Summer Reading by Subject

If you would like a recommendation for a  book specific to a subject area that interests you, check out these lists!

Art

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland

Hyperallergic https://hyperallergic.com/

Colossal https://www.thisiscolossal.com/

Art for your Ear Podcast by The Jealous Curator- https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/jealous-curator-art-for-your/id996338562

English

American Literature

The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein

Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

With the Fire on High, Elizabeth Acevedo

Saved, Jack Falla

Maine, J. Courtney Sullivan

Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes, Frank Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey 

World Literature

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Fantasy

Shades of Magic Series, V.E. Schwab

The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss

Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi

The Archer’s Tale, Book 1 of The Grail Quest Series, Bernard Cornwell

The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis

Science Fiction

Dark Matter, Blake Crouch

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline

The Power, Naomi Alderman

Unwind, Neal Shusterman

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro 

Mystery

Magpie Murders, Anthony Horowitz

The Cuckoo’s Calling, Robert Galbraith

Angels and Demons, Dan Brown

General Non-Fiction

Becoming Nicole, Amy Ellis Nutt

Stoned: Jewelry, Obsession, and How Desire Shapes the World, Aja Raden 

Memoir

Becoming, by Michelle Obama

Born a Crime, Trevor Noah 

Born Bright, C. Nicole Mason

I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai

Notes from a Young Black Chef, Kwame Onwuachi

The Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward

Poetry

The Trouble with Poetry, Billy Collins

Anti-racist texts

Call Me American, Abdi Nor Iftin

One Goal - A Coach, A Team, and the Game That Brought a Divided Town Together, Amy Bass

Stamped: Racism, Anti Racism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning, Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates

Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead

How To Be An Antiracist, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

French

Suggestions and links for every level of French ability HERE

Health

The Champion's Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive by Jim Afremow

Life Inside My Mind: 31 Authors Share Their Personal Struggles by Jessica Burkhart

Don't Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation About Mental Health by Kelly Jensen

Mindfulness For Teens in 10 Minutes a Day by Jennie Marie Battistin

Math

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott

The Joy of X by Steven Strogatz

Chaos by James Gleick

Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz

Fermat’s Enigma by Simon Singh

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

What is relativity? by Jeffrey Bennett

Meanwhile: Pick Any Path: 3,856 Story Possibilities by Jason Shiga

The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero by Robert Kaplan

The Drunkard's Walk: How randomness rules our lives by Leonard Mlodinow

Here's Looking at Euclid and The Grapes of Math by Alex Bellos 

Music

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner

This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitin

PE

Chop Wood Carry Water by Joshua Medcalf

The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon

Science

An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks

Apollo 8 by Jeffrey Kluger

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Beating Back the Devil: On the Frontlines With the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service by Maryn McKenna

Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy by Kip S. Thorne

The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design by Richard Dawkins

A Brain for All Seasons: Human Evolution and Abrupt Climate Change by William H. Calvin

The Breath of a Whale by Leigh Calvez

A Briefer History of Time by Stephen W. Hawking

Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

The Code Book: The Evolution of Secrecy From Mary Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptopgraphy by Simon Singh

Dinosaur in a Haystack by Stephen Jay Gould

Down From the Mountain by Bryce Andrews

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Mama's Last Hug by F.B.M. Waal

The Martian by Andy Weir

Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

Rise of the Rocket Girls by Nathalia Holt

Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam

Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Adam Brown by Eric Blehm

The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson

The Devil's Delusion by David Berlinski

When the Earth Had Two Moons by Erik Asphaug

Social Studies

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It is an exciting vampire tale that weaves through the beautiful cities and landscapes of Europe. It mixes history into the hunt for Vlad Dracul.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: An exploration into the soul of European colonialism.

Burmese Days by George Orwell: Orwell learned about power during his days in Burma. This is fiction that offers a slightly more nuanced view of English colonialism in Southeast Asia drawing upon Orwell’s personal experience in the region.

For 9th graders who will be studying world history:

The Human Story by James C. Davis provides a well- written, easy to read, entertaining master narrative upon which you can hang your studies.

Sugar changed the world: A story of magic, spice, slavery, freedom, and science by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos provides a dive into the history of one common item and all of the intersections related to it, particularly its relationship to the slave trade.  Includes variety of visuals too.

For 11th graders who will be studying Global Citizenship or Geography or History:

Factfulness: Ten reasons we're wrong about the world and why things are better than you think by Hans Rosling provides a fact based view of our world today and the major issues we are faced with, as well as some psychology behind what shapes our world views.  For any students who want to be well informed about our current world, but not feel defeated by it.