All students are required to read one book of their choice over the summer and should come to school prepared to share the title, author, and brief synopsis of the book with a classmate. Below are some suggested titles, but students can select any grade-level appropriate title of their choice.
In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Brimming with warmth and vitality, this new novel by the author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991) is a paean to the power of female courage. The butterflies are four smart and lovely Dominican sisters growing up during Trujillo's despotic regime. While her parents try desperately to cling to their imagined island of security in a swelling sea of fear and intimidation, Minerva Mirabal--the sharpest and boldest of the daughters, born with a fierce will to fight injustice--jumps headfirst into the revolutionary tide. Her sisters come upon their courage more gradually, through a passionate, protective love of family or through the sheer impossibility of closing their eyes to the horrors around them. Together, their bravery and determination meld into a seemingly insurmountable force, making Trujillo, for all his power, appear a puny adversary. Alvarez writes beautifully, whether creating the ten-year-old Maria Teresa's charming diary entries or describing Minerva's trip home after her first unsettling confrontation with Trujillo: "As the road darkened, the beams of our headlights filled with hundreds of blinded moths. Where they hit the windshield, they left blurry marks, until it seemed like I was looking at the world through a curtain of tears.'' If the Mirabal sisters are iron-winged butterflies, their men--father and husbands--often resemble those blinded moths, feeble and fallible. Still, the women view them with kind, forgiving eyes, and though there's no question of which sex is being celebrated here, a sweet and accepting spirit toward frailty, if not human cruelty, prevails. (Kirkus Reviews)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
One of the most universally loved and admired English novels, Pride and Prejudice was penned as a popular entertainment. But the consummate artistry of Jane Austen (1775–1817) transformed this effervescent tale of rural romance into a witty, shrewdly observed satire of English country life that is now regarded as one of the principal treasures of English language.
In a remote Hertfordshire village, far off the good coach roads of George III's England, a country squire of no great means must marry off his five vivacious daughters. At the heart of this all-consuming enterprise are his headstrong second daughter Elizabeth Bennet and her aristocratic suitor Fitzwilliam Darcy — two lovers whose pride must be humbled and prejudices dissolved before the novel can come to its splendid conclusion. (Amazon.com)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, situated on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before. What unfolds is the tale of the intense love between the gypsy foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Catherine, forced to choose between passionate, tortured Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton, surrendered to the expectations of her class. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past. (Amazon.com)
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
Though more than seventy years have passed since this remarkable novel won the Pulitzer Prize, it has retained its popularity and become one of the great modern classics. In The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck paints an indelible portrait of China in the 1920s, when the last emperor reigned and the vast political and social upheavals of the twentieth century were but distant rumblings. This moving, classic story of the honest farmer Wang Lung and his selfless wife O-Lan is must reading for those who would fully appreciate the sweeping changes that have occurred in the lives of the Chinese people during the last century. (Book cover)
On The Good Earth, SBHS students said...
"Interesting and gripping"
"It taught valuable life lessons."
"I enjoyed it immensely! It focused on the life of a family that spanned the time period from pre to post-Revolution China and the impact of social changes that occur during the time. It was a topic I hadn't read all that much about before, especially not in terms of historical fiction, and I'm glad I read the book!"
My Antonia by Willa Cather
In Jim Burden's accounting of his life with, and without, Antonia Shimerda, listeners are transported to the hardscrabble Nebraska prairie and the rural immigrant experience. When Jim first sees the Shimerda family, immigrants from Bohemia, disembarking from the same train that is taking him West to live with his grandparents, he has no idea the impact they will have on his life. Nostalgically, he remembers the good and bad times they had on their respective farms and creates his portrait of Antonia, an independent and tough survivor. (School Library Journal)
On My Antonia, SBHS students said...
"Female autonomy/empowerment theme, Antonia was the epitome of a good character"
"I liked the progression of the novel and how the character evolved through the conflicts. The descriptions brought the characters and conflicts to life and made it compelling to read."
"Included a variety of literary devices, which helped in preparation for English class this year."
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
Published in the early 19th century, James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans is a fictionalized adventure taking place during the French-American War. The daughters of an American colonel become caught up in the conflict between the two nations’ contest for supremacy in North America, and embroiled in the war between the Native American allies of the two sides. Cooper’s trademark intricacy of description and his portrayal of life during this tumultuous era have made The Last of the Mohicans one of the world’s most widely read American novels. (Book cover)
On The Last of the Mohicans, SBHS students said...
"Excellent description and diction, memorable characters"
"An interesting book that engaged me the entire time I read it."
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
One of Charles Dickens’s most fascinating novels, Great Expectations follows the orphan Pip as he leaves behind a childhood of misery and poverty after an anonymous benefactor offers him a chance at the life of a gentleman. From young Pip’s first terrifying encounter with the convict Magwitch in the gloom of a graveyard to the splendidly morbid set pieces in Miss Havisham’s mansion to the magnificently realized boat chase down the Thames, the novel is filled with the transcendent excitement that Dickens could so abundantly provide. Written in 1860 at the height of his maturity, it also reveals the novelist’s bittersweet understanding of the extent to which our deepest moral dilemmas are born of our own obsessions and illusions. (Amazon.com)
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
When his mother dies in childbirth, Oliver Twist finds himself in a situation of dire poverty. At the time, those who could not afford to provide for themselves were often forced into servitude under the harsh Poor Laws of 19th century England. At the age of nine, Oliver is set to work picking and weaving oakum at the workhouse where he lives. The circumstances of Oliver’s life are brutal, with meager food, clothing, and shelter, he finds himself in an unenviable position. “Oliver Twist,” is an early example of social criticism, in which Dickens effectively draws attention to the political issues of child labor and the struggles of the poor. Drawing upon his own experiences as an impoverished youth, Dickens brought to light the struggles of the lower classes in a way that continues to resonate with audiences until this day. (Amazon.com)
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Donnelly's first YA novel begins with high drama drawn straight from history: Grace Brown's body is discovered, and her murder, which also inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, is the framework for this ambitious, beautifully written coming-of-age story set in upstate New York in 1906. Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey is a waitress at the Glenmore Hotel when Brown is murdered. As she learns Brown's story, her narrative shifts between the goings-on at the hotel and her previous year at home: her toil at the farm; her relationship with her harsh, remote father; her pain at being forbidden to accept a college scholarship. "Plain and bookish," Mattie is thrilled about, but wary of, a handsome neighbor's attentions, and she wonders if she must give up her dream of writing if she marries. In an intelligent, colloquial voice that speaks with a writer's love of language and an observant eye, Mattie details the physical particulars of people's lives as well as deeper issues of race, class, and gender as she strains against family and societal limitations. Donnelly adds a crowd of intriguing, well-drawn secondary characters whose stories help Mattie define her own desires and sense of self. Many teens will connect with Mattie's deep yearning for independence and for stories, like her own, that are frank, messy, complicated, and inspiring. (Booklist)
On A Northern Light, SBHS students said...
"The story was actually an interesting topic with the murder and wondering what happened and why it was affecting the main character."
"Too many characters introduced in one section that it was confusing about who you were reading about."
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
The best American novel to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Hemingway’s frank portrayal of the love between Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley, caught in the inexorable sweep of war, glows with an intensity unrivaled in modern literature, while his description of the German attack on Caporetto—of lines of fired men marching in the rain, hungry, weary, and demoralized—is one of the greatest moments in literary history. A story of love and pain, of loyalty and desertion, A Farewell to Arms, written when he was thirty years old, represents a new romanticism for Hemingway.
On A Farewell to Arms, SBHS students said...
"Very detailed, fun to read"
"Presented a different type of army and one's experience at war"
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Starred Review. Since the mysterious death of four family members, the superstitious Mary Katherine "Merricat" Blackwood, her ailing uncle Julian, and agoraphobic sister Constance have lived in a bizarre but contented state of isolation. But when cousin Charles arrives in search of the Blackwood fortune, a terrible family secret is revealed. Bernadette Dunne's reading is flawlessly paced and suspenseful. The voices she provides the cast of characters are spot on: precocious Merricat is haunted and increasingly desperate; Constance is doting but detached; Uncle Julian is both pleasantly dotty and utterly unnerving; and Charles is the conniving villain listeners will love to hate. A treat for fans of mystery and suspense. (Publishers Weekly)
On We Have Always Lived in the Castle, SBHS students said...
"It was exciting and made me think!"
"There is a lot of mystery and suspense. You cannot stop reading it."
"Descriptive"
Washington Square by Henry James
The shy and sweet daughter of a well-to-do physician, Catherine Sloper seems destined for lifelong spinsterhood until the sudden appearance of a dashing suitor who proposes marriage. Her adored father suspects the would-be fiance of fortune-hunting and threatens her with disinheritance, forcing Catherine to choose between lover and father. (Book cover)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
With the publication of her first novel, Carson McCullers, all of twenty-three, became a literary sensation. With its profound sense of moral isolation and its compassionate glimpses into its characters' inner lives, the novel is considered McCullers' finest work, an enduring masterpiece first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1940. At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for various types of misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small town life. When Singer's mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (and loosely based on McCullers), finds solace in her music. Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated -- and, through Mick Kelly, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty. (Book cover)
On The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, SBHS students said...
"The range of characters shows the chaotic life of a man that just wants peace. John Singer provides solace for many people who meet him and it is interesting to see the impact he leaves on the other characters."
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Winner of a National Book Award in 1979 for Going After Cacciato (LJ 12/15/77), O'Brien again shows his literary stuff with this brilliant collection of short stories, many of which have won literary recognition (several appeared in O. Henry Awards' collections and Best American Short Stories ). Each of the 22 tales relates the exploits and personalities of a fictional platoon of American soldiers in Vietnam. An acutely painful reading experience, this collection should be read as a book and not a mere selection of stories reprinted from magazines. Not since Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse - Five (LJ 3/1/69) has the American soldier been portrayed with such poignance and sincerity. (Library Journal)
On The Things They Carried, SBHS students said...
"Interesting because it related to war"
"Good at portraying emotion"
"Tells the horrors of war"
"Good plot"
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
A vulnerable young girl wins a dream assignment on a big-time New York fashion magazine and finds herself plunged into a nightmare. An autobiographical account of Sylvia Plath's own mental breakdown and suicide attempt, The Bell Jar is more than a confessional novel, it is a comic but painful statement of what happens to a woman's aspirations in a society that refuses to take them seriously... a society that expects electroshock to cure the despair of a sensitive, questioning young artist whose search for identity becomes a terrifying descent toward madness. (Inside Book Flap)
On The Bell Jar, SBHS students said...
"Teens can relate to this book."
"It was a really intense read at times and really made you wonder about the inner workings of someone with depression, purely out of fear of being insignificant."
"As the book progressed it showed the gradual decline of a women's mental health."
The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter
When John Cameron Butler was a child, he was captured in a raid on the Pennsylvania frontier and adopted by the great warrrior Cuyloga. Renamed True Son, he came to think of himself as fully Indian. But eleven years later his tribe, the Lenni Lenape, has signed a treaty with the white men and agreed to return their captives, including fifteen-year-old True Son. Now he must go back to the family he has forgotten, whose language is no longer his, and whose ways of dress and behavior are as strange to him as the ways of the forest are to them. A beautifully written, sensitively told story of a white boy brought up by Indians, The Light in the Forest is a beloved American classic. (Book cover)
On The Light in the Forest, SBHS students said...
"The book was easy to understand and followed the assignment very well."
"Had a great story about a boy trying to figure out the life he wants to live."
"Interesting plot which kept me hooked."
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Rommely women were “made of thin invisible steel” (p.64) that supplied them with the inner strength to overcome poverty, discrimination, and their own mistaken choices. Young Francie Nolan inherited this strength from her mother, but Francie feels the weight of the obstacles that she faces much more deeply than her mother understands. This book is a rich literary treasure, filled with juicy quotes that relate how Francie and the other characters feel about the circumstances that they face in early twentieth century Brooklyn. A gripping multi-generational story, readers will root for Francie to use her intelligence, imagination, and heart to overcome all she faces.
The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck
In this masterful tale set in Norway during World War II, Steinbeck explores the effects of invasion on both the conquered and the conquerors. As he delves into the emotions of the German commander and the Norwegian traitor, and depicts the spirited patriotism of the Norwegian underground, Steinbeck uncovers profound, often unsettling truths about war—and about human nature. Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck’s self-described “celebration of the durability of democracy” had an extraordinary impact as Allied propaganda in Nazi-occupied Europe. Despite Axis efforts to suppress it (in Fascist Italy, mere possession of the book was punishable by death), The Moon is Down was secretly translated into French, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian and Russian; hundreds of thousands of copies circulated throughout Europe, making it by far the most popular piece of propaganda under the occupation. Few literary works of our time have demonstrated so triumphantly the power of ideas in the face of cold steel and brute force. (Book cover)
On The Moon is Down, SBHS students said...
"It was easy to understand because it is similar to the real world."
"Great connections to modern history"
"Vivid, descriptive language"
"Depressing mood and setting may make it seem boring in the beginning."
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Selling more than 300,000 copies the first year it was published, Stowe's powerful abolitionist novel fueled the fire of the human rights debate in 1852. Denouncing the institution of slavery in dramatic terms, the incendiary novel quickly draws the reader into the world of slaves and their masters. Stowe's characters are powerfully and humanly realized in Uncle Tom, a majestic and heroic slave whose faith and dignity are never corrupted; Eliza and her husband, George, who elude slave catchers and eventually flee a country that condones slavery; Simon Legree, a brutal plantation owner; Little Eva, who suffers emotionally and physically from the suffering of slaves; and fun-loving Topsy, Eva's slave playmate. (Book cover)
On Uncle Tom's Cabin, SBHS students said...
"It was very eye opening as to the different perspectives that existed on the issue of slavery during the times that were plagued with many debates on the topic. It was also extremely touching, as it clearly described the evils of the institution."
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
An inordinately moving, electric exploration of two warring cultures fused in love, focused on the lives of four Chinese women--who emigrated, in their youth, at various times, to San Francisco--and their very American 30-ish daughters. Tan probes the tension of love and often angry bewilderment as the older women watch their daughters "as from another shore," and the daughters struggle to free themselves from maddening threads of arcane obligation. More than the gap between generations, more than the dwindling of old ways, the Chinese mothers most fear that their own hopes and truths--the secret gardens of the spirit that they have cultivated in the very worst of times--will not take root. (Kirkus Reviews)
