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.