12th Grade CP English – Summer Reading 2013
Mrs. Treece
btreece@westfallschools.com
All students taking 12th grade English are required to do summer reading. College prep students are to
select two books (one fiction and one nonfiction) from the lists provided and complete projects that are due on
the first day of school. Students can either purchase the books or get them from the public library. Books
have been selected that should be enjoyable and interesting. Most of the books are best-sellers and/or award
winners. I will check my email throughout the summer, please email me if you have any questions or
concerns.
Fiction Selections (choose one):
1. Leverage by Joshua Cohen
High school sophomore Danny excels at gymnastics but is bullied, like the rest of the gymnasts, by members of
the football team, until an emotionally and physically scarred new student joins the football team, and they
form an unlikely friendship.
2. Divergent by Veronica Roth
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the
cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave),
Amity (the peaceful), & Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all 16 year-olds must
select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying
with her family & being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone,
including herself.
3. Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick
Amber Appleton, living in a school bus with her mom, refuses to give in to despair and continues visiting the
elderly at a nursing home, teaching English to Korean women, and caring for a Vietnam veteran and his dog,
but a fatal tragedy may prove to be one burden too many for the 17 year-old girl.
4. Ten Mile River by Paul Griffin
Having escaped from juvenile detention centers & foster care, two boys live on their own in an abandoned
shack in a NYC park, making their way by stealing, occasionally working, & trying not to be arrested.
5. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible
but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses,
learns a startling secret about her existence.
6. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives “unwound” and
their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to uphold their beliefs—and,
perhaps, save their own lives.
7. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity
and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal -- a relentless,
agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream.
8. Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu
When her unstable mother dies unexpectedly, 16 year-old Lucy must take control and find a way to keep the
long-held secret of her mother’s compulsive hoarding from being revealed to friends, neighbors, and especially
the media.
9. Shelter: A Mickey Bolitar Novel by Harlan Coben
After Mickey witnesses his father’s death and his mother’s admission into rehab, he is sent to live with his
estranged uncle and change high schools, but when Mickey’s new girlfriend, Ashley, suddenly disappears
Mickey refuses to let another person walk out of his life and follows clues that reveal truths about both Ashley
and Mickey’s father
10. You by Charles Benoit
Fifteen-year-old Kyle discovers the shattering ramifications of the decisions he makes, and does not make,
about school, the girl he likes, and his future.
YOUR PROJECT – A Reading Response Journal:
*You must purchase a composition notebook in order to complete your project.
A Reading Response Journal is a notebook in which you write about your reading. In it you communicate
thoughts and feelings about the novel you are reading. This journal will allow me to see what you were
thinking and what you learned about the selection.
You should:
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Put the title of the book, the author’s name, and your name on the cover of the notebook.
Date each entry.
Write, on average, a page, although the length may vary
Produce at least 25 written entries. All entries must be hand-written. Typed entries will not be
accepted.
What do you write about? You might:
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Make predictions about what will occur next.
Summarize key events.
Write about the characters.
Agree or disagree with the characters’ choices.
Show a personal reaction to the story.
Comment on how a character is changing.
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Relate the novel to your personal life.
Compare the novel to another novel you’ve read.
Explain why you like or dislike the novel.
Tell about literary devices the author uses (imagery details, personification, foreshadowing, moment
of illumination, allusion, etc.)
Non-fiction Selections (choose one):
1. All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg
This haunting, harrowing, gloriously moving recollection of a life on the American margin is the story of Rick
Bragg, who grew up dirt-poor in northeastern Alabama, seemingly destined for either the cotton mills or the
penitentiary, and instead became a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. It is the story
of Bragg's father, a hard-drinking man with a murderous temper and the habit of running out on the people
who needed him most.
But at the center of this soaring memoir is Bragg's mother, who went eighteen years without a new dress so
that her sons could have school clothes and picked other people's cotton so that her children wouldn't have to
live on welfare alone. Evoking these lives--and the country that shaped and nourished them--with artistry,
honesty, and compassion, Rick Bragg brings home the love and suffering that lie at the heart of every family.
The result is unforgettable.
2. I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust by Livia Bitton-Jackson
The author, who was imprisoned in Auschwitz as a teenager, describes her terrible experiences as one of the
camp's few adolescent inmates and the miraculous twists of fates that enabled her to survive.
3. Unsolved Mysteries of History by Paul Aaron
Unsolved Mysteries of American History re-creates the most mystifying events of our past, following some of
our greatest historians as they search for the elusive answers. Spanning more than five centuries--from Leif
Ericsson and Columbus through Watergate and Iran-Contra--Aron makes sense of all the latest discoveries
and speculations. Here is everything you could ever want from a detective story: dramatic twists and turns,
intellectual challenges, frustrating dead-ends, murderous mayhem, and thrilling espionage.
4. Woman Against Slavery by John Anthony Scott
This book focuses on the family background and early experiences which led to the creation of Harriet
Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, a work that had an unequaled impact on public opinion.
5. Bound Feet and Western Dress by Natasha Pang-Mei Chang
"In China, a woman is nothing."
Thus begins the saga of a woman born at the turn of the century to a well-to-do, highly respected Chinese
family, a woman who continually defied the expectations of her family and the traditions of her culture.
Growing up in the perilous years between the fall of the last emperor and the Communist Revolution, Chang
Yu-i's life is marked by a series of rebellions: her refusal as a child to let her mother bind her feet, her
scandalous divorce, and her rise to Vice President of China's first women's bank in her later years.
In the alternating voices of two generations, this dual memoir brings together a deeply textured portrait of a
woman's life in China with the very American story of Yu-i's brilliant and assimilated grandniece, struggling
with her own search for identity and belonging. Written in pitch-perfect prose and alive with detail, Bound
Feet and Western Dress is the story of independent women struggling to emerge from centuries of customs
and duty.
6. A Dublin Girl: Growing Up in the 1930’s by Elaine Crowley
Growing up in a one-room tenement with her parents and two siblings, Elaine Crowley became a shrewd
observer: of the neighborhood within the Liberties, of street life, of poverty, of her father's infidelity, and of
her mother's effort to end his affair. Her memories create a moving portrait of a 1930s Irish family
contending with the pain of adversity and loss, and how love can overcome both.
7. A March to Madness by John Feinstein
It's the book in which America's favorite sportswriter returns to the arena of his most successful bestseller, A
Season on the Brink. It's the book that takes us inside the intensely competitive Atlantic Coast Conference &
paints a portrait of how college baskettball is coached & played at the highest level. It's the book that takes us
onto the courts, into the locker rooms, & inside the high-pressure world of the talented coaches who have
helped make the ACC's nine colleges - Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Clemson, Georgia Tech,
Virginia, Maryland, Wake Forest, & Florida State - world-renowned for their championship basketball teams.
The author's afterword to this edition will recap the ACC's current season & preview the 1998-99 rivalries.
8. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
Into Thin Air is a riveting first-hand account of a catastrophic expedition up Mount Everest. In March 1996,
Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by
celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit
day eight people were dead. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of
the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air
clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in
context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own
anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions.
9. Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger
Return once again to the timeless account of the Permian Panthers of Odessa--the winningest high-school
football team in Texas history. Odessa is not known to be a town big on dreams, but the Panthers help keep
the hopes and dreams of this small, dusty town going. Socially and racially divided, its fragile economy follows
the treacherous boom-bust path of the oil business. In bad times, the unemployment rate barrels out of
control; in good times, its murder rate skyrockets. But every Friday night from September to December, when
the Permian High School Panthers play football, this West Texas town becomes a place where dreams can
come true. With frankness and compassion, H. G. Bissinger chronicles a season in the life of Odessa and
shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires--and sometimes shatters-the teenagers who wear the Panthers' uniforms.
10. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down explores the clash between a small county hospital in California
and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Lia's
parents and her doctors both wanted what was best for Lia, but the lack of understanding between them led to
tragedy.
You are to read the non-fiction selection and select ten specific events in the book to journal about. You must
write a detailed summary of what happened and share why that particular events has meaning for you. It
could be because you find it particularly interesting, you have a personal connection to that event, you find it
inspiring, etc. You should add this into the same notebook used for the Reading Response Journal. You
should have room to include this information in the back of the notebook. This must be hand-written also.
The events you select should be taken from throughout the book (beginning, middle, and end)!
Each project will be worth 100 points
Grading on projects:
90-100 points:
Information presented shows higher-level thinking and insightful ideas. Writing
contains few errors and is easy to read. Student has included ALL requested
components of each project and has followed all instructions given.
80-89 points:
Project is complete, but seems rushed at times (as if student has good ideas but does not
seem to explore or expound on them deeply enough). Writing is legible, but contains
some careless errors.
70-79 points:
Project may be missing some components or ideas are weak and not well thought out.
Project seems hastily done at times. Writing may be messy or hard to read.
50-69 points:
Project is incomplete, messy, or much too basic for senior-level English
0-49 points:
This amount of points will be given if projects are less than half complete.
PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO DO YOUR SUMMER READING. IF YOU DO NOT DO THESE
PROJECTS, YOUR SENIOR YEAR WILL NOT START OFF WELL IN LANGUAGE ARTS CLASS!