Upper School

Summer Reading for 2007

Students in grades 9 - 12 will read two books:  Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey by Jane Goodall and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Testing will be given during the same period on the same day near the beginning of the school year. Tests will be short answer, and answers will be right or wrong. Test scores will be given to the English teacher who has that student (whether the person takes the English course first or second semester), who will include this grade as part of the first nine weeks English grade. All academic areas are encouraged to use the Summer Reading books in their course work during the academic year.

Goodall, Jane.    Reason for Hope:  A Spiritual Journey

Jane Goodall is one of the most celebrated women of our times -- her work with chimpanzees in Tanzania greatly advanced our understanding of human and animal behavior. In Reason for Hope, Goodall offers a fascinating and candid look at her impressive life. She reveals what her private life was like during the time of her groundbreaking work, and she explores the environmental concerns that now keep her on a hectic lecture and fundraising schedule. What's most enjoyable -- and surprising -- about her memoir is how such a serious and important figure turns out to be vulnerable, romantic, and a bit of an emotional eccentric.

Arthur Conan Doyle.    The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

This is a collection of twelve of Doyle's famous detective stories.  Edgar Allan Poe, the originator of the detective tale, created Detective Dupin, who inspired Doyle to create and develop the character of Sherlock Holmes.  This particular collection contains the following stories:  "A Scandal in Bohemia," "A Case of Identity," "The Red-Headed League," "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," "The Five Orange Pips," "The Man with the Twisted Lip," "The Blue Carbuncle," "The Speckled Band," "The Engineer's Thumb," "The Noble Bachelor," "The Beryl Coronet," and "The Copper Beeches."

Suggested Reading List  (optional)

Abbott, E. Flatland
A mathematical satire entertains while teaching the concept of multiple dimensions of space.

Achebe, C. Things Fall Apart
This Nigerian novel depicts the clash between tribal life and colonialism in an African village at the turn of the century.

Adams, R. Watership Down
The book looks at society and government through a community of rabbits.

Alcott, L.M. Little Women
Alcott write about four sisters growing up with hardships during the Civil War.

Ambrose, S. Undaunted Courage
This book follows the Lewis and Clark expedition from Jefferson’s dream of finding a waterway to the Pacific through the actual journey.

Austin, J. Pride and Prejudice
This is a Romantic tale of two opinionated young people and the affectations of a class-conscious 18th century family.

Austin, J. Emma
Life and love quiet a headstrong young woman.

Baker, R. Growing Up
Baker tells a tale of family adversity and young love in depression-ridden Baltimore.

Baldwin, J. Go Tell it on the Mountain
Spanning a single day of a young man, this work lays bare the secrets of a tormented black family during the depression.

Barret, W. Lilies of the Field
This work is a timeless classic of love and faith.

Bishop, J. Genome
Bishop writes a scientific adventure story of the attempt to map all the genes of the human body.

Bradberry, R. Fahrenheit 451
This novel is a depiction of a future without literature.

Brown, D. Bury my heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the
American West
This is a story of America’s western expansion told through Native American eyes.

Bronte, C. Jane Eyre
Bronte tells a story of a spirited, stubborn woman and her love for an equally spirited, stubborn man.

Bryson, B. A Walk in the Woods
This book is a hilarious account of a trek along the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.

Buck, P. The Good Earth
This is the story of the rise and fall from poverty of the Wang Lung and his family in nineteenth century China.

Burgess, A. Clockwork Orange
Burgess gives us a futuristic look at social issues.

Burns, O.A. Cold Sassy Tree
Burns relates a delightful account of a young boy’s initiation into manhood.

Burton, R.F. (Editor) The Arabian nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights
Classic tales include those of Sinbad and Aladdin.

Camus, A. The Stranger
Camus writes a French “classic.”

Carson, R. Silent Spring
This book provides a hard look at the effects of insecticides and pesticides on songbird populations throughout the United States.

Carter, F. The Education of Little Tree
A young boy raised by his grandparents learns the lifestyle and ways of the Cherokee.

Cather, W. My Antonia
This is a novel of a strong and passionate pioneer woman.

Chopin, K. The Awakening
This heroine finds her husband dull, married life dreary and confining, and motherhood to be bondage.

Clarke, A.C. 2001: A Space Odyssey
This book is a fictional exploration of space, extra-terrestrial intelligence and power.

Conrad, J. Lord Jim
This is an adventure of a man victimized by his own integrity.

Conroy, P. The Water is Wide
Conroy depicts the challenges of a young school teacher, assigned to a school on a small, backward island.

Cooper, J F. Last of the Mohicans
This is the second of the Leatherstocking Tales set during the American colonial wars between the English and French.

Covery, S. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (suggested for Business)
Covery provides a step-by-step guide to help teens improve their lives---touted as the “ultimate teenage success guide.”

Crane, S. The Red Badge of Courage
Crane tells the remarkable story of a young Civil War soldier.

Dante, A. Inferno
Dante, an Italian writer, gives us levels of Hell from his point of view.

Defoe, D. Robinson Crusoe
This book is an adventure story set on a tropical island.

Dickens, C. Great Expectations
Told from an orphaned boy's take on the world around him, this first-person perspective gives readers a detailed look at Victorian England.

Dickens, C. Hard Times
Dickens attacks the Victorian industrial society and its utilitarian philosophy, which deliberately attempt to inhibit the development of body and mind.

Dickens, C. Oliver Twist
Dickens tells the story of an orphaned, homeless child in London around 1850.

Dickens, C. Tale of Two Cities
This is the story of the struggles of two families during the French revolution.

Dostoyevsky, F. Crime and Punishment
Explore the imagination and the murderous action of this impoverished young man and grasp how he expected to enrich humanity by rising to a level above the law.

Dumas, A. The Three Musketeers
This is the classic adventure story of three musketeers who are joined by a younger member.

DuMaurier, D. Jamaica Inn
An inn near the coast of the harsh Cornish Moors is the setting for love and death.

DuMaurier, D. Rebecca
A young woman is haunted by the shadow of her predecessor as mistress of Manderly.

Dillard, A. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
This is a journal of observations made during a year in western Virginia.

Edgerton, C. Rainy
This book relates the experiences of a young woman trying to live up to the expectations of her parents, her husband and her heritage.

Edgerton, C. Walking Across Egypt
A troubled youth is taken in by an elderly, genteel woman.

Elliot, G. Silas Marner
Elliot tells of suffering and love in 18th century English country.

Emerson, R.W. Selected Essays

Faulkner, W. As I Lay Dying
Rich characters share observations of a Southern family's move to a new town and life.

Faulkner, W. The Reivers
This novel tells about the unusual events and consequences in the life of eleven-year-old Lucius.

Faulkner, W. The Sound and the Fury
Faulkner shares the difficult and confusing thoughts of three brothers and their relationships to their sister and parents.

Fitzgerald, F.S. The Great Gatsby
Peek into the social circles of post-World War I American affluence with detailed studies of the characters of this classic love triangle.

Flaubert, G. Madame Bovary
French realism examines the adventures and demise of Emma Bovary.

Fletcher, S. Shadow Spinner
Set in Persia, a 13-year-old girl gathers stories that save the queen’s life.

Foote, S. The Civil War
Foote tells an exhaustive narrative of the war.

Forester, E.M. Room with a View
Forester gives us a complicated, romantic adventure set in Italy.

Frazier, C. Cold Mountain
A Civil War soldier fights the elements to return to his sweetheart, who is fighting her own battle to sustain her family farm.

Gaines, E. A Gathering of Old Men
Issues of justice and racial tension of the 1970’s in Louisiana are explored.

Gibbons, K. Ellen Foster
Gibbons tells a young girl’s story of troubled teen years, her mother’s death and her dangerous father.

Gibson, W. The Miracle Worker
Annie Sullivan “opens the eyes, ears and mind” of Helen Keller.

Gleick, J. Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
This is the biography of one of the lesser known, but most brilliant, physicists of the 20th century who helped develop the atom bomb and won the Nobel Prize.

Golding, W. Lord of the Flies
This is the story of the return to the wild by a group of British schoolboys marooned on an island, who must set up a way to govern themselves.

Griffin, J.H. Black Like Me
After chemically darkening his skin, Griffin discovers what it is like to be a black man in the South.

Grisham, J. The Client
A young attorney works to save the life of a child witness from a mob murder.

Guterson, D. Snow Falling on Cedars
This is the story of death, love and the deterioration of relations with Japanese-Americans in the Pacific Northwest after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Hardy, T. Return of the Native
A young woman, sent to the country to live with her grandfather, longs to escape to the city.

Hardy, T. Tess of the D’Urbervilles
A sixteen year old is seduced and abandoned and must deal with issues of sin and atonement as she tries to get on with her life.

Hawthorne, N. The Scarlet Letter
This is the tale of a woman, who is ostracized for her “sins” in a small Puritan community.

Hargrove, J. Nelson Mandela

Harper, L. To Kill A Mockingbird
A young boy deals with life in a small southern town during a racially charged time.

Heller, J. Catch 22
This humorous novel explores the immortality and absurdity of war in a modern imaginary setting.

Hemingway, E. A Farewell to Arms
World War I American ambulance driver falls for an English nurse.

Hemingway, E. For Whom the Bell Tolls
Spanish Civil War tale.

Hemingway, E. The Sun Also Rises
This is the story of an expatriate American newsman in the 1920’s.

Hemingway, E. The Old Man and the Sea
This novel provides a parable of life told through an old man’s battle with a giant marlin.

Herriot, J. All Creatures Great and Small
Herriot describes the adventures of a young veterinarian in England.

Hersey, J. Hiroshima
This is the painful story of six survivors of the atomic bomb.

Hesse, H. Siddhartha
In India, a Buddhist searches for enlightenment and the meaning of life.

Heyerdahl, T. Kon-Tiki
Modern explorer tries to prove how the Americas were settled.

Hoff, B. The Tao of Pooh
Learn the secret wisdom of the Taoists through the philosophy of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Homer. The Iliad
Classic Greek epic describes the battle of Troy.

Homer. The Odyssey
This is the epic poem that unfurls the story of Odysseus' triumph over Troy and his arduous journey home to reclaim his kingdom.

Hoffman, P. The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the
Search for Mathematical Truth

Hugo, V. The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Huxley, A. A Brave New World
This is science fiction that raises contemporary bioethical issues and dangers of excessive bureaucracy.

James, H. Portrait of a Lady
This is the tale of an innocent woman abroad.

Jay, Hamilton and Madison. The Federalist Papers
This is a collection of essays concerning the Constitution and the representative democracy that it created. (Recommended for A.P. Government)

Joyce, J. Portrait of the Artist as an Young Man
A renegade Catholic artist learns what it means to be alive and filled with curiosity, desire, and
sensitivity.

Kesey, K. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
A devil–may-care rogue, who chose a short sentence in a mental institution rather than working in a prison, soon sees the error of his choice.

Kingsolver, B. The Poisonwood Bible
This is the story of a Baptist missionary and his family who are unprepared for life in the Belgium Congo.

LaCarre, J. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
LaCarre relates a complex thriller of espionage late in the Cold War.

Lawrence, D.H. Sons and Lovers
A sensitive son of an English miner is torn between his love and his bond with his mother.

Least Heat Moon, W. Blue Highways
An American Indian professor drives across the continent on back roads.

Lee, H. To Kill A Mockingbird
Lee relates the adventures of three children during the Depression in the South and the issues of racial equality.

Lewis, S. Babbitt
As a criticism to American business and the ethic of self-advancement, Lewis gives us Babbitt, a social-climbing, hopelessly middle-class oaf.

Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters

Lindbergh, A. Gift form the Sea
Lindbergh meditates on the gifts of life.

London, J. The Sea Wolf
This is the tale of a man captured by a seal hunting vessel and forced to serve under its brutal captain.

Machiavelli, N. The Prince
This is a fifteenth century handbook that gives advice on the acquisition, use, and maintenance of political power.

Maraniss, D. When Pride Still Mattered
Maraniss writes the biography of Vince Lombardi.

Marquez, G.G. Love in the Time of Cholera
This is the magical tale of a man who waits 50 years for the woman he loves.

Marquez, G.G. One Hundred Years of Solitude
Discover magical realism and learn about life in steamy Columbia through generations of the Buendia family.

Mason, B.A. In Country
Ayoung woman must make sense of her father’s death in Vietnam.

Maupassant, G. Short Stories

McCarthy, C. All the Pretty Horses
This novel tells the adventures of three teens who ride into Mexico on horseback.

Melville, H. Moby-Dick
This is Melville’s classic novel about Captain Ahab and his relentless pursuit of the great whale.

Miller, A. Death of a Salesman
A traveling salesman must examine his changing life.

Miller, A. The Crucible
Set during the Salem witch hunt, this is a tale of morality and self identity.

Mishima, Y. The Sound of the Waves
Mishima tells a story of love set in a Japanese fishing village.

Mitchell, M. Gone With the Wind
This is Mitchell’s classic novel of love and war set in Georgia during the Civil War.

Morrison, T. Song of Solomon
The search for gold leads to self discovery.

Myers, W.D. Fallen Angels
This is the story of one man’s tour of duty in Vietnam and a testament to the thousands who lived and died during the war.

Orwell, G. Animal Farm
This is a chilling tale of a totalitarian state inhabited by animals.

Orwell, G. 1984
Orwell deals with Communism in England in 1940’s society.

Paine, T. Common Sense
Paine relates the problems faced by colonists during the time of the American Revolution and the necessity to be free from England.

Pasternak, B. Dr. Zhivago
A wealthy idealist must come to terms with the new political order during the Russian revolution.

Plath, S. The Bell Jar
This is the narrative of a young woman with an existential mental problem struggling toward adulthood.

Perry, B. The Supremes
Perry gives us a short study of the men and women who make up the current Supreme Court.

Plato. The Republic
This is Plato's account and interpretation of Socrates' ideas about life, meaning, and the just society.

Poe, E. A. Selected Tales
Collection of Poe’s short stories.

Potok, A. My Name is Asher Lev
Young Hasidic Jewish boy struggles for artistic fulfillment and is rejected by his strict parents.

Powell, C. My American Journey
Autobiography of Colin Powell.

Proulx, E.A. The Shipping News
A reporter returns to his home in Newfoundland with two daughters and a maiden aunt.

Puzo, M. The Godfather
Puzo tells the story of an underworld life of an Italian Mafia family in post depression America.

Rand, A. Anthem
This is the tale of a futuristic totalitarian society, which challenges ideas of government and individualism.

Rand,A. Atlas Shrugged
A woman struggles to manage a transcontinental railroad amid the pressures and restrictions of massive bureaucracy.

Rand,A. Fountainhead
A gifted young architect must struggle with conventional standards.

Remarque, E.M. All Quiet on the Western Front
A young German soldier examines his experiences with trench warfare in WWI.

Rutherford, E. London
Rutherford tells of several families traced through two thousand years of London’s history.

Salinger. J.D. Catcher in the Rye
A young man wrestles with the various problems of adolescence.

Sams, F. Run with the Horsemen
This is the memoir of a young boy in rural Georgia.

Sams, F. The Whisper of the River
Sams tells of the challenges of the early years in medical school.

Sartre, J.P. No Exit
Sartre relates the story of two women and a man locked for eternity in a hideous room in hell.

Scott, W.S. Ivanhoe
Scott depicits the intrigue and romance of 18th century English nobility.

Shakespeare,W. 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
Romeo and Juliet
The Tempest
Twelfth Night

Shaw, G.B. Pygmalion
This is the classical story of a professor who transforms a girl of the lower class into an elegant creature, who then falls in love with him.

Shara, J. Gods and Generals
Shara shows us the conflicts and personalities in the Civil War battles of Fredericksburg and Channcellorsville.

Shara, J. The Last Full Measure
This deals with the post-Gettysburg period of the Civil War, concentrating on the roles of Lee, Grant and Chamberlain.

Shara, M. Killer Angels
Enter the minds of generals during the three days of the Battle of Gettyburg.

Shelly, M. Frankenstein
This is Shelly’s horror tale of a brilliant scientist and his creation of a monster.

Sinclair, U. The Jungle
This book is an indictment of the horrifying conditions in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900’s.

Sobol, D. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest
Scientific Problem of His Time
An eighteenth-century English clockmaker succeeded where the scientific community failed.

Sophocles. Antigone and Oedipus Rex
These are two plays in the Oedipal trilogy illustrating the consequences of rash pride and the conflict between moral and political law.

Steinbeck, J. Of Mice and Men
Two young men set out to make their dream, owning a piece of land, come true; but problems arise and a tough decision must be made.

Steinbeck, J. Grapes of Wrath
This is an epic chronicle of families forced off their land during the depression.

Stevenson, R.L. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
This book shows two sides of a personality taken to the frighteningly ridiculous.

Stewart, M. The Crystal Cave
Stewart provides a colorful version of the legends of Merlin the Magician.

Stoker, B. Dracula
A group of stalwart Englishmen seek the end of the vampire’s terror.

Stoppard, T. Rosencrantz and Guilderstern are Dead
Stoppard shows what actually happened behind the scenes at Elsinore; Funny, brilliant and chilling.

Stowe, H.B. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Stowe depicits the trials, suffering, and human dignity of Uncle Tom, a slave.

Styron, W. Sophie’s Choice
Styron shows the horrors of a Nazi prison camp experience as told by a survivor.

Swift, J. Gulliver’s Travels
Swift’s satire tells the tale of four fantastic voyages of Lemuel Gulliver.

Tan, A. The Joy Luck Club
This book contains the shared recollections of Chinese-American women who meet weekly to play mah jong.

Thackery, W. Vanity Fair
This is the story of the various fortunes of two women in 19th-century England filled with irony and humor.

Thomas, L. Lives of a Cell
The relationship of cells provides clues to the mystery of life.

Thomas, L. Medusa and the Snail
Collection of scientific essays.

Thoreau, H.D. Walden
This book contains the observations of the writer when he lived in a cabin on a small pond for two years.

Tolstoy, L. Anna Karenina
This is the drama of the beautiful married Anna, who falls madly in love with a count and whose affair shocks Russian society and tears her family apart.

Tolstoy, L. War and Peace
This is an epic of Russian society in the early 19th century.

Toole, J.K. A Confederacy of Dunces
Toole tells the hilarious tale of the bizarre Ignatius Reilly who must venture into the modern world to get a job.

Twain, M. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
While traveling down the Mississippi, a young boy addresses for himself the concepts of honor and morality.

Warren, R.P. All the King’s Men
This is a fictional account of Governor Huey Long of Louisiana and the cut-throat world of politics.

Updike, J. Rabbit Run
Star high school athlete finds dribbling and shooting don’t matter in marriage and life.

Voltaire. Candide
This is a satirical novel that follows the adventures of Candide, who believes that this world we live in is "the best of all possible worlds."

Walker, A. The Color Purple
A shy and abused Southern black woman struggles to create an identity.

Wharton, E. The Age of Innocence
Wharton portrays New York society in the 1870’s. (1921 Pulitzer)

Welty, E. Collected Stories

White, T.H. The Once and Future King
This is the classic novel of King Arthur and the Nights of the Round Table. (basis for Camelot)

Whitman, W. Leaves of Grass
Through poetry, Whitman explores the United States in all its greatness and smallness.

Wilde, O. The Picture of Dorian Gray
A handsome young man’s portrait becomes a mirror of his inner self.

Williams, T. The Glass Menagerie
This play, set in the South, is marked by a struggle between family members.

Woolf, V. Mrs. Dalloway
Woolf writes a stream-of-consciousness novel about one day in a woman’s life.

Wouk, H. The Caine Mutiny
This is the legendary tale of mutiny during World War II.

Wouk, H. The Winds of War
This is an epic story encompassing two years, 1939-1941, in the lives of different families during WWI.

Wright, R. Native Son
A doomed black man tries to rise above a racist society.