Summer Reading

Jump to books for: Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors

Each student will be tested on his summer reading books in the opening weeks of the new school year on each book in the relevant class: he will be tested on his English book in English class, on his history book in history class,  etc. The grade on the test will be averaged in to his first marking period grade in each of these classes. It is important that both parents and students realize the significance of his completing his Summer Reading and passing the Summer Reading Tests.

We are confident each student can do well on his tests if he takes the following steps:

1. Get the books early to avoid last-minute purchases, ordering, library requests, etc.
2. Parents, keep your son on a steady reading pace by regularly inquiring about his progress. He should begin his reading by July.
3. Parents, encourage your son to take notes. This is especially important for the first books he
reads. The test is of the multiple-choice College Board variety. Without notes, your son
may have difficulty in September recalling elements of a book he read in July.
4. Remember that all fiction and most non-fiction can be reduced to these elements:

PLOT (what is happening?)
CHARACTER (who is making it happen?)
SETTING (where and when is it happening?)
THEME (what is the point of it all?)

PLEASE READ THE LIST OF BOOKS CAREFULLY AND READ ONLY THOSE THAT PERTAIN TO THE CLASSES YOU ARE TAKING IN THE 2011/ 2012 SCHOOL YEAR.

Freshmen:

ENGLISH I STANDARD:  Marcelo in the Real World, Francisco X. Stork
ENGLISH I HONORS: The Secret Adversary, Agatha Christie
BIOLOGY STANDARD: Prey, Michael Crichton
BIOLOGY HONORS: The Hot Zone, Richard Preston
WORLD HISTORY STANDARD: A Little History of the World, E.H. Gombrich
WORLD HISTORY HONORS: What If? The World’s Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been, Robert Crowley, Ed.
AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY: The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
HEALTH/PHYS. ED.: Student Success Secrets 5th edition, Eric Jensen

Sophomores:

ENGLISH II STANDARD: The Cold Dish, Craig Johnson
ENGLISH II HONORS:From Baghdad, With Love, Jay Kopelman & Melinda Roth
US HISTORY I STANDARD:Founding Brothers, Joseph J. Ellis
US HISTORY I HONORS:The Americans: The Colonial Experience, Daniel Boorstin
AP WORLD HISTORY:The Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990, Marilyn B. Young
COMPUTER SCIENCE:Emergence, Steven Johnson
CHEMISTRY STANDARD:This Borrowed Earth, Robert Emmet Hernan, et al
CHEMISTRY HONORS:This Borrowed Earth, Robert Emmet Hernan, et al
AP CHEMISTRY: This Borrowed Earth, Robert Emmet Hernan, et al

Juniors:

ENGLISH III STANDARD: White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
ENGLISH III HONORS: The Distant Echo, Val McDermid
US HISTORY II STANDARD: The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
US HISTORY II HONORS: The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
AP US HISTORY: The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
SCHOLARS PROGRAM: Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, Robert K. Massie
FRENCH (all levels): A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle
LATIN (all levels): Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic, Tom Holland (read to pg. 179)
SPANISH (all levels): The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
RELIGION III STANDARD: Viral: How Social Networking is Poised to Ignite Revival, Leonard Sweet
RELIGION III HONORS: The Lamb’s Supper, Scott Hahn

Seniors:

ENGLISH IV STANDARD: Spartan, Valerio Massimo Manfredi
AP ENGLISH LIT: The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes
RELIGION IV STANDARD: Heaven is for Real, Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent
THEOLOGICAL INQUIRY: Lying Awake, Mark Salzman
GURU: Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl
CHRISTIAN SERVICE: Multiple options
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY: Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World, Timothy Brook
AP ART HISTORY: The Man Who Made Vermeers, Jonathan Lopez
AP CHEMISTRY: This Borrowed Earth, Robert Emmet Hernan, et al
AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: Protecting New Jersey’s Environment: From Cancer Alley to the New Garden State, Thomas J. Belton