English 9: 2019 Summer Reading The summer reading selections for entering freshmen are below. All students must read at least ONE book from List A and ONE book from List B. You will be required to complete graded written assignments on the books you have chosen when school begins in September. (Note: Books marked with an asterisk are either longer or more challenging).

LIST A: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith After the First Death; We All Fall Down; or I Am the Cheese – Robert Cormier Al Capone Does My Shirts: A Novel – Gennifer Choldenko Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt Animal Dreams or Pigs in Heaven – Barbara Kingsolver Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz Cold Sassy Tree – Olive Burns Death Be Not Proud – John Gunther * Driver’s Ed – Caroline Cooney Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close- Jonathan Safran Foer Friday Night Lights – H.G. Bissinger * I Am the Messenger – Marcus Zuzak I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou Into Thin Air or Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer Looking for Alaska- Mark Green Maximum Ride (Series)- James Patterson Monster or What They Found: Love on 145th Street – Walter Dean Myers One Fat Summer or Summer Rules – Robert Lipsyte Ordinary People – Judith Guest * Patriot Games – Tom Clancy Pay It Forward – Catherine Ryan-Hyde Skellig – David Almond Star Girl – Jerry Spinelli Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes or Ironman – Chris Crutcher Summer of My German Soldier – Bette Greene The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian- Sherman Alexie The Call of the Wild or The Sea Wolf – Jack London The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien The Hot Zone – Richard Preston The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, or Mockingjay -- Suzanne Collins The Martian Chronicles or Dandelion Wine – Ray Bradbury The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway The Once and Future King – T.H. White * The Outsiders; Tex; or Rumblefish – S.E. Hinton The Pearl, The Red Pony, or The Moon is Down – John Steinbeck Tom Sawyer – Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) Tuesdays with Morrie or The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom Watership Down – Richard Adams What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? – Peter Hedges Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls Woman Hollering Creek – Sandra Cisneros

LIST B: Before We Were Free – Julia Alvarez 90 Miles to Havana – Enrique Flores-Galbis Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You – Hanna Jansen Ties That Bind, Ties That Break – Lensey Namioka Climbing the Stairs – Padma Venkatraman Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood – Ibtisam Barakat Bamboo People – Mitali Perkins