Summer reading list for 10th grade
Incoming sophomores:
More summer reading |
This comes from the "Professional Readings" section of the May 10, 2008 National Council of Teachers of English Chronicle:
"Although he says there's not a lot of research on the point, Richard Allington cites a study by Jimmy Kim that found students should read at least four to five books over the summer months in order to keep their skills strong. If they read any fewer than that, they will probably lose ground, summarizes Allington, who is professor of education at the University of Tennessee and author of What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs and co-author of Classrooms That Work: They Can ALL Read and Write."
With this in mind, here is the summer program that we would like to see our sophomores-of-next-year follow:
We expect that you read at least four selections from the following categories. No more than two selections can be from any one category. Keep a Reading Journal for each work that you select. In your journal include thoughts, reflections, connections and questions about each work that you read. Bring your journal to English class at the beginning of the school year.
Fiction:
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress — Dai Sijie
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World — Haruki Murakami
Joy Luck Club — Amy Tan
American Born Chinese — Gene Luen Yang
The White Tiger — Aravind Adiga
The House of the Spirits — Isabel Allende
Like Water for Chocolate — Laura Esquivel
A Thousand Splendid Suns — Khaled Hosseini
Reservation Blues — Sherman Alexie
As I Lay Dying — William Faulkner (challenging text)
Fahrenheit 451 — Ray Bradbury
The Awakening — Kate Chopin
Catcher in the Rye — J.D. Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird — Harper Lee
Non-fiction:
Fast Food Nation — Eric Schlosser or
Chew on This — Eric Schlosser
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soldier — Ishmael Beah
Woman Warrior — Maxine Hong Kingston
Freakonomics — Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Gang Leader for a Day — Sudhir Venkatesh
Dragon in the Land of Snows: a History of Modern Tibet — Tsering Shakya
Diary of Anne Frank
Autobiography of Malcolm X
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing up in the Other America — Alex Kotlowitz
Alternative Media:
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Slave Narratives audio
Swing Kids (1993)
Life is Beautiful (1997)
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
Schindler's List (1993)
Episodes of the "Daily Show" (this counts as one)