Hamden Hall Country Day School Middle and Upper School Summer Reading 2013 Introduction Hamden Hall expects each student to read at least four books during the summer months. If students have already read the selections listed for a particular author, they may select another book written by that author. Occasionally, books of notable length will be noted as "counts twice." In September, English teachers will assign coursework related to students' summer reading. All incoming upper All incoming 7th All incoming 8th graders school students should graders should read should read A Wrinkle read Peace Like a River Out of the Dust by in Time by Madeline by Leif Enger Karen Hesse L’Engle Note: Throughout this guide, you will see book recommendations from faculty members. If you choose to read one of those books, make sure to connect with the faculty sponsor at the beginning of the year. These recommendations are meant to encourage fun, engaging conversations with teachers about your reading. HHCDS MS/US Summer Reading 2013 Page 2 Class-Specific Required Texts AP English Literature Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje AP European History A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age by William Manchester AP U.S. History The Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph Ellis AP Chemistry The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean Chemistry The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson Introduction to Research Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson OR Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer Science, Innovation and Design Program Galileo's Commandment, ed by Edmund Blair Bolles OR Doubt (a History) by Jennifer Hecht HHCDS MS/US Summer Reading 2013 Page 3 Frightening Futures Through adventure, romance, and arduous journeys, these riveting books paint a scary picture while illustrating the strength of the human spirit. Entering Grades 7 and 8 Divergent by Veronica Roth All sixteen-year-olds must choose their Cinder by Marissa Meyer faction to determine their life’s path. But Cinder, a gifted Beatrice has a deadly secret: she is an mechanic, is a anomaly. cyborg and a second-class Entering Grades 9 and 10 citizen with a mysterious past. The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn But when her life Johnson becomes A heart-stopping story of love, death, intertwined with technology, and art set amid the tropics the handsome of a futuristic Brazil. Prince Kai’s, she finds herself at Little Brother by Corey Doctorow the center of an A hacker finds himself a prisoner of the intergalactic struggle. United States, wrongfully connected to the biggest terrorist attack on America since The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey 9/11. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one. Now, it's the dawn of the 5th Dune by Frank Herbert wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, This Hugo Award winner tells the story of Cassie runs from Them. a family taking control of a lucrative planet in the middle of an interstellar Legend by Marie Lu empire. Two fifteen-year-olds, one an elite soldier and the other the Republic’s most wanted Brave New World by Aldous Huxley criminal, face off in this race for survival. A man who’s discontent despite living in a perfect, engineered society looks for a way The Reluctant Assassin: W.A.R.P., Book 1 by to break free. Eoin Colfer Riley is apprenticed to Albert Garrick, a MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza lawbreaking illusionist. When one Mila was was never meant to learn the intended victim turns out to be a scientist truth about her identity. She was never from the future, part of the FBI's Witness supposed to remember the past—that she Anonymous Relocation Program (WARP) was built in a computer science lab and Riley is unwittingly transported via programmed to do things real people wormhole to modern day London. would never do. HHCDS MS/US Summer Reading 2013 Page 4 Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Children of Men by P.D. James Vonnegut’s most powerful book bends The end of mankind is in sight, but one genre and plot as the author’s own POW man may be able to protect the key to the experience is illustrated through this alien survival of the human race. abduction story. The Road by Cormac McCarthy Entering Grades 11 and 12 A father and son’s journey through a burned and destroyed America, this often- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood horrifying story of love and survival is This sweeping epic tells the tale of breathtaking. Snowman, who undertakes a journey for answers about what happened to create the plague that wiped out most of mankind. HHCDS MS/US Summer Reading 2013 Page 5 Fantastic worlds Enter mesmerizing and mystical worlds in these books about magic, legends, and mythical creatures. Entering Grades 7 and 8 The Sword and the Stone by T.H. White The much-acclaimed story of King Arthur, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by his adventures and preparations to be Douglas Adams king. This hilarious story follows the cosmic journey of Arthur Dent, a hapless Entering Grades 9 and 10 Earthling who’s snatched from Earth moments before a cosmic construction Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta team obliterates the planet to build a Cursed by a dying wise woman, the land of freeway. Lumatere waits for its lost heir to open the walled gates and free the population. Etiquette and Finnikin, his mentor Sir Topher and the Espionage by Gail mysterious novice Evanjalin trek through Carriger a variety of kingdoms freeing exiled It's one thing to learn leaders and accumulating an army. to curtsy properly. It's quite another to Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor learn to curtsy and Everyone dreams of getting the kiss of a throw a knife at the lifetime... but these three supernatural same time. Welcome stories explore what would happen if that to Finishing School. kiss carried some unexpected consequences. Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin Levithan This classic work features the art of Stephen is used to invisibility. He was wizardry and the quest of Ged, a young born that way. Elizabeth sometimes man who aspires to such mastery. wishes for invisibility. When you’re LeGuin's world is vivid, imagistic, and invisible, no one can hurt you. Then unforgettable. (If you like this title, read Stephen and Elizabeth meet—and she can the other two novels in this trilogy.) see him. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein If you liked The Hobbit, you'll want to continue reading about Tolkein's bumptious hobbits and other creatures, larger and commonly more fearsome. HHCDS MS/US Summer Reading 2013 Page 6 Entering Grades 11 and 12 The Raven Boys by Every year, Blue Les Contes Rouges du Chat Perche by Sargent stands next Marcel Ayme (in French) to her clairvoyant Seven tales taking place on a farm in the mother in the 1930s where two little French girls, churchyard as the Delphine and Marinette, live "ordinary" soon-to-be dead lives between harsh parents and talking walk past. Blue farm animals. herself never sees them--not until this Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna year, when a boy Clark emerges from the dark and speaks Two very different magicians join dark directly to her. forces in a war against France, putting all they care about at risk. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne Life of Pi by Yann Martel An intrepid band of scientists sets out to A teenage boy is stranded on a boat in the discover the secrets of the earth's core. Indian Ocean with a Bengal tiger as his What they depict is fantasy writing of the only companion. very first order! (This was written in the 1880's, before scientists knew that the The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern center of the earth was molten ore.) This circus appears without warning, appearing one evening and disappearing the next. And under the big top, a fierce battle wages between two magicians. Mr. Bennett recommends…. Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon Cory’s normal life changes one morning when he witnesses something terrible, and that sets in motion a series of events that highlights the mystical way that his very town manifests the powers of good and evil. HHCDS MS/US Summer Reading 2013 Page 7 Living in the past These historical novels will pull you in with their stories of times gone by. Entering Grades 7 and 8 Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies An account of the Frank family, told by a woman who helped to keep their lives Mrs. Richter secret during their years of seclusion recommends…. from the Nazis. Elijah of Buxton by Entering Grades 9 and 10 Christopher Paul Curtis Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein Elijah is the first child born Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane in the Buxton Settlement, crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its which was founded in pilot and passenger are best friends. Ontario in 1849 as a haven One of the girls has a chance at for former slaves. survival. The other has lost the game Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by before it's barely begun. Phillip M. Hoose On March 2, 1955, 15-year-old Claudette Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick Colvin refused to give her seat to a white When soldiers arrive at his hometown in woman on a segregated bus in Cambodia, Arn is just a kid, dancing to rock Montgomery, Alabama.