VCS Summer Reading Recommendations for 9 th -12 th Graders **Students should read three books total: two books from this list and the Common Text** New! Prize Winning Books for the summer (recommended for high school students) Pulitzer Prize for Literature 2016 The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen A startling debut novel from a powerful new voice featuring one of the most remarkable narrators of recent fiction: a conflicted subversive and idealist working as a double agent in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. The Man Booker International Prize 2016 short list The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante Leda is a middle-aged, divorced mother devoted to her work as an English professor. After the departure of her grown-up daughters, she takes a holiday on the Italian coast. But after a few days things become unsettling; on the beach she encounters a family whose brash behavior proves menacing. A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk From the Nobel Prize winner and best-selling author of Snow and My Name Is Red : a soaring, panoramic new novel—his first since The Museum of Innocence— telling the unforgettable tale of an Istanbul street vendor and the love of his life. A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler Like John Williams' Stoner or Denis Johnson's Train Dreams , A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler is a tender book about finding dignity and beauty in solitude. An exquisite novel about a simple life, it has already demonstrated its power to move thousands of readers with a message of solace and truth. It looks at the moments, big and small, that make us what we are. National Book Award Winners 2015 Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman A captivating novel about mental illness that lingers long beyond the last page, Challenger Deep is a heartfelt tour de force by New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman. Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench. Challenger Deep is a deeply powerful and personal novel from one of today's most admired writers for teens. Voyage of the Sable Genius (poetry) by Robin Coste Lewis Robin Coste Lewis's Voyage of the Sable Venus is a meditation on the cultural depiction of the black female figure. Juxtaposing autobiography with art-historical constructs of racial identity, she defines and creates self. In poems that consider the boundaries of beauty and terror, Coste Lewis intimately involves us with all that has formed her. The aesthetic and psychological complexity of this work is underscored by its clarity. This voice is essential to our present moment. Fortune Smiles (six short stories) by Adam Johnson Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his acclaimed novel about North Korea, The Orphan Master’s Son, Adam Johnson is one of America’s most provocative and powerful authors. Critics have compared him to Kurt Vonnegut, David Mitchell, and George Saunders, but Johnson’s new book will only further his reputation as one of our most original writers. Subtly surreal, darkly comic, both hilarious and heartbreaking, Fortune Smiles is a major collection of stories that gives voice to the perspectives we don’t often hear, while offering something rare in fiction: a new way of looking at the world. The following books are recommended fiction: The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende The story details the life of the Trueba family, spanning four generations, and tracing the post- colonial social and political upheavals of Chile – though the country's name, and the names of figures closely paralleling historical ones, such as "the President" or "the Poet," are never explicitly given. The story is told mainly from the perspective of two protagonists (Esteban and Alba) and incorporates elements of magical realism. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local "powhitetrash." At eight years old and back at her mother's side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age-and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime . Foundation by Isaac Asimov For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Sheldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a future generation. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation. Emma by Jane Austen This is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners characters. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights is the name of the farmhouse on the North York Moors where the story unfolds. The book's core theme is the destructive effect that jealousy and vengefulness have, both on the jealous or vengeful individuals and on their communities. It was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote The unnamed narrator becomes friends with Holly Golightly, who calls him "Fred.”The two are both tenants in an apartment in Manhattan. Holly is a country girl turned New York girl. As such, she has no job and lives by socializing with wealthy men, who take her to clubs and restaurants, and give her money and expensive presents; she hopes to marry one of them. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of literary fiction. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories can, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams. The Fractal Murders by Mark Cohen Now in paperback--the lively first novel featuring former Marine JAG and private eye Pepper Keane. When math professor Jayne Smyers discovers that three murder victims with apparently unrelated cases were each an expert in fractal geometry, she hires Pepper to find the killer. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Doerr’s stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas This novel takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean, during the historical events of 1815–1838. The historical setting is a fundamental element of the adventure story, primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy and forgiveness, it focuses on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune and sets about getting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment . The Circle by Dave Eggers When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge . What Is the What by Dave Eggers This epic novel is based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng who, along with thousands of other children —the so-called Lost Boys—was forced to leave his village in Sudan at the age of seven and trek hundreds of miles by foot, pursued by militias, government bombers, and wild animals, crossing the deserts of three countries to find freedom. When he finally is resettled in the United States, he finds a life full of promise, but also heartache and myriad new challenges.