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Western Reserve Academy Summer Reading Program 2010 Western Reserve Academy Summer Reading 2010 Most members of the Reserve community find pleasure in reading. For those of us tied to the academic calendar, summers and holidays give us what we need most – time. With that in mind, we offer students this list of recommended books for summer reading. This list is intended for student LEISURE reading. We hope the variety peaks student interest and provides the opportunity to expand horizons, satisfy curiosity and/or offer an enjoyable escape. Titles include: classics to recently published titles, relatively easy to challenging reading levels and a variety of genres covering diverse subjects. Also included is a list of recommended websites to locate further suggestions for award-winning books and titles of interest. This list is updated annually by members of the John D. Ong library staff. Titles are recommended by members of the WRA community or by respected review sources, including the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. A few titles have frank passages that mirror some aspects of life explicitly. Therefore, we urge parents to explore the titles your teenagers choose and discuss the book as well as the choice with them. All the books on this list should be available in libraries and/or book- stores. Check the Ong Library home page for summer hours; students are welcome. Enjoy your summer and your free time, and try to spend some of it read- ing! Your feedback about any title on this list is welcome – and we also welcome your recommendations for titles to add in the future. The John D. Ong Library Staff PLEASE NOTE: This list should not be confused with the English Western Reserve Academy adheres to a longstanding policy of admitting students of any race, color, creed, religion, national and ethnic origin subject to all the rights, privileges, programs and activi- Department’s Required Reading summer program. Please go to ties generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the Summer Reading and click on Required Reading for that information. basis of race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin, or disability in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan program or other school-administered programs. Table of Contents Summer Reading for Ninth/Tenth Graders Fiction: Summer Reading for Ninth/Tenth Graders......................................................1 Abhorsen Trilogy (The): Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen (Garth Nix, 1996- Fiction .............................................................................................................1 2003) This popular fantasy series focuses on good and evil, war and peace, and Non-fiction......................................................................................................9 the value of friendship and continues to be a fan favorite. Biographies/Memoirs ..................................................................................17 Summer Reading for Eleventh/Twelfth Graders ...........................................19 Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (The) (Sherman Alexie, 2007) Arnold Spirit and his best friend, Rowdy, lament and laugh about life on the Fiction ...........................................................................................................19 Spokane Indian Reservation. When Arnold decides to attend a rich white school, he Non-fiction....................................................................................................26 soon finds himself scorned in his old community and an oddity in his new school. Biographies/Memoirs ..................................................................................34 Graphic Novels/Collections ..............................................................................36 Afghan (The) (Frederick Forsyth, 2006) When British and American intelli- Collections: Short Stories and Essays and more ............................................37 gence discover an al-Qaeda operation in the works, they enlist undercover imposter Colonel Mike Martin to pass himself off as Taliban commander Izmat Something for Everyone: Informational Titles for Teenagers ......................40 Khan. But nothing prepares Martin for the dark and shifting world into which he Poetry, Anyone?.................................................................................................41 is about to enter—or the terrible things he will find there.* Looking for a Good Book? Some Websites to Help You ...............................43 Title Index ..........................................................................................................45 Agincourt (Bernard Cornwell, 2009) One of the most dramatic victories in British history, the battle of Agincourt—immortalized by Shakespeare in Henry Author Index......................................................................................................51 V—pitted undermanned and overwhelmed English forces against a French army determined to keep their crown out of Henry’s hands. Here Bernard Cornwell resurrects the legend of the battle and the “band of brothers” who fought it on October 25, 1415.* Animal Farm (George Orwell, 1946) This remarkable allegory of a downtrod- den society of overworked, mistreated animals, and their quest to create a para- dise of progress, justice, and equality is one of the most scathing satires ever pub- lished. As we witness the rise and bloody fall of the revolutionary animals, we begin to recognize the seeds of totalitarianism in the most idealistic organization; and in our most charismatic leaders, the souls of our cruelest oppressors.* Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (The), Traitor to the Nation, v.2: The Kingdom on the Waves (M. T. Anderson, 2008) In Volume II of his unparalleled masterwork, M. T. Anderson recounts Octavian’s experiences as the Revolutionary War explodes around him, thrusting him into intense battles and tantalizing him with elusive visions of liberty. Ultimately, this astonishing narrative escalates to a startling, deeply satisfying climax, while reexamining our national origins in a sin- gularly provocative light.* The story begins in The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, v.1: The Pox Party (2006). 1 Bread Givers (Anzia Yezierska, 1925, 3rd edition 2003) This masterwork of Chains (Laurie Halse Anderson, 2008) As the Revolutionary War begins, thir- American immigrant literature is set in the 1920s on the Lower East Side of teen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon Manhattan and tells the story of Sara Smolinsky, the youngest daughter of an the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become Orthodox rabbi, who rebels against her father’s rigid conception of Jewish wom- the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no anhood.* sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel.* Breathless (Jessisa Warman, 2009) When Katie Kitrell is shipped off to board- Conspirata: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Robert Harris, 2009) On the eve of ing school by her distant father and overbearing mother, it doesn’t take her long Marcus Cicero’s inauguration as consul of Rome, the grisly death of a boy sends to become part of the It Crowd. But what her new friends, roommate, and ripples of fear through a city already wracked by civil unrest, crime, and debauch- boyfriend don’t know is that Katie is swimming away from her past, and from her ery of every kind. For Cicero, the ill forebodings of this hideous murder only schizophrenic older brother, Will, who won’t let her go.* increase his frustrations and the dangers he already faces as Rome’s leader: elect- ed by the people but despised by the heads of the two rival camps, the patricians Bride’s Farewell (The) (Meg Rosoff, 2009) A young woman in 1850s rural and populists.* Follow-up to Imperium (2006). England runs away from home on horseback the day she’s to marry her childhood sweetheart. But as she rides farther away from home, Pell’s feelings for her par- Daniel Half Human: And the Good Nazi (David Chotjewitz, 2004) Until the ents, her siblings, and her fiancé surprise her with their strength and alter the spring of 1933, he’s enjoyed a comfortable German boyhood with his well-to-do course of her travels. And her journey leads her to find love where she least family, in school, at soccer…. Then, a thunderclap: Daniel learns to his horror expects it.* that his mother is Jewish, that he is therefore half-Jewish and, in Aryan eyes, half- human.* Brisingr (Christopher Paolini, 2008) Following the colossal battle against the Empire’s warriors on the Burning Plains, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have Daniel X: Watch the Skies (James Patterson and Ned Ruse, 2009) All’s quiet in narrowly escaped with their lives. Still there is more at hand for the Rider and his the small town of Holliswood. Yet not all is perfect…. Residing in this sleepy dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by a tangle of promises he may not be able town is a villain with more ambition than the world can withstand. Twisted to keep.* The third book in the Inheritance Cycle, following Eragon (2003) and beyond reason, he is dead set on throwing Holliswood into chaos and document- Eldest (2005). ing the destruction of every person in it, including Daniel X.* Call of the Wild (Jack London, 1903) This gripping