Suggested High School Summer Reading List 2021
Rationale for Summer Reading. The overarching goal of summer reading is to instill a love of reading and help you become a life-long learner. By engaging in summer reading, one is able to keep the mind engaged in intellectual pursuits. We have chosen to offer a summer reading list to provide ample opportunity and choice to read something that appeals to each individual reader. The minimum goal is to have everyone read at least one book over the summer. The choices are many and can meet the needs of any reading appetite. Choose something you enjoy; sports, travel, adventure, fantasy, mystery, whatever appeals to your own individual taste. But read at least one novel from the list and enjoy. Within the first two weeks of the school year, there will be some type of assessment that will incorporate your summer reading novel. Freshmen | Sophomore
Backman, Fredrik Beartown Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451 Brown, Daniel James The Boys in the Boat Butler, Octavia Kindred Crane, Stephen The Red Badge of Courage Cuehlo, Paulo The Alchemist Ellison, Ralph The Invisible Man Foer, Jonathan Safran Everything is Illuminated Foer, Jonathan Safran Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Fowler, Karen Joy We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves Haddon, Mark The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time Hemingway, Ernest The Sun Also Rises Hurston, Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God Kidd, Sue Monk The Secret Life of Bees Kidder, Tracy Strength in What Remains, A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness Knowles, Jonathan A Separate Peace Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird Lindhout, Amanda A House in the Sky: A Memoir London, Jack The Call of the Wild Mandel, Emily St. John Station Eleven McCarthy, Cormac The Road McCarthy, Cormac The Road Noah, Trevor Born a Crime Orwell, George 1984 Potok Chaim My Name is Ash Lev Potok Chaim The Chosen Reynolds, Jason All American Boys Shusterman, Neal Challenger Deep Skloot, Rebecca The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Stephenson, Bryan Just Mercy Stone, Nic Dear Martin Tan, Amy The Joy Luck Club Thomas, Angie The Hate U Give Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit Vonnegut, Kurt Slaughterhouse Five Walls, Jeanette The Glass Castle Wiesel, Elie Night
Junior/Senior
Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart Adams, Douglas The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Alemeddine, Rabih The Hakawati, An Unnecessary Woman Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice Auster, Paul Man in the Dark Ba, Gabriel and Moon, Fabio Daytripper (graphic novel) Banks, Russell Rule of the Bone, Lost Memory of Skin Barbery, Muriel The Elegance of the Hedgehog Barnes, Julian Sense of an Ending, Arthur and George Barth, John Lost in the Funhouse Boyle, T.C. Tortilla Curtain Carey, Mike and Gross, Peter The Unwritten (graphic novel series) Chappell, Fred I Am One of You Forever, Brighten the Corner Where You Are Coupland, Douglas Generation X, Player One, Microserfs, The Gum Thief Danticat, Edwidge Breath, Eyes, Memory Danticat, Edwidge Claire of the Sea Light Danticat, Edwidge The Dew Breaker DeWitt, Patrick The Sisters Brothers Eggers, David You Shall Know Our Velocity Ellis, Bret Easton Less Than Zero Erpenbeck, Jenny The End of Days Fountain, Ben Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk Fowles, John The Collector Freeman, Jr., Castle Go with Me Haddon, Mark The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Heller, Joseph Catch 22 Heller, Peter The Dog Stars Hornby, Nick High Fidelity Huxley, Aldous Brave New World Hynes, James The Lecturer’s Tale Ishiguro, Kazuo An Artist of the Floating World Ishiguro, Kazuo Never Let Me Go Ishiguro, Kazuo The Buried Giant Ishiguro, Kazuo The Remains of the Day James, P.D. Children of Men Kennedy, William Ironweed Khalifa, Khaled Death Is Hard Work (National Book Award Translation Prize) Lee, Chang-Rae Native Speaker, On Such a Full Sea Lethem, Jonathan Motherless Brooklyn Malamud, Bernard The Natural, The Assistant Maxwell, William So Long, See You Tomorrow McCarthy, Cormac Blood Meridian, All the Pretty Horses, The Road McInerney, Jay Brightness Falls Mitchell, David Cloud Atlas Moore, Graham The Sherlockian Morrison, Toni Song of Solomon Murakami, Haruki The Wind Up Bird Chronicles, A Wild Sheep Chase Nguyen, Viet Thanh The Sympathizer Orange, Tommy There There Orstavik, Hanne Love (PEN America Translation Prize) Orwell, George 1984 Petterson, Per Out Stealing Horses, I Curse the River of Time Robbins, Tom Skinny Legs and All, Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates Russell, Mary Doria The Sparrow and Children of God (sequel to Sparrow) Russo, Richard Straight Man, Empire Falls Ryan, Donal The Spinning Heart Saramago, Jose Cain, Blindness, Seeing Sedaris, David Me Talk Pretty One Day Sharma, Akhil Family Life Shelly, Mary Wollstonecraft Frankenstein Stegner, Wallace Angle of Repose Thiong’o, Ngugi wa Wizard of the Crow
Tokarczuk, Olga Primeval and Other Times, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead (Nobel Prize in Literature) Ugresic, Dubravka Baba Yaga Laid an Egg Wallace, Daniel The Watermelon King, Big Fish Wilde, Oscar The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde, Oscar The Picture of Dorian Gray Woodrell, Daniel Winter’s Bone, Tomato Red, The Maid’s Version Zafon, Carlos Ruiz The Shadow of the Wind
These sites provide additional suggestions: 50 Best Contemporary Novels under 200 Pages Best Translated Book Awards 2020 Finalists Most Frequently Cited Books on the AP English Literature Exam ENG470: World Literature Readings ENG471: AP English Literature Readings