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SUMMER READING

2023 SUMMER READING LIST

Summer reading books will be available for purchase at the St. Edward Bookstore or through Amazon, other Internet sites, libraries, and retail bookstores. Summer reading books may also be available in the SEHS OverDrive collection and in print at the SEHS Library.

Visit the library website for details. 

Contact Molly Dantio at mdantio@sehs.net for more information. 

FRESHMEN (GRADE 9) 

  • 011 English 1

    • Flowers in the Gutter, by K.R. Gaddy

  • 010 Honors English 1

    • The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith   

Click here for the Freshmen English 011 Summer Reading Assessment.

Click here for the Freshmen Honors English Reading Assessment.

 

SOPHOMORES (GRADE 10) 

  • 020 Honors English 2 and 021 English 2

    • The Ardent Swarm, by Yamen Manai (2017)

      • *You will need a copy of this text to start the year. ​

    • Squire, by Nadia Shammas and Illustrated by Sara Alfageeh (2022)​​
      • *This text is a graphic novel. You will NOT need a copy of it for class. 

 

Click here for the Sophomore English 2 & Honors English 2 Summer Reading Assessment.

JUNIORS (GRADE 11)

 

  • Theory of Knowledge 

    • But What If We’re Wrong?: Chapter Synopses and Guidelines for Summer Reading

  • IB115/116 IB Language & Literature HL

    • Fences, by August Wilson 

    • Into the Wild, by John Krakauer 

  • IB113 IB Literature Year 1

    • The Memory Police, by Yoko Ogawa (translated from Japanese by Stephen Snyder)

    • Choose ONE of the following:

      • Mercury Pictures Presents, by Anthony Marra

      • Dinosaurs, by Lydia Millet

      • Our Missing Hearts, by Celeste Ng

      • Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin

      • Bewilderment, by Richard Powers

      • Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro

      • Notes from the Burning Age, by Claire North

    031 AP Language & Composition 

    • ​​Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer (1996) 

    • Choose ONE of the following:

      • A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers (2000)

      • Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, by Nicholson Baker (2001)

      • War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, by Chris Hedges

      • Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, by 

      • The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki (2004)

      • The Accidental Masterpiece, by Michael Kimmelman (2005)

      • The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan (2006)

      • The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, by Alex Ross (2007)

      • The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell (2008)

      • The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel (2009)

      • The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, by Tim Wu (2010)

      • The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, by Stephen Greenblatt (2011)

      • Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, by Andre Solomon (2012)

      • Men We Reaped: A Memoir, by Jesmyn Ward (2013)

      • The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert (2014)

      • Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, by William Finnegan (2015)

      • Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond (2016)

      • The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, by Jack E. Davis (2017)

      • Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover (2018)

      • The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Boarder Wall in the Mind of America, by Greg Grandin (2019)

      • Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson (2020)

      • Let Me Tell You What I Mean, by Joan Didion (2021)

      • The High Sierra: A Love Story, by Kim Stanley Robinson (2022)

      • The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science, by Alan Lightman (2023)

    035 English 3​​

    • The Marrow Thieves, by Cherie Dimaline

    • Choose ONE of the following:

      • Under the Whispering Door, by TJ Klune 

      • After the Shot Drops, by Randy Ribay

      • The Island, by Natasha Preston

      • All My Rage, by Sabaa Tahir

      • Challenger Deep, by Neal Shusterman

Click here for the Theory of Knowledge Summer Reading Guidelines.

Click here for the IB Language & Literature HL Summer Reading Assessment.

Click here for the IB Literature 1 Summer Reading Journal Assignments.

Click here for the AP Language & Composition Summer Reading Assessment.

Click here for the English 3 Summer Reading Assessment.


 

SENIORS (GRADE 12) 

  • IB116 IB Language & Literature HL Year 2

    • Choose TWO of the following:

      • Mercury Pictures Presents, by Anthony Marra

      • Dinosaurs, by Lydia Millet

      • Our Missing Hearts, by Celeste Ng

      • Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin

      • Bewilderment, by Richard Powers

      • Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro

      • Notes from the Burning Age, by Claire North

      • Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

  • IB114 IB Literature 2 

    • How to Read Literature Like a Professor, revised edition by Thomas C. Foster (2014) 

    • Student's choice from list of significant literature in English from the last three years (see below), as determined by the Booker Prize, the National Book Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize in Literature. Please email Mr. Allen at ajallen@sehs.net with the title you have selected by July 1, 2023. 

  • 040 AP Literature & Composition 

    • *Please see the Summer Reading Assignment Sheet below for further instructions!

  • 045 English 4 

    • Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

    • Student's choice poetry from list (see below for more details)​

Click here for the IB Language & Literature HL Year 2 Summer Reading Assignments.

Click here for the IB Literature 2 Summer Reading Assignments.

Click here for the AP Literature & Composition Summer Reading Assignments.

Click here for the English 045 Summer Reading Assignments.

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