2022 Summer Reading

Overview:       The “Book Talks” program involves the entire faculty and staff in summer reading. Students will be assigned a grade level book. Each member of the faculty and staff will be assigned a grade level book as well. In September, we will have a B schedule with “Book Talks” in the morning.  In small groups there will be a discussion, formatted like a book club led by a faculty member.

 A reflective essay on the novel assigned will be given by the English teachers and all teachers on the grade level will count the essay grade as a  TEST grade for the first marking period.  A student who excels on his/her essay will then have a high grade in each class for the start of the school year. A student who does not do well on his/her essay will have that poor grade affect all subjects not just English. The goal is to emphasize that reading is essential on all grade levels, in all subject matters.  The books selected reflect that mindset- they are meant to be enjoyed. Students in Dual Enrollment/AP Literature will be assigned a second book, and the English teacher will be responsible for the assessment of that novel.


The Novels: 12th Grade:      The Wedding by Dorothy West

This novel offers an intimate glimpse into African American middle class in the 1950’s. Set on Martha’s Vineyard, the book tells the story of life in the Oval, a proud, insular community made up of the best and brightest of the East Coast’s black elite.   

11th Grade:      Never Let me Go by Kazo Ishiguro

This novel takes place in a dystopian version of 1990’s England, where the lives of ordinary people can be prolonged through a state sanctioned cloning program. The “students” grow up in special schools away from the outside world.  

10th Grade       The Green Mile by Stephen King
The novel tells the story of the lives of guards on Death Row in the 1930’s.  A moral dilemma arises when they discover one of their prisoners, a convicted murderer, has a very special gift.  

9th Grade:        Every Day by David Levithan

This YA novel follows the story of A, a person who wakes up in a different body, living a different life every single day. A must pretend to be the person whose form is taken, without making any variations in their personality or life.  

AP/Dual Enrollment Novels: 12th Grade:      The Secret Life of Bees- Susan Monk Kidd

Set it South Carolina during 1964, this novel tells the story of Lily Owens whose mother was killed. When her “stand in “ mother Rosaleen insults three of the town’s racists, they must flee to a different town, one that has three black beekeeping sisters who may hold the secret to Lily’s mother’s death. 

  11th Grade:      The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

This novel tells of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was once the United States. Gilead is ruled by a fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state. 

10th Grade:      Never Look Back  by Lilliam Rivera  

Haunted by losing everything in Hurricane Maria—and by an evil spirit, Ato- Eury arrives in the Bronx fully expecting the tragedy that befell her and her family in Puerto Rico to catch up with her. Yet, she can almost set this fear aside, because there’s this boy…an Afro/Latinx retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice.