Table of Contents Required Books and Assignments for English Courses....................................................page 1 Fiction..........................................................................................................................page 2 Non-Fiction.................................................................................................................page 4 Biography....................................................................................................................page 5 Drama..........................................................................................................................page 6 Poetry...........................................................................................................................page 6 Faculty and Staff Recommendations...........................................................................page 7
Required Book: The first few days of your English class in September will be devoted to this book. You may be asked to do any or all of the following: participate in class discussions about the book; pass a quiz to show that you read and understood the entire book; write a formal essay or complete a creative project about the book. This is why we recommend that you save this book for last and read it just before the fall semester starts. YOU MUST BRING YOUR COPY OF THIS BOOK WITH YOU TO YOUR FIRST ENGLISH CLASS IN SEPTEMBER. NEWLY ACCEPTED International Students....................The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver Students entering English I................................................ The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver Students entering English II........................................The Swallows of Kabul, by Yasmina Khadra Students entering English II Honors................................................Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë Students entering English III (all levels).......................................The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan Students entering English IV (Tempone)………………............................1984, by George Orwell Students entering English IV (Clifford)………………….….A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah Students entering AP English…Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
“Your Own Choice” Summer Reading: Please peruse the lists provided, and choose two additional books to read this summer. During the first few days of your English class in September, you may be asked to briefly write about these books or share your selections and thoughts about these books with your class.
Summer Writing Assignment (TO BE POSTMARKED BY AUGUST 15th): This writing assignment is an SAT-based writing assignment that involves revision as well. Each class (i.e. freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior) has a different essay question. You will need lined notebook paper, a writing utensil, and a timer. The guidelines are the following: 1. Read the excerpt provided and your assigned question. 2. Set a timer for 25 minutes and answer the questions by free-writing for exactly 25 minutes. Please attempt to write legibly! What is free-writing? It is writing whatever comes to mind in relation to the question. One does not pay attention to paragraphs, spelling, or punctuation. One “frees” their mind of the mechanics of writing in order to reach for dynamic content. 3. Read through your free-write and organize your thoughts and ideas in a more coherent manner. Create an introduction. Add explanations and examples from your summer reading and life experiences where necessary. Decide upon high-quality topic sentences and devise paragraphs. Write a strong conclusion. Your essay should be approximately 1,000 words. Please title, type, and print your final essay. 4. Attach your handwritten free-write to the back of your final typed and printed essay and mail to Miss Hall’s School. Please be sure to provide your name, date, and year of graduation on both the free-write and final essay. MAIL BY AUGUST 15th to:
English Department Miss Hall’s School 492 Holmes Road Pittsfield, MA 01202
2
Freshmen: Read the following excerpt and carefully consider the issue presented: “Tough challenges reveal our strengths and weaknesses.” Adversity can lead us to examine who we are and to question what is important in life. People who have experiences seriously adverse events frequently report that they were positively changed by their negative experiences.
Writing Assignment (free-write and essay): Do you think that we need adversity to help us discover who we are? Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
From – The Official SAT Study Guide by The College Board
3
Sophomores: Read the following excerpt and carefully consider the issue presented: Traditionally the term “heroism” has been applied to those who have braved physical danger to defend a cause or to protect others. But one of the most feared dangers people face is that of disapproval by their family, peers, or community. Sometimes acting courageously requires someone to speak out at the risk of such rejection.
Writing Assignment (free-write and essay): Should heroes be defined as people who say what they think when we ourselves lack the courage to say it? Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
From – The Official SAT Study Guide by The College Board
4
Juniors: Read the following excerpt and carefully consider the issue presented: A better understanding of other people contributes to the development of moral virtues. We shall be both kinder and fairer in our treatment of others if we understand them better. Understanding ourselves and understanding others are connected, since as human beings we all have things in common. Adapted from Anne Sheppard, Aesthetics: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art
Writing Assignment (free-write and essay): Do we need other people in order to understand ourselves? Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
From – The Official SAT Study Guide by The College Board
5
Seniors: Read the following excerpt and carefully consider the issue presented: The old saying, “be careful what you wish for,” may be an appropriate warning. The drive to achieve a particular goal can dangerously narrow one’s perspective and encourage the fantasy that success in one endeavor will solve all of life’s difficulties. In fact, success can often have unexpected consequences. Those who propel themselves forward toward the achievement of one goal often find that their lives are worse once “success” is achieved than they were before.
Writing Assignment (free-write and essay): Can success ever be disastrous? Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experiences, or observations.
From – The Official SAT Study Guide by The College Board
6
FICTION Agee, James Allison, Dorothy Alvarez, Julia Anderson, Sherwood Atwood, Margaret Austen, Jane
Baldwin, James Bellow, Saul Borges, Jorge Luis Camus, Albert Cather, Willa Cervantes, Miguel de Chopin, Kate Cisneros, Sandra Conrad, Joseph Crane, Stephen Cunningham, Michael Defoe, Daniel Dickens, Charles Dostoevsky, Fyodor du Maurier, Daphne Eliot, George Ellison, Ralph Escandon, Maria Amparo Faulkner, William Fitzgerald, F. Scott Flaubert, Gustave Forster, E.M. Fowles, John Gaines, Ernest García Márquez, Gabriel Gaskell, Elizabeth Gibbons, Kaye Golding, William Goldman, William Gordimer, Nadine Greenberg, Joanne Hardy, Thomas
A Death in the Family Bastard Out of Carolina How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents Winesburg, Ohio (Stories) Cat’s Eye Emma Persuasion Sense and Sensibility Go Tell it on the Mountain Seize the Day Henderson the Rain King Labyrinths The Stranger My Antonia Don Quixote The Awakening The House on Mango Street Heart of Darkness The Red Badge of Courage At Home at the End of the World Robinson Crusoe David Copperfield A Tale of Two Cities Crime and Punishment Rebecca The Mill on the Floss Silas Marner Invisible Man Esperanza’s Box of Saints Intruder in the Dust As I Lay Dying Babylon Revisited & Other Stories This Side of Paradise Madame Bovary A Room With a View The French Lieutenant's Woman A Lesson Before Dying One Hundred Years of Solitude Wives and Daughters Ellen Foster Lord of the Flies The Princess Bride July’s People I Never Promised You a Rose Garden The Return of the Native Tess of the D'Urbervilles 7
Heller , Joseph Hemingway, Ernest
Hesse, Hermann Huxley, Aldous Ishiguro, Kazuo Jackson, Shirley James, Henry Jen, Gish Joyce, James Kafka, Franz Kesey, Ken Kincaid, Jamaica King, Stephen Knowles, John Leavitt, David Lee, Harper LeGuin, Ursula Lessing, Doris Lewis, Sinclair Malamud, Bernard Mann, Thomas Markandaya, Kamala McCullers, Carson McEwan, Ian Melville, Herman Miller, Walter M., Jr. Morrison, Toni Naylor, Gloria O'Connor, Flannery Ondaatje, Michael Orwell, George Plath, Sylvia Paton, Alan Poe, Edgar Allan Potok, Chaim Renault, Mary Robinson, Marilynne Rochman, Hazel (ed.) Roth, Philip Scott, Sir Walter Shelley, Mary
Catch-22 The Old Man and the Sea The Sun Also Rises A Farewell to Arms Siddhartha Brave New World The Remains of the Day The Lottery (Stories) The Turn of the Screw Typical American Dubliners A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man The Trial One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Annie John The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon A Separate Peace Family Dancing (Stories) To Kill a Mockingbird The Dispossessed The Fifth Child Ben, in the World Babbitt Main Street The Natural Death in Venice and other stories Nectar in a Sieve The Member of the Wedding Atonement Moby Dick A Canticle for Liebowitz Beloved Mama Day Everything That Rises Must Converge A Good Man Is Hard to Find Anil’s Ghost 1984 Animal Farm The Bell Jar Cry, the Beloved Country The Complete Stories The Chosen The King Must Die Housekeeping Somehow Tenderness Survives (stories) Goodbye Columbus and other stories Ivanhoe Frankenstein 8
Smiley, Jane Smith, Zadie Steinbeck, John
Stendhal Stevenson, Robert Louis Swift, Jonathan Thackerary, William Tan, Amy Tolstoy, Leo Twain, Mark Vonnegut, Kurt Waugh, Evelyn Walker, Alice Winterson, Jeannette Wright, Richard
A Thousand Acres On Beauty The Grapes of Wrath The Pearl The Red Pony The Red and the Black The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Gulliver's Travels Vanity Fair The Joy Luck Club War and Peace Anna Karenina The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Innocents Abroad Slaughterhouse Five A Handful of Dust The Color Purple Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Native Son
NON-FICTION
Abbot, Edwin Asinof, Eliot Alvarez, Walter Blais, Madeleine Blatner, David Boorstin, Jon Brown, Dee Carson, Rachel Chang, Iris Ferris, Timothy Fortey, Richard Goodwin, Jason Gould, Stephen Jay Hafner, Katie Hamilton, Edith Hawking, Stephen Jones, K. Maurice Junger, Sebastian Karnow, Stanley Kidder, Tracy Kotlowitz, Alex Kozol, Jonathan Krackauer, Jon Machiavelli, Niccolo
The Bible Flatland Eight Men Out T. Rex and the Crater of Doom In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle The Joy of [Pi] Making Movies Work: Thinking Like a Filmmaker Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Silent Spring The Rape of Nanking Coming of Age in the Milky Way Life Lords of the Horizon The Mismeasure of Man Where Wizards Stay up Late: The Origins of the Internet Mythology A Brief History of Time Say It Loud! The Story of Rap Music The Perfect Storm Vietnam: A History The Soul of a New Machine The Other Side of the River Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools Into Thin Air The Prince 9
McCloud, Scott O'Gorman, James F. Paulos, John Allen Petroski, Henry Pipher, Mary Regis, Ed Ryan, Jean Shaara, Michael Simon, David Singh, Simon Sobel, Dava Spiegelman, Art Spindler, Konrad Steinbeck, John Strickland, Carol Stringer, Christopher Thomas, Lewis Thoreau, Henry David Watson, James Yolen, Jane
Understanding Comics ABC of Architecture Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences Invention by Design: How Engineers Get from Thought to Thing Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls Virus Ground Zero Little Girls in Pretty Boxes The Killer Angels The Corner: A Year in the life of an Inner City Neighborhood Fermat's Enigma Longitude Maus Maus II The Man in the Ice Travels With Charley: In Search of America The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity The Lives of a Cell Walden The Double Helix Favorite Folktales from Around the World
BIOGRAPHY Ambrose, Stephen Angelou, Maya Ashe, Arthur Baker, Russell Bitton-Jackson, Livia Cary, Lorena Curie, Eve Dillard, Annie Ditlevsen, Tove Douglass, Frederick Filipovic, Zlata Frank, Anne Grealy, Lucy Haley, Alex Hockenberry, John Jiang, Ji-Li Keller, Helen Kincaid, Jamaica Lash, Joseph Malcolm X Massie, Robert McBride, James McCourt, Frank
Undaunted Courage I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Days of Grace Growing Up I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing up in the Holocaust Black Ice Madame Curie An American Childhood Early Spring Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Autobiography of a Face Roots Moving Violations Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution Story of My Life My Brother Eleanor and Franklin The Autobiography of Malcolm X Nicholas and Alexandra The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother Angela's Ashes 10
McCullough, David Mathabane, Mark Mehta, Ved Mitford, Nancy Moody, Ann Mora, Pat Rodriguez, Luis Santiago, Esmeralda Sobel, Dava Troyat, Henri Wiesel, Elie Wilson, Jeremy Wolff, Tobias Wright, Richard
Truman Kaffir Boy Sound-Shadows of the New World Zelda Coming of Age in Mississippi House of Houses Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. Almost a Woman Galileo's Daughter Catherine the Great All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs Lawrence of Arabia This Boy's Life Black Boy
DRAMA Beckett, Samuel Chekhov, Anton Fugard, Athol Hellman, Lillian Ibsen, Henrik Kushner, Tony Miller, Arthur Shakespeare, William Shepard, Sam Stoppard, Tom Wasserstein, Wendy Wilder, Thornton Wilson, August Zimmerman, Mary
Waiting for Godot The Cherry Orchard Master Harold and the Boys The Children's Hour A Doll's House Angels in America The Price King Lear Othello True West Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead The Heidi Chronicles Our Town Piano Lesson Fences Metamorphoses
POETRY Angelou, Maya Auden, W. H. Brautigan, Richard Collins, Billy Collins, Billy (ed.) Dickinson, Emily Eliot, T.S. Frost, Robert Ginsberg, Allen Hughes, Langston
And Still I Rise Selected Poems In Watermelon Sugar Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry (anthology) Poems The Waste Land and Other Poems Poetry of Robert Frost Howl & Other Poems The Dreamkeeper & Other Poems 11
Neruda, Pablo Oliver, Mary Ostriker, Alicia Suskin Pinsky, Robert Rich, Adrienne Thomas, Dylan Williams, William Carlos Yeats, W.B.
Selected Poems/Bilingual edition Selected Odes of Pablo Neruda New and Selected Poems The Crack in Everything Jersey Rain Adrienne Rich's Poetry and Prose Collected Poems Selected Poems Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
FACULTY AND STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS Ms. August recommends . . . The Songlines, by Bruce Chatwin, a short, beautifully written piece of non-fiction. Chatwin investigates the Songlines (walking trails of ancestral spirits) of the Australian Aboriginal cultures. Especially interesting for readers who are interested in the human psyche and the restless human spirit. Ms. Boland recommends . . . Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy, by Jostein Gaarder The Pearl, by John Steinbeck The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway Senora Breslin recommends . . . In the Pond, by Ha Jin (who won the National Book Award), uses spare, clean language -compelling story in modern-day China. Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto. Great story of recovering from loss -- award-winning Japanese author. Women of the Silk, by Gail Tsukiyama. Chinese-Japanese-American author tells of a group of women who organize a strike in a silk factory. One Thousand Chestnut Trees, by Mira Stout. Korean-American girl discovers her family and cultural history. See You Down the Road, by Kim Ablon Whitney. This novel is about growing up in a family of Irish Travelers in America. Their scams are ingenious, their mixed morals are thought provoking, and the main character, Bridget, is wonderfully tough yet vulnerable. Ms. Briney recommends . . . Lucky in the Corner, by Carol Anshaw. There are characters in this book, who in all their messiness, you will love inestimably. I would call this novel seamless. The Mezzanine, by Nicholas Baker. A slim little book that's sharply observed and laugh-outloud funny. The Sleeping Father, by Matthew Sharpe Ms. Chandler recommends . . . Digging to America, by Anne Tyler A Dog Year, by Jon Katz The Myth of You and Me, by Leah Stewart 12
Barrel Fever, by David Sedaris (and anything else by David Sedaris) Mrs. Clark recommends . . . Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri. This book of luminous short stories deservedly won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King. King provides us with an entertaining, mesmerizing account of why good writing matters. Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier. A gothic tale of love and suspense, Rebecca is in a class by itself. Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin. Helprin's lyrical blend of magic and reality spins a fantasy of the beauty and complexity of the human soul. Mrs. Coll recommends . . . The Eyre Affair, by Jaspar Fforde The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger Ms. Farlow recommends . . . Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Dr. Fisher recommends . . . A Beautiful Mind (a biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994,) by Sylvia Nasar. The Education of Little Tree, by Forrest Carter Women in Mathematics, by Lynn M. Osen Fermat's Enigma, by Simon Singh; the history of one of the greatest mathematical problems ever: that x^n + y^n = z^n, where n=3,4,5,... has no nontrivial whole number solutions. Q.E.D., Beauty in Mathematical Proof, by Burkard Polster The Little Prince (or, in French, Le Petit Prince), by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Mrs. Graulty recommends . . . Girl With a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier. A fairly quick read which draws you into the world of the famous Vermeer painting and the life of the model... This is a mysterious and poignant story that reveals much about the process of painting and about the lives of the characters entrenched in their social roles. The most interesting are the lower class young woman model, the brilliantly talented but poor artist, and his arrogant and wealthy patron. The Color of Water, by James McBride. A memoir subtitled, A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother... The strength and pride of this mother affirm the importance of mothers everywhere. Her devotion to McBride and her refusal to let others use categories to classify her or her family members are so admirable. Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier. Civil War era novel that recalls a beautiful ballad about the loves and lives of characters struggling to survive in rough times.... These are men and women whose lives connect to one another regardless of race or position. It is evocative of place and of landscape. I was totally enthralled by their adventures, especially those of the feisty heroine.
13
The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. A short summer read that moved me deeply as a teenager. This classic story of "a man and a fish" reveals the strength of the human spirit when pitted against adversity, as the old fisherman struggles to bring home his "catch." Any sailor or person who loves the ocean will see the appeal of his life. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. A novel that made the rounds in our house after it was introduced by my college age daughter whose friends all loved it. The author, who was born in Spain and grew up in Costa Rica, also traveled in Iran, Turkey, France, India and Mexico. He has written a captivating story about a boy, Pi, named after "piscine," the French word for swimming pool, because his uncle hopes he will be an expert swimmer someday. As I read, I was reminded of the movie "Cast Away." The story is quite amazing and has magical elements of fantasy and humor, missing in the Tom Hanks film.
Ms. Higuera recommends . . . Crescent, by Diana Abu-Jaber. Thirty-nine-year-old Sirine, never married, lives with a devoted Iraqi-immigrant uncle and an adoring dog named King Babar. She works as a chef in a Lebanese restaurant, her passions aroused only by the preparation of food—until an unbearably handsome Arabic literature professor starts dropping by for a little home cooking. Falling in love brings Sirene's whole heart to a boil—stirring up memories of her parents and questions about her identity as an Arab American. Infused with the flavors and scents of Middle Eastern food, and spiced with history and fable, Crescent is a sensuous love story and a gripping tale of risk and commitment. It's Not About the Bra, by Brandi Chastain. It’s Not About the Bra is a mandatory addition to the shelf of a competitive athlete—or anyone who coaches or loves them. The Pilot's Wife, by Anita Shreve. Being married to a pilot has taught Kathryn Lyons to be ready for an emergency, but nothing has prepared her for the late-night knock on her door and the news of her husband's fatal crash. As Kathryn struggles through her grief, a bizarre mystery swims into focus, and she is forced to confront disturbing rumors about the man she loved and the life that she took for granted. Ms. Hungate recommends . . . The Moon Pearl, by Ruthanne Lum McCunn Red Sky at Morning, by Richard Bradford Last Days of Summer, by Steve Kluger Before Women had Wings, by Connie May Fowler The Invisible Circus, by Jennifer Egan Ms. Lovell recommends . . . A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
14
Ms. Martinson recommends . . . Little Boys Come from the Stars, by Emmanuel Dongala. Set in the Congo and told by a twelve-year-old boy, this book makes you laugh and makes you think at the same time. While the boy, in his innocence, uses incomplete information to puzzle through the strange behavior of his political-animal uncle, his very learned scientific father, and his deeply religious mother, we learn about the less-than-funny horrors his family and his region have experienced. The "old ways" communicated by his grandfather offer the boy, and us, a steadying spirit. The Known World, by Edward P. Jones. Set in an imaginary Virginia county in the years before the Civil War, this elegant Pulitzer Prize winning book opens with the death of a black slaveowner and goes on to offer a full symphony of characters who struggle to escape the trap of slavery that imprisons them all in various ways. Jones' treatment of his characters is gentle; it is the institution of slavery -- and by extension any society built on human exploitation -- that he mercilessly exposes. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon. This is one of my favorite books of all time, because it puts you inside the mind of someone whose assumptions about the world are completely different from yours. The 15-year-old narrator of the story is autistic, a mental condition that limits his understanding of and ability to interact with other people. Eager to solve the puzzle of why a dog was found dead in his neighbor's yard, he not only triumphs over his limitations, he learns to make use of his unique abilities to do so. It's a story that is funny, heartbreaking, and inspiring. Ms. McFarland recommends . . . Daughter of Fortune, by Isabelle Allende. Eliza, a feisty young woman in mid-19th century Chile, escapes her wealthy family and follows her lover to California in 1849 at the height of the gold rush. There is not a dull moment in this fascinating adventure! Sequel: Portrait in Sepia. Bee Season, by Myla Goldberg. This is the story of a young girl whose success in school and district spelling bees makes her eccentric family think that she is on her way to greatness. The author weaves a complex, unexpected story around her heroine. This is a wonderful read! Pope Joan, by Donna Woolfolk-Cross ~ This exciting, action-packed story full of love, sex and violence is about a courageous young woman in the middle ages who attains the highest office in the Catholic Church. You won't believe how she did it! A historical novel that you won't be able to put down. Unravelling, by Elizabeth Graver. This beautifully written story is about a young, headstrong, independent New Hampshire girl who leaves home to work in the textile mill of Lowell, Massachusetts. Set in the mid-19th century, the book follows the growth of Aimee Slatter in an unforgiving environment of big factories, cruel bosses, lusting men, and good friends. I love this book by my long-time friend Elizabeth Graver. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chang. This is a gripping story of how three generations of women survived the upheaval in China in the 20th century before, during and after communism. The characters are beautifully drawn, the history is real, and the reading experience is wonderful! Mr. Majewski recommends . . . To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. A classic tale of honor and prejudice. Disappearances, by Howard Frank Mosher. A gripping tale set in the Northeast Kingdom (Vermont) during the Depression. Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Paterson. Sibling rivalry and the definition of beauty.
15
The Green Hills of Africa, by Ernest Hemingway. Perfectly written reality (no made-for-TV reality script here). Mr. Miller recommends . . . I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, by Joanne Greenberg. Deborah Blau lives in two worlds- the world of so-called"reality" and her own inner world of Yr populated by gods and demons of her own creation. She cannot distinguish between the two worlds. Follow her journey to learn about herself and to cope with her own confusing life. Although she is in a sanitarium, her inner struggles reflect what most of us go through. As her sensitive ward attendant McPheason points out to her, "We aren't so different." Have you ever questioned your own sanity or the sanity of the world? If so, this book is for you. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Mark Twain’s account of an inventive character from the 1800’s who is transported back in time to Camelot. He becomes Sir Boss, whose often humorous, but also dramatic exploits reveal much about human nature. Brave New World. Aldous Huxley’s frightening vision of the future in which people are not born, but “decanted” from glass tubes into a world in which everyone is genetically programmed into castes. Blood Child and Other Stories. Octavia Butler’s collection of thought-provoking and often disturbing science fiction. In one story, male humans learn what it is like to be pregnant! Music is My Mistress. Duke Ellington’s expressive autobiography. Learn about the person who is considered by many to be America’s greatest musician. Ms. Moon recommends . . . My all-time favorite: Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell Marjorie Morningstar, by Herman Wouk A Bend in the Road, by Nicholas Sparks Why Do I Love These People, by Po Bronson The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd Ms. Norris recommends . . . Instant Persuasion: How to Change Your Words to Change Your Life, by Laurie Puhn. If you've ever felt as though you said the wrong thing or just weren't able to get your point across, this may be the book for you. Puhn puts forth "communication wonders," simple tips on how to speak more effectively and improve communication with friends and family, as well as "communication blunders," those conversational missteps we can all make that cause unnecessary problems. Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & in Life, One Conversation at a Time, by Susan Scott. Although this book includes advice for those who want to be more effective in the work place, Fierce Conversations is for anyone who wants to speak with her authentic voice and have real conversations that are meaningful. The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni. Nikki Giovanni is a world-renowned American poet, activist, and educator. Since 1987, she has been on the faculty at Virginia Tech, where she is a University Distinguished Professor. Marian Wright Edelman said of this collection the following: "In this wonderful collection...her magic still refreshes and reminds your heart to feel again what it has always meant to be Black, to be a woman, to be vulnerable, to be empowered."
16
Zitkala-Sa: American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings, edited by Cathy Davidson and Ada Norris. If you want to read primary source material by a "chronicler of white-Indian relations of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries," this is a good place to begin. ZitkalaSa championed the causes of Native Americans throughout her life and her stories of her experiences are beautifully vivid. Ms. Pour recommends . . . O! Pioneers, by Willa Cather. A feminist before feminism was cool. This is the compelling story of Alexandra and her efforts on the Nebraska prairie. A quick read which deals with the reality of the American west and determined passion of one woman. Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather. Simply a beautiful story, combining the harsh conditions of the Southwest with the delicate culture of France. The tale of two priests in New Mexico---Cather weaves life and death through this short novel and actually made me cry the first time I read it. The Living, by Annie Dillard. A gentle introduction to the genius of Dillard. A story of settlers in the Northwest wilderness with a bizarre moral twist. Dillard writes poetry -- she just disguises it as prose. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. Everyone should read this book. Though egoism unchecked by some form of socialism may seem cruel, Rand makes a great case for the power and potential of the individual. Young Men and Fire, by Norman McClean. By the author of A River Runs Through It, this is an exploration into the tragic fire of Mann Gulch that killed a group of smokejumpers. Great study of fire, decision, and life -- I couldn't put this one down until I found out exactly how this fire devoured these men. Non-fiction but beautifully written. Ms. Pierce recommends . . . Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood What the Living Do, by Marie Howe Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison Siddhartha, by Hermann Hess The Pact, by Jodi Picoult One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Mrs. Biancolo recommends . . . The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, I read this book a few years ago, and it remains one of my favorites. Henry De Tamble has no control over when and where he will be suddenly whisked backward or forward in time. On one of his “trips,” he meets Clare Abshire. Although Henry’s life is scattered through time, Claire’s moves forward in the normal way, so Henry meets Claire when she is a teenager, then a grown woman, then a child, then a grown woman, and so on. This book has more than an interesting plot, though. Full of interesting, believable characters, you might forget that it is a fantasy, and get caught up in this thrilling love story. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta. Francesca Spinelli has recently transferred to a private high school only recently turned coed. She is one of only a few girls, none of whom are friends from her last school. Francesca finds herself frustrated with school, afraid of having to make new friends, fed up with her little brother’s neediness, and annoyed with one particular selfsatisfied, arrogant boy who is also, she has to admit, kind of cute.
17
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. Are the “Discworld” series books parody? Satire? Pratchett himself calls them “resonances.” Tell me, after you read this one, did you recognize Macbeth? And don’t you want to read another one? From Wyrd Sisters: “The night was as black as the inside of a cat. It was the kind of night, you could believe, on which gods moved men as though they were pawns on the chessboard of fate. In the middle of this elemental storm a fire gleamed among the dripping furze bushes like the madness in a weasel’s eye. It illuminated three hunched figures. As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: ‘When shall we three meet again?’ There was a pause. Finally another voice said, in far more ordinary tones: ‘Well, I can do next Tuesday.’” Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. This book came out of an article Schlosser originally wrote for Rolling Stone magazine. Did you know that according to a cited study, ninety-six percent of American schoolchildren can identify Ronald McDonald, and the only fictional character with a higher degree of recognition is Santa Claus? Did you know that worldwide, the “golden arches” are now a more widely recognized symbol than the Christian cross? Read this book, but do not, under any circumstances, see the movie.
Mr. Rutledge recommends . . . Maus, by Art Spiegelman. This two-volume comic set presents the Holocaust through the eyes of a survivor's cartoonist son. A riveting comic-book portrayal of war-torn Europe in which Jews are mice, Germans are cats, Poles are pigs, and Americans are dogs, Maus is powerful and engaging. Because he uses the comic form, Spiegelman makes this Jewish family's experience an astonishingly fast ride. A 1992 Pulitzer Prize winner, it will astound you with its sentiment and its vivid detail. Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, by Ben Mezrich. A great piece of nonfiction, this book is a fascinating look at the experience of a team of bright college students who figure out how to beat the Las Vegas blackjack tables. This is a fast, fun read, exciting and really interesting. This book will make you realize that most of us live our lives in the slow lane! The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. This is an eye-opening tale of epic proportions, set in the medieval twelfth century. It is a story of love, danger, beauty, and time. This book takes the "I can't put this book down" prize, for sure. Never have monks, pagans, kings and craftsmen leapt with such ease off the page and into the mind. Don't be daunted by its thousand pages, just read it; you'll be enthralled. Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry, edited by Billy Collins. A book of 180 contemporary poems, this collection will move you in many directions. This anthology is a smorgasbord for the heart and the mind, best sampled one morsel at a time; you'll be glad to digest each poem slowly, with thought to the taste left behind. These poems are accessible and provocative. You will love this book one page at a time. Morality Play, by Barry Unsworth. My third historical selection in this set, Morality Play is a historical who-dunnit, "a medieval murder mystery full of the wonders of the time" in which a traveling troupe of actors investigates and reenacts a murder that has vexed a fourteenth-century town. This man can write, and the story is a good one. Enjoy! Mr. Van Sickle recommends . . . Queen of the Underworld, by Gail Godwin The Gospel of Judas, by Simon Mawer Adam Runaway, by Peter Prince 18
Teacher Man: a Memoir, by Frank McCourt Ms. Virden recommends . . . The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd Jemima J, by Jane Green Mr. Darcy's Daughters, by Elizabeth Aston Ms. Walters recommends . . . The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown....I couldn't put it down! I'm now reading another one of his books titled Digital Fortress. It's also very good. E: The Story of a Number, by Eli Maor. It’s full of interesting facts and history! The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure, by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. A wonderful tale about a young boy's dreams about math. Fun! Senora Wilson recommends . . . Big Mama's Funeral, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Leaf Storm, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez No One Writes To The Colonel, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
19
