicts worldwide.
Pre-Secondary Five Reading List
Title
Author
Lexile
No. of
(difficulty pages
level)
1070
240
1
The Great Gatsby
F.Scott
Fitzgerald
2
The Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the
Galaxy
Douglas
Adams
1000
208
3
Nocturnes: Five
Stories of Music
and Nightfall
Kazuo
Ishiguro
-
240
4
Shakespeare: The
World as a Stage
Bill Bryson
-
208
Frances
Schoonmaker
Bolin (Editor),
Chi Chung
(Illustrator)
-
48
(Eminent Lives
Series) 
5
Poetry for Young
People: Emily
Dickinson*

Compulsory for students taking Literature in English
12
Summary
One of the great classics of
twentieth-century literature, this is the story
of the fabulously wealthy, but equally
mysterious, Jay Gatsby. It perfectly
captures the atmosphere and attitudes of the
young and the wealthy in 'roaring twenties'
America.
Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur
Dent as he travels the galaxy with his
intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into
horrible messes and generally wreaking
hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth
moments before a cosmic construction team
obliterates the planet to build a freeway.
You'll never read a funnier science fiction
book.
With the clarity and precision that have
become his trademarks, Kazuo Ishiguro
interlocks five short pieces of fiction to
create a world that resonates with emotion,
heartbreak, and humor. Here is a fragile,
once famous singer, turning his back on the
one thing he loves; a music junky with little
else to offer his friends but opinion; a
songwriter who inadvertently breaks up a
marriage; a jazz musician who thinks the
answer to his career lies in changing his
physical appearance; and a young cellist
whose tutor has devised a remarkable way
to foster his talent.
Non-fiction. William Shakespeare, the most
celebrated poet in the English language, left
behind nearly a million words of text, but
his biography has long been a thicket of
wild supposition arranged around scant
facts. With a steady hand and his trademark
wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful
muddle to reveal the man himself.
Enter the world of Emily Dickinson where
even the most ordinary things can turn
magical. In addition to a brief biography of
Dickinson, there are more than 35
much-loved poems include “I'm nobody,
who are you?” and “I started early, took my
dog."
6
The Poisonwood
Bible
Barbara
Kingsolver
960
576
7
If You Could See
Me Now
Cecelia Ahern
-
336
13
Missionary Nathan Price along with his
wife and four daughters set off to Africa
in The Poisonwood Bible. The year is
1959 and the place is the Belgian Congo.
Nathan, a Baptist preacher, has come to
spread the Word in a remote village
reachable only by airplane. They've arrived
in the middle of political upheaval as the
Congolese seek to wrest independence from
Belgium. In addition to poisonous snakes,
dangerous animals, and the hostility of the
villagers to Nathan's fiery take-no-prisoners
brand of Christianity, there are also rebels in
the jungle and the threat of war in the air.
Elizabeth Egan's life runs on order: Both her
home and her emotions are arranged just so,
with little room for spontaneity. It's how she
counteracts the chaos of her family--an
alcoholic mother who left when she was
young, an emotionally distant father, and a
free-spirited sister, who seems to be
following in their mother's footsteps,
leaving her own six-year old son, Luke, in
Elizabeth's care. When Ivan, Luke's
mysterious new grown-up friend, enters the
picture, Elizabeth doesn’t know quite what
to make of him. With his penchant for
adventure and a colorful take on things
large and small, Ivan opens Elizabeth's eyes
to a whole new way of living. But is it for
real? Is Ivan for real?
Pre-Secondary Six Reading List
Title
Author
Lexile
No. of
(difficulty pages
level)
1120
192
1
Persuasion
Jane Austen
2
Heart of
Darkness
Joseph
Conrad
1050
144
3
The
Notebook
Nicholas
Sparks
850
239
4
Hateship,
Friendship,
Courtship,
Loveship,
Marriage
Alice
Munro
--
323
14
Summary
This superb novel, autumnal and mellow in
tone, concerns the lives and loves of the
Elliot family and their friends and relatives,
in particular the thwarted romance between
Anne Elliot (Austen's sweetest, most
appealing heroine) and Captain Frederick
Wentworth. Finely drawn characters, gentle
satire and wonderful recreation of genteel
life in the English countryside.
Heart of Darkness is the thrilling tale of
Marlow, a seaman and wanderer recounting
his physical and psychological journey in
search of the infamous ivory trader Kurtz.
Traveling upriver into the heart of the
African continent, he gradually becomes
obsessed by this enigmatic, wraith-like
figure. Marlow's discovery of how Kurtz has
gained his position of power over the local
people involves him in a radical questioning,
not only of his own nature and values, but of
those that underpin Western civilization
itself.
In 1932, two North Carolina teenagers from
opposite sides of the tracks fall in love.
Spending one idyllic summer together in the
small town of New Bern, Noah Calhoun and
Allie Nelson do not meet again for 14 years.
Noah has returned from WWII to restore the
house of his dreams, having inherited a large
sum of money. Allie, is set marry an
ambitious, prosperous man, has become
engaged to powerful attorney Lon
Hammond. When she reads a newspaper
story about Noah's restoration project, she
shows up on his porch step, re-entering his
life for two days. Will Allie leave Lon for
Noah?
In the her tenth collection (the title story of
which is the basis for the new film Hateship
Loveship), Alice Munro achieves new
heights, creating narratives that loop and
swerve like memory, and conjuring up
characters as thorny and contradictory as
people we know ourselves.
5
Death of a
Salesman
6
7
Arthur
Miller
1320
144
The
Alexander
Number
McCall
One Ladies’ Smith
Detective
Agency
-
235
Poetry for
Young
People:
Maya
Angelou
-
48
Dr. Edwin
Graves
Wilson
Ph.D.
(Editor),
Jerome
Lagarrigue
(Illustrator)

Compulsory for students taking Literature in English
15
Fiction. Play. Ever since it was first
performed in 1949, Death of a Salesman has
been recognized as a milestone of the
American theater. In the person of Willy
Loman, the aging, failing salesman who
makes his living riding on a smile and a
shoeshine, Arthur Miller redefined the tragic
hero as a man whose dreams are at once
insupportably vast and dangerously
insubstantial. He has given us a figure whose
name has become a symbol for a kind of
majestic grandiosity—and a play that
compresses epic extremes of humor and
anguish, promise and loss, between the four
walls of an American living room.
Set in Botswana, this first novel in
Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series
tells the story of the delightfully cunning and
enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe,
who is drawn to her profession to “help
people with problems in their lives.”
Immediately upon setting up shop in a small
storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track
down a missing husband, uncover a con
man, and follow a wayward daughter. But
the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her
in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy,
who may have been snatched by
witchdoctors.
Award-winning writer, historian, and civil
rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou is a true
American icon. Twenty-five of her finest
poems capture a range of emotions and
experiences, from the playful “Harlem
Hopscotch” to the prideful “Me and My
Work” to the soul-stirring “Still I Rise.”
Award-winning artist Jerome Lagarrigue
masterfully illustrates each verse, and
renowned academic Dr. Edwin Graves
Wilson, a longtime colleague of Dr.
Angelou, has written the book's introduction,
introductions to the poems, and annotations.