AHS Faculty Favorites 2018

AHS Faculty Favorites 2018 Prior to the end of the school year, AHS students will select one of these books to read over the summer. If a student wishes to change their selection over the summer, he/she must e-mail Mrs. Ricci ([email protected]) with their name, their original book selection, and their new book selection. Each book on the list has been chosen by members of the faculty/staff who will conduct a discussion group with students who read the book. Each book has been recommended since it appeals to readers who like certain styles or topics. They are books that are enjoyable to read. Students may buy copies of books or borrow a title through the public library. All Faculty Favorites Book Discussions will be held on Friday, September 7, 2018 regardless of whether a student has English all year, first semester, or second semester. Students do not have to write a faculty favorite journal during the summer, although they may wish to take notes to remember the book. All students will be told where they will report to have their book discussion. At the beginning of each book discussion, students will be given a brief assessment based on the book to ensure that they read the book. These assessments and participation in the discussion will count as a test grade in the student’s English class. Students selected their titles before the end of the school year. Any student who is uncertain of the title they chose can email Mrs. Ricci ([email protected]) or go to the Amesbury Public Library where Mrs. Walker will have access to titles chosen by students. Bless the Beasts and the Children By Glendon Swarthout The neglected attendees of the Box Canyon Boys Camp find their lives turned around by Cotton, who, in a hot-wired pickup, challenges them to join efforts to save a herd of buffalo and rediscover themselves in the process. Reissue. (Amazon.com) Fiction &&&&&&&&&&&&&& The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time By Mark Haddon Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, for fifteen-year-old Christopher everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor's dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructive universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favourite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows makes for a novel that is funny, poignant and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally. (Goodreads.com) Autism, Fiction &&&&&&&&&&&&&& Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World By Vicki Myron "Dewey's story starts in the worst possible way. Only a few weeks old, on the coldest night of the year, he was stuffed into the returned book slot at the Spencer Public Library. He was found the next working by library director Vicki Myron, a single mother who had survived the loss of her family farm, a breast cancer scare, and an alcoholic husband. How much of an impact can an animal have? How many lives can one cat touch? How is it possible for an abandoned kitten to transform a small library, save a classic American town, and eventually become famous around the world? You can't even begin to answer those questions until you hear the charming story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa." (Goodreads.com) Cats, Non Fiction &&&&&&&&&&&&&& Don't Put Me In, Coach: My Incredible NCAA Journey from the End of the Bench to the End of the Bench By Mark Titus This book will give readers an uncensored and uproarious look inside an elite NCAA basketball program from Titus's unique perspective. In his four years at the end of the bench, Mark founded his wildly popular blog Club Trillion, became a hero to all guys picked last, and even got scouted by the Harlem Globetrotters. Mark Titus is not your average basketball star. This is a wild and completely true story of the most unlikely career in college basketball. A must-read for all fans of March Madness and college sports! An audio version is available. (Amazon.com) Sports, Non Fiction &&&&&&&&&&&&&& Drive for Five: The Remarkable Run of the 2016 Patriots By Christopher Price "Breaking into the inner-sanctuary of the New England Patriots is about as easy as breaking out of Leavenworth. Yet somehow Chris Price not only sneaks in, but takes us along on an up-close-and-personal tour of the magnificent 2016 season. Price's reporting is impeccable, his attention to detail unrivaled. This is a terrific football book." (Jeff Pearlman, New York Times bestselling author) Sports, Non Fiction &&&&&&&&&&&&&& Everything I Never Told You By Celeste Ng "The second option for the Common Reader is Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. From the first sentence of the novel, readers learn that Lydia, the middle child of a Chinese-American father and a white mother, is dead. This startling fact, known to the reader before the characters in the novel realize what has happens, becomes the catalyst around which swirl family secrets, frustrations, and anger, tempered aspirations, secrets and lies, accusations, denials, and resolutions. From National Public Radio, 'This [the novel's harrowing story] all takes place in an era when interracial marriages are only recently legal (the Supreme Court struck down interracial marriage bans in 1967). Lydia's death forces members of the Lee family to confront their individual insecurities and grapple with their identity as a biracial family in the Midwest'"(NEHS). Suspense Fiction &&&&&&&&&&&&&& Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher and Never Stop Learning By Leslie Odom, Jr. Leslie Odom Jr., burst on the scene in 2015, originating the role of Aaron Burr in the Broadway musical phenomenon Hamilton. Since then, he has performed for sold-out audiences, sung for the Obamas at the White House, and won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. But before he landed the role of a lifetime in one of the biggest musicals of all time, Odom put in years of hard work as a singer and an actor. With personal stories from his life, Odom asks the questions that will help you unlock your true potential and achieve your goals even when they seem impossible. What work did you put in today that will help you improve tomorrow? How do you surround yourself with people who will care about your dreams as much as you do? How do you know when to play it safe and when to risk it all for something bigger and better? (Amazon.com) Self help &&&&&&&&&&&&&& The Hate U Give By Angela Thomas "Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does - or does not - say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life." (Amazon.com) Warning: Some graphic language and content Realistic Fiction &&&&&&&&&&&&&& A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership By James Comey In his book, former FBI director James Comey shares his never-before-told experiences from some of the highest-stakes situations of his career in the past two decades of American government, exploring what good, ethical leadership looks like, and how it drives sound decisions. His journey provides an unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in what makes an effective leader. (Amazon.com) Autobiography &&&&&&&&&&&&&& Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet By Jamie Ford In 1986, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japan-town. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol. This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

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