At Pomfret School we believe that reading offers rare pleasures and important opportunities for learning. Reading is a life-long, empowering, and enjoyable pursuit, and the skills required to be a proficient reader must be practiced. To that end, Pomfret School students should learn to derive pleasure and joy from reading outside of the assigned curriculum.

In books we travel, meet real and imagined people, and learn to see others more clearly, and—through them—ourselves. In the words of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, nothing quite matches “the love of learning, the sequestered nooks, and all the sweet serenity of books.”

Our hope is that you will make reading a habit this summer. Read every day, if you can—in a favorite chair, waiting for a plane (or in it), or idling under a tree or on a beach. Although we expect you to read at least two books this summer, we trust you will seek and read more that appeal to you.

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General Outline

Underformers (Grades 9-11):

School-wide read, by Grade - This summer, students in 9th, 10th, and 11th grade will share a common "summer reading" assignment. The goal of this shared read is to rally each form around a common experience and unifying theme.

Students must purchase the book, read it thoroughly, take notes in the margin as you see fit, and bring the text to campus for the start of the fall term. Specific directions, BY FORM, are shown below.

Form-Choice Books

The English Department has assembled a robust library list of selected reads for each form (grade level). Each offers a connection to a central theme that will be explored throughout the fall term. Students are free to choose any of the titles (or more than one!). Please purchase the book, read it thoroughly, and capture notes in the margin as you see fit. Bring your Form-Choice read to school with you in the fall.

Seniors (12/PG)

With a variety of choices for English IV and Advanced English IV, there is not one common read, but all seniors can choose two books from the list designed for the 12th grade. A distinct feature of Senior English at Pomfret is all the options students have for courses and the summer reading experience is designed for similar choice and agency.

Please purchase the books, read them thoroughly, and capture notes in the margin as you see fit. Bring your books with you in the fall to discuss in your English classes. Schedules will be released in early July, so in the meantime choose your first book. There are books recommended for certain classes, but they are not required.

Pomfret School Reading Guide

What does reading look like at Pomfret?

For starters, reading is essential to what we do. It’s also essential that we engage with the reading on multiple levels so that we are really able to get the most out of that experience. So, when you are reading for class, you must annotate. Quality annotations in the margins can be simple notations, big themes, questions, ideas you notice, favorite passages or quotes, or anything else you find important or relevant. If you prefer, you can also do all of this in a writing journal, but whatever your method, read with a pen or pencil in your hand!

Your teachers will require that you annotate everything you read for class, so start this summer by actively engaging with the required text by annotating in the margins or keeping a reading journal.

Here is a very helpful video from an AP English Literature student on annotating that might give you some ideas!

Since you will be purchasing your books for English class, remember that it is not sacrilege to write in them! Writing in your book shows engagement, and when it comes time to write an essay on that text, a thoroughly annotated text is what you want to make the process easier.

This novel will introduce you to some of the themes that will be explored both in this class and in your Humanities I: Global Studies class. Be sure to keep a writing journal as you read the text.

Please be sure to bring this book with you on the first day of class as we will be using it right away and will continue to reference it at various times throughout the year. Be prepared to write on this text during the first week of school.

In addition to A Small Place, you must also choose an additional book from the list below.

FORM-CHOICE READ:

In addition to A Small Place, you must also choose an additional book from the list below.

1. Peer Gynt, Henrik Ibsen

2. The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas

3. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the “Pearl Poet”

4. American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang

5. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

6. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy

7. Modoc, Ralph Hefner

8. The Descendants, Kaui Hart Hemmings

9. Lords of Discipline, Pat Conroy

10. Counting Descent, Clint Smith

11. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros

12. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold

13. Lord of the Flies, William Golding

14. Everyday, David Levithan

15. The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo

16. A Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds

17. The 57 Bus, Dashka Slater

18. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse

19. What I leave Behind, Alison McGhee

20. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Sáenz

The Great Gatsby will introduce you to some of the themes and voices that will be explored both in this class and in your Humanities II: American Studies class. Be sure to annotate (write critical and explanatory notes) your text as well!

Please be sure to bring this book with you on the first day of class as we will be using it right away and will continue to reference it at various times throughout the year. Be prepared to write on this text during the first week of school.

In addition to The Great Gatsby, you must also choose an additional book from the list below.

FORM-CHOICE READ:

In addition to either The Great Gatsby, you must also choose an additional book from the list below.

1. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

2. A Lost Lady, Willa Cather

3. Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid

4. I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Erika L. Sánchez

5. Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga

6. Maus, Art Spiegelman

7. The Other Wes Moore, Wes Moore

8. Swamplandia!, Karen Russell

9. The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, Melinda Gates

10. Dear Martin, Nic Stone

11. She’s Come Undone, Wally Lamb

12. What Have You Lost? Naomi Shihab Nye

13. Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead

14. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

15. The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson

16. Fasting, Feasting, Anita Desai

17. Born to Run, Christopher McDougal

This novel will introduce you to some of the themes you will encounter this year in English III. Be sure to annotate (write critical and explanatory notes) your text as well!

Please be sure to bring this book with you on the first day of class as we will be using it right away and will continue to reference it at various times throughout the year. Be prepared to write on this text during the first week of school.

FORM-CHOICE READ:

In addition to The Illustrated Man, you must also choose an additional book from the list below. Please be prepared to write on your Form-Choice Read during the first week of school.

1. Continental Divide, Alex Myers

2. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead

3. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard

4. How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez

5. Born a Crime, Trevor Noah

6. The Truth About Aaron: My Journey to Understand my Brother, Jonathan Hernandez

7. Monster, Walter Dean Meyers

8. Brass, Xhenet Aliu

9. The Bread Givers, Anzia Yezierska

10. The Best of It, Kay Ryan

11. There, There, Tommy Orange

12. Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya

13. Faithful, Alice Hoffman

14. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

15. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates

16. In Dubious Battle, John Steinbeck

Sixth Form Summer Reading

For entering/rising Twelfth Grade Students and Post-Graduates

Welcome to English IV. In preparation for your fall elective, you are required to read TWO texts selected from the comprehensive list below. Be sure to annotate your texts and be sure to bring these books with you on the first day of class. Please be prepared to write on these texts during the first week of school.

Be sure to annotate your text as well! Please be sure to bring this book with you on the first day of class.

FORM-CHOICE READ:

1. Circe, Madeline Miller (RECOMMENDED FOR HOMER’S ODYSSEY)

2. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, Roxane Gay

3. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

4. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami (RECOMMENDED FOR HARUKI MURAKAMI)

5. Paradise, Toni Morrison

6. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Emily Dickinson (RECOMMENDED FOR IS MY VERSE ALIVE: POETRY WORKSHOP)

7. BFE, Julia Cho

8. The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett (RECOMMENDED READ FOR LIT. OF PASSING)

9. She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, Jennifer Finney Boylan (RECOMMENDED FOR LIT. OF PASSING)

10. Dear Life, Alice Munro

11. Lost in the City, Edward P. Jones

12. The Descent of Alette, Alice Notley

13. On Writing, Stephen King (RECOMMENDED READ FOR CONTEMP. DOC. MEDIA)

14. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (RECOMMENDED FOR CONTEMP. DOC. MEDIA)

15. The Girl With All The Gifts, MR Carey

16. The White Boy Shuffle, Paul Beatty

17. Wild, Cheryl Strayed (RECOMMENDED FOR TRAVEL LITERATURE: HOME AND AWAY)

18. Blue Highways, William Least-Heat Moon (RECOMMENDED FOR TRAVEL LITERATURE: HOME AND AWAY)

19. Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

20. The Zone, Sergei Dovlatov (RECOMMENDED FOR NOTES FROM THE GULAG)

21. Erosion, Terry Tempest Williams

22. All the Names They Use For God, Anjali Sachdeva

23. Educated, Tara Westover (RECOMMENDED FOR PREP SCHOOLS IN LIT.)

24. Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson

25. American War, Omar El Akkad

26. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce (RECOMMENDED FOR ADVANCED JAMES JOYCE)

27. Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, Benjamin Dreyer

28. The Writing Life, Annie Dillard

29. The Teenage Brain, Frances E Jensen and Amy Ellis Nutt