THE BRIDGE PROGRAM

June 16, 2010

Dear Parents,

Enclosed with this letter is the summer reading assignment for your child. These books were selected after careful discussion and review by the Program’s faculty, and were deemed appropriate supplements to the educational curriculum planned for the coming school year. We tried to develop a list of books that would be entertaining and interesting to students, and have included books of multiple genres and varying levels of reading difficulty, ranging from easy to more difficult. We ask that you review these books and assignments with your child as soon as possible. Some of the books may be difficult for students with reading difficulties, while others should be much more manageable. If reading is difficult for your child, we highly recommend guided reading with a parent, tutor, or the use of audio versions of the books (some may even be available for free through the NY Public Library). If you or your child feel that the book list may too challenging for your child, please contact me no later than June 11th, and we will try to arrange a modified/customized reading list for your child. Please ensure that your child has completed the readings and enclosed assignment by second full week of school. Have a healthy and enjoyable summer! Sincerely,

Chris Nuesell, Ph.D. Director, Upper School Bridge Program

May 2010

The following are the Summer 2010 assignments for incoming 9th grade students: Reading Assignment: Read any three of these books: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, Vol. 1 – Keiji Nakazawa Circle of Friends – Binchy Eggs – Jerry Spinelli Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury Flowers in the Attic – Mary Higgins Clark Frankenstein – Mary Shelley Johnny Tremain – Esther Forbes Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury Miracle’s Boys – Jaclyn Woodson Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie My Losing Season – Pat Conroy *Mythology – Edith Hamilton (Read any ONE PART – see enclosed guide) Rumble Fish – SE Hinton Shoeless Joe – W.P. Kinsella *Tao of Pooh – Benjamin Hoff That Was Then, This is Now – S.E. Hinton The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain The Alchemist – Paul Coelho *The Andromeda Strain – Michael Crichton The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien The House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros The Invisible Man – HG Wells *The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupery The Persian Boy – Mary Renault The Red Pony – John Steinbeck The Shining – Stephen King War of the Worlds – HG Wells

*Books marked with an asterisk are the books typically assigned to all high school students who are not in our Bridge Program. We encourage you to read at least one, if not more, of these books.

Please use the enclosed assignment sheet for each book that you read. You should be prepared to discuss and/or take an exam on the books you read when you return to school in September.

May 2010

The following are the Summer 2010 assignments for upcoming 10th grade students: Reading Assignment: Read any three of these books: *A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court – Mark Twain Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, Vol. 1 – Keiji Nakazawa Black Like Me – John Griffin Born Free – Joy Adamson Farewell to Manzanar – James Houston & Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston Hard Times – Charles Dickens Into the Wild – John Krakauer Into Thin Air – John Krakauer *Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follet Rumble Fish – SE Hinton *Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – Any translation Skinwalkers – Tony Hillerman The Adept – Katherine Kurtz & Deborah Turner Harris The Boy In the Striped Pajamas – John Boyne The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – F. Scott Fitzgerald The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes) – Arthur Conan Doyle The Once and Future King – T. H. White *The Physician – Noah Gordon The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson Tuesdays With Morrie – Mitch Albom Within Reach: My Everest Story – Mark Pfetzer, Jack Galvin

*Books marked with an asterisk are the books typically assigned to all high school students who are not in our Bridge Program. We encourage you to read at least one, if not more, of these books.

Please use the enclosed assignment sheet for each book that you read. You should be prepared to discuss and/or take an exam on the books you read when you return to school in September.

May 2010 The following are the Summer 2010 assignments for upcoming 11th and 12th grade students: Reading Assignment: Read any three of these books:

13 Days – Robert F. Kennedy 1776 – David McCullough A Painted House – John Grisham A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes) – Arthur Conan Doyle All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque Black Hawk Down – Mark Bowden Catch 22 – Joseph Heller Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mount Everest – Lincoln Hall East of Eden – John Steinbeck Ellen Foster – Kaye Gibbons Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig In His Time – Ray Robinson Jia – Hyejin Kim Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden Mutant Message Down Under – Marlo Morgan On Secret Service – John Jakes Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood – Marjane Satrapi Ragtime – E. L. Doctorow Seventh Son: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Book 1 – Orson Scott Card The Chosen – Chaim Potok The Color Purple – Alice Walker The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allen Poe The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan The Kitchen God’s Wife – Amy Tan The March – E. L. Doctorow The Natural – Bernard Malamud The Road – Cormac McCarthy The Spy Who Came In From the Cold – John le Carre The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain

Please use the enclosed assignment sheet for each book that you read. You should be prepared to discuss and/or take an exam on the books you read when you return to school in September.

Summer Reading Assignment

Please use one of these sheets for EACH of the three books that you read this summer. Be prepared to bring your notes and your book with you to school in September, as you will have a written assignment based on your notes. SKIP LINES WHEN YOU WRITE YOUR NOTES, SO THAT YOUR TEACHER CAN HELP YOU EDIT YOUR WRITING WHEN YOU RETURN TO SCHOOL.

Name of Book: ______Author: ______Copyright Date: ______# of Pages: ______# of Chapters: ______

At the end of the first paragraph of the book, please answer these 4 questions: How many people are in the first scene? Who are they (use names, ages, relationships, or any other important features)? Where does the scene take place? What is going on?

At the end of the 1st Chapter: List three things that you learned about the story

At the end of the 2nd Chapter: Which character do you like the most so far? Why? Does that character remind you of anyone you know? Explain.

At the end of the 3rd Chapter: Is there a problem or conflict developing in the story? Describe it.

At the end of the 4th Chapter: Write a 5-sentence summary of the most important thing that has happened in the book so far.

At the end of the 5th Chapter: What do you think will happen next? How do you think the book will end?

At the END of the book: How does the book end? How did the problem/conflict you mentioned earlier get resolved? What feeling did the book leave you with?

A Guide to Selecting a “Part” from the Mythology book, by Edith Hamilton.

Here are the classic stories from Greek and Roman as well as Norse mythology, told simply and straightforwardly. The book is divided into seven thematic sections and students are asked to read at least one of these. (As the Romans generally copied Greek mythology, the Roman myths are included alongside the Greek stories.)

Part I: The Gods, Creation, and the Earliest Heroes

In Greek Mythology, the gods did not create the universe, it was the other way around: the universe created the gods. The first children of the universe were the Titans, and the gods (Zeus, Hera, and the rest) were their children, the grandchildren of the universe. The first part of the book explains the stories of these Titans and gods, as well as the creation of the world and mankind, and some of the earliest heroes: Prometheus, the Cyclops, and others.

Part II: Stories of Love and Adventure

This section begins with the great tales of love and intrigue among the gods and their relationships with humans: Cupid and Psyche; Piramus and Thisbe; Pygmalion and Galatea (from which the film and Broadway musical My Fair Lady were derived). Next are the stories of adventure: Jason and the Golden Fleece, Daedalus , who flew too close to the sun, Pegasus, and more.

Part III: The Great Heroes Before the Trojan War

Here are the stories of Perseus who slew the terrible Medusa; Theseus who killed the Minotaur, a half bull-half human monster; the great Hercules; and the only female hero, Atalanta.

Part IV: The Heroes of the Trojan War

We’ve heard all of the names Helen and Paris, Ajax, Achilles, and Hector, Odysseus and his crew, etc. But who were they exactly and what were their great deeds? These are the stories of these great and ultimately tragic humans from one of the greatest adventures ever recounted.

Part V: The Great Families of Mythology

“The dysfunctional family” is a modern term but reading these stories of the great dynasties of Greece--from the House of Atreus to the Royal Houses of Thebes and Athens--reminds us that family troubles have been around for a long time.

Part VI: The Less Important Myths

Less Important but no less well known or enjoyable: Here, among others, is King Midas, the man with the golden touch, the Danaids, who killed their husbands and were punished with impossible tasks, and Scylla who’s only crime was to be loved by another and for that was transformed into a terrible monster.

Part VII: The Mythology of the Norsemen

Here are the stories of Odin, Loki, and the other greats of Valhalla, the Norse hall of the gods, including the Norse story of the creation of the world and descriptions of the Norse books of wisdom.