Western Reserve Academy Summer Reading Program 2008 Western Reserve Academy Summer Reading 2008 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 booklet of recommended books for summer reading. This list is intended to be for student LEISURE reading. We hope students will find titles that will peak their interest, expand their horizons and capture their curiosity. Some titles are included just for the fun of it – titles that offer enter- tainment, escape and enjoyment. Other titles are included to broaden student hori- zons – titles to provide insight into history, science, social issues and the lives of others. Several titles offer insight into other places around the world – titles to increase awareness of different cultures in our global society. And finally many “classic” titles are included – titles to acquaint students with some of the “best” literature in the world. This list is updated annually by the John D. Ong Library staff and is intend- ed to provide some variety: “classic” to recently published titles, relatively easy to challenging reading levels, and fiction, non-fiction and biography selections covering diverse subjects. Also included is a list of recommended websites to locate further suggestions for award-winning books and titles in specific genres. Several of these titles have been suggested over the years by WRA students, faculty members and their families and the WRA librarians. Others are award- winning or “best” titles recommended by respected review sources including the Young Adult Library Services Association, 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. In general, books included in the WRA curriculum are not listed. However, the English Department will have a REQUIRED summer reading assign- ment for students. This information will be mailed to students and is also available on Summer Reading link listed below. Look for Summer Reading – Required. This list is accessible on the Ong Library home page at http://library.wra.net and then by selecting Library Publications/Summer Reading/Leisure Reading. Lists from previous years are accessible as well. All the books on this list should be available in libraries and/or bookstores. Check the Ong Library home page for summer hours; students are welcome. Enjoy your summer, your free time and try to spend some of it reading. Your feedback about any title on this list is welcome – and we also welcome your rec- 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- ommendations for titles to add in the future. ties generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin, or disability in the administration of The John D. Ong Library Staff 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 1984 (George Orwell, 1949) The classic novel in which Big Brother rules soci- Fiction .............................................................................................................1 ety. Ministry of Truth employee, Wilbur Smith, joins the underground in his Non-fiction ....................................................................................................11 effort to resist mind control. Biographies/Memoirs ..................................................................................16 Summer Reading for Eleventh/Twelfth Graders ...........................................20 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 ...........................................................................................................20 Spokane Indian Reservation. When Arnold decides to attend a rich white Non-fiction....................................................................................................30 school, he soon finds himself scorned in his old community and an oddity in Biographies/Memoirs ..................................................................................37 his new school. Collections: Short Stories and Essays..............................................................40 Something for Everyone: Informational Titles for Teenagers ......................42 All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque, 1929) Enlisting with enthusiasm, four German youths are sent to the front in World War I in this Poetry, Anyone?.................................................................................................43 classic novel depicting the horrors of war. Looking for a Good Book? Some Websites to Help You ...............................46 Title Index ..........................................................................................................48 Amnesia Clinic (The) (James Scudamore, 2007) After Anthony moves with his Author Index......................................................................................................55 family from England to Ecuador, he meets Fabian, a local teen with whom he trades wild, invented tales that lead to a life-changing quest.* Anahita’s Woven Riddle (Megan Whalen Turner, 2006) Young Anahita tries to avoid marriage to a much older man by convincing her father to let her marry the man who can solve a riddle she has woven into a carpet. An inside look at Persian culture and history. Arrival (The) (Shaun Tan, 2007) A lone immigrant leaves his family and jour- neys to a new world, both bizarre and awesome, finding struggle and dehuman- izing industry but also friendship and a new life.* Ask Me No Questions (Marina Budhos, 2006) Both the secrets and the family dynamics are dramatic in teenage Nadira’s first-person narrative, which reveals her mixed-up feelings about being an illegal alien as well as the diversity in her family and her contemporary Muslim community in New York.* Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (The), Traitor to the Nation, v.1: The Pox Party (M. T. Anderson, 2006) A young black boy in pre-revolutionary Boston experiences slavery’s monstrous horrors in this ambitious story rooted in eighteenth-century literary traditions.* 1 Bad Monkeys (Matt Ruff, 2007) In a holding cell in the psychiatric wing of a Detective/Crime Mystery Writers: Try any book by the following mystery prison, a psychologist is interviewing inmate Jane Charlotte. She’s been charged writers: Donna Andrews (featuring Artificial Intelligence Personality Turing with homicide. Although she does not deny it, she weaves an outrageous story Hopper as an amateur sleuth); Nancy Atherton (featuring amateur sleuth Lori about the circumstances surrounding the murder.* Shepard with help from her ghostly Aunt Dimity); Stephanie Barron (featuring 19th century author Jane Austen as an amateur sleuth) C. J. Box (featuring Birds of Prey (Wilbur Smith, 1998) Set in 1667, the story follows the escapades of Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett); Diane Mott Davidson (featuring Goldy the infamous pirate Sir Francis Courteney and his son, Hal. After the Courteneys Bear, a caterer with a nose for trouble; delicious recipes are also part of the read- and their rough-hewn pirate crew raid a Dutch East India Company ship (in the ing bargain); Laurie R. King (featuring Mary Russell, former protégé to name of the British crown), they are pursued from one end of the African coast to Sherlock Holmes); Edward Marston (look for the Domesday series set in the other. During the chase, treacherous sea battles ensue, with gory deaths and medieval England featuring commissioner Ralph Delchard); Alexander McCall gruesome shark and crocodile attacks thrown in for good measure.* Smith (featuring Mma Precious Ramotswe, owner of Botswana’s #1 Ladies Detective Agency); Elizabeth Peters (featuring Edwardian Egyptologist Black Green Swan (David Mitchell, 2006) In a small English town in the Amanda Peabody); Ellis Peters (mysteries of the medieval monk, Brother 1980s, 13-year-old Jason lives in the wake of his brilliant sister and mediates Cadfael); or Les Roberts (featuring Cleveland private detective Milan Jacovich). between his feuding parents.* Dream Duet (The): Dreamhunter and Dreamquake (Elizabeth Knox, 2006- Bless Me, Ultima (Rudolfo Anaya, 1972) Ultima, a wise old mystic, helps a 2007) Imagining a society where dreams can be harvested and sold, Knox young Hispanic boy resolve personal dilemmas caused by the differing back- smartly explores the ramifications of this conceit through the coming-of-age grounds and aspirations of his parents and society.* experiences of 15-year-old cousins Rose and Laura.* Blue Sky: A Novel (Galsan Tschinag, 2006) The people of Tuva, nomadic shep- Eclipse (Stephenie Meyer, 2007) In the third book in the popular Twilight Saga herds in western Mongolia’s Altai Mountains, revere the sky as sacred. But the series, Meyer continues the vampire love story started with Twilight