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Students entering the seventh grade for the 2008-2009 school year are required
to read the two books in boldface print below and to choose at least one book
from the other books listed. There will be a test on the required reading, and
students must record either on index cards or in a reading notebook information
on characters, plot, and theme for each book read.
Required The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien recounts the adventures of the
well-to-do hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who lives happily in his comfortable home
until a wandering wizard grants his wish.
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes is the inspiring, exciting, and sad
story of a tragically injured young silversmith who becomes deeply involved in
the American Revolution.
Personal Choices
The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck is the story of a Japanese boy who must
face life after escaping the tidal wave which has destroyed his family and
village.
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden relates the adventures of
Chester, a cricket, who takes up residence in a Times Square newsstand, and
among other activities saves the business from bankruptcy.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving is the story of
schoolmaster Ichabod Crane who falls in love with the beautiful Katrina van
Tassel, arouses the scornful jealousy of the dashing Brom Bones, and one night
is pursued by the ghostly Headless Horseman.
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck is the story of a young boy raising a
sorrel colt on his father’s California ranch.
Skellig by David Almond is a dreamlike story of friendship and love in
which two young neighbors develop a close relationship as they care for a
strange, sickly man whom they find in a dilapidated garage.
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls follows a young boy living in
the Ozarks as he achieves his heart's desire and becomes the owner of two
redbone hounds whom he teaches to be champion hunters.
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Students entering the eighth grade for the 2008-2009 school year are required
to read the two books in boldface print below and to choose at least one book
from the other books listed. There will be a test on the required reading, and
students must record either on index cards or in a reading notebook information
on characters, plot, and theme for each book read.
Required Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is the Dutch Jewish
teenager’s classic journal written in an Amsterdam warehouse, where for two
years she hid from the Nazis with her family.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis is the funny and
tragic story of a middle-class black family from Flint, Michigan who return to
Birmingham, Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement.
Personal Choices
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier reveals the devastating effects of
nonconformity when a ninth grader is bullied and persecuted for refusing to
sell chocolates as part of his school’s fundraising.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens tells the story of Pip, a boy who
starts as an orphan, moves on to an apprenticeship in the business world of
nineteenth-century England, falls in love with a girl from a wealthy family,
and gains a mysterious patron.
Taste of Salt by Frances Temple, a story of modern Haiti, is the
powerful and touching story of Djo Leguardien, a young man who lived in
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lafanmi Selavi, and Jeremie, a young woman who
befriends Djo.
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech is the story of thirteen-year-old Sal
who travels by car with her grandparents retracing the route of her mother who
has suddenly left home.
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All students must choose two:
The Glass Castle A Memoir by Jeanette Walls is the story of the author's
triumph against incredible odds and a tender, moving tale of unconditional love
in a family which, despite its profound flaws, gave her the determination to make
a better life for herself.
Heat by Mike Lupica recounts the struggles of Little League pitching
star and Cuban refugee Michael Arroyo as he and his brother try to carry on
after the death of their father.
How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez recounts the
efforts of four sisters, brought up in wealth and comfort in the Dominican
Republic, to adapt to a very different life in America.
Monster by Walter Dean Myers records, in the form of a film script, the
experiences of 16-year-old Steve Harmon in prison and in the courtroom as he is
tried as an accomplice to murder and tries to come to terms with the course his
life has taken.
She Said Yes by Misty Bernall is the story of her daughter, Cassie
Bernall, a seventeen-year-old student martyred by two classmates at Columbine
High School.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a sympathetic account of a traumatized
teenager shunned by her peers who blame her for calling the police to a party.
Required Reading for all Freshmen:
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is the moving account of a series of
meetings between a dying professor of sociology and his former student during which
they discuss profound questions about the meaning and value of life.
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All students must choose three:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury addresses the issues of censorship and
anti-intellectualism in a science fiction story about a society which conducts
huge book burnings.
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer investigates the choices made by a young
man from a well-to-do family who hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the
wilderness north of Mt. McKinley
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is a memoir of the
author’s childhood in a small, rural community in the 1930s.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan uses the stories of four Chinese women who
immigrate to the United States to illustrate the persistent tensions and
powerful bonds between generations and cultures.
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee
Ilibagiza relates the inspiring story of the author’s spiritual triumph over
the horrors of the Rwandan genocide.
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is written as a series of
compelling stories about Vietnam but reads like the reminiscences of a soldier
told over a long period of time.
Honors English must also read:
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is the story of Edmund
Dantes who is wrongfully imprisoned by his enemies for fourteen years and who,
after escaping and participating in a series of thrilling adventures, exacts a
merciless vengeance from those responsible for his imprisonment.
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All students must choose three:
All Souls by Michael Patrick MacDonald is a memoir describing in
riveting detail the tumultuous history of growing up in the projects of South
Boston during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
The Color of Water by James McBride is the story of the author’s
childhood in an all-black Brooklyn housing project with his eleven brothers and
sisters and his beloved, unconventional white mother.
The Lovely Bones by Ann Sebold is the story of Susie Salmon’s brutal
murder and her family’s effort to move forward from their grief as told by
Susie herself from heaven.
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult uses the story of Anna who was
conceived as a bone marrow match for her seriously ill sister Kate to examine
what it means to be a good sister, a good parent, and a good person.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is the story of Janie
Crawford, an independent and articulate black woman living in the 1930s, whose
quest for identity takes her through three marriages and on a journey back to
her roots.
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolfe is a memoir of the author’s boyhood in
the 1950s when, separated from his father and brother by divorce, the young
Toby Wolfe accompanies his mother as he ultimately finds himself and a new
world of possibility.
Honors English must also read:
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is a novel about the drunken
revels, endless love conflicts, and wasted lives which characterize the “Lost
Generation” of American expatriates in Europe after World I.
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Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt is the poignant, humorous, and hopeful
memoir of the author’s miserably impoverished childhood in the slums of
Limerick, Ireland.
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby relates what happens to four unrelated
people who happen who meet on New Years Eve on the roof of a building in London
where each has gone to commit suicide.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie relates the story of one
thrillingly exotic journey, one brutally stabbed victim, seventeen extremely
suspicious suspects, a blizzard and legendary detective Hercule Poirot.
On Beauty by Zadie Smith is set in a fictitious Massachusetts university
town and is the story of two academic families whose misadventures and
conflicts illuminate every aspect of twenty-first century culture from family
life to the collision between the personal and the political.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a relentlessly unsentimental
rendering of Nigerian tribal life before and after the coming of colonialism.
Honors English must also read:
The Tempest by William Shakespeare is a romance about Prospero, a
philosophical old magician, and Miranda, his lovely daughter, who dwell in
peaceful isolation on an enchanted island until he causes a shipwreck which
brings old enemies to shore.
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