WINCHESTER HIGH SCHOOL     ENGLISH DEPARTMENT                   2010 SUMMER READING LIST The English Department presents the 2010 summer reading list.  Our goal is to keep the students reading – for pleasure, for enrichment, for background.  Students are responsible for reading the minimum number of books designated for the course they will be taking next year.  Students will be tested on their summer reading upon returning to school in September. Students:  Please note the title and level of your course, the number of books required, and the study guide questions for your books. Find summer reading on the high school website: www.winchester.k12.ma.us Links: high school  > English > summer reading Grade 9 C-2                                                                       READ ONE Crackback, Coy Cut, McCormack ?? How do characters deal with problems in their lives?  What does this show about them? Grade 9 C-1                                                                        READ BOTH Speak, Anderson Last Days of Summer, Kluger ?? What personal qualities and significant relationships help each of the main characters overcome life’s obstacles?                                                                                     Grade 9 Honors                                                                                               READ ALL Bless Me Ultima,  Anaya Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Foer Kaffir Boy, Mathabane ?? What conflicts  with her/his environment does each main character face?  What strengths do the characters draw upon to overcome adversity? How does cultural context affect personal growth? Grade 10 Writing Lab C-2                                                        READ BOTH Montana 1948, Watson Big Mouth and Ugly Girl, Oates ?? How does the character change and grow between the beginning and the end of the novel ? Grade 10  Writing Lab C-1                       CHOOSE TWO Choose two from the following list: Paper Towns, Green Looking for Alaska, Green The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, Mackler Wintergirls, Anderson ??  What techniques does an author use to develop character and reveal traits? How do people develop individuality within a conformist society? Grade 10 Writing Lab Honors                                     READ THREE Required: Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck* Required: The Left Hand of Darkness, LeGuin* Choose one from the following list: A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, Dorris Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Pessl ?? How do these books demonstrate the influence of the environment on the development of character?   Each of these books uses a metaphor in the title.  Explain each metaphor and how it contributes to your understanding of the text. Thematic Literature and Composition I and II  C-2               CHOOSE TWO Stuck in Neutral, Trueman Ironman, Chris Crutcher The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things,  Mackler Guyaholic, Mackler ??How do the character’s relationships with others impact that character’s own development and self-understanding ? College Prep    C-1                                                            READ ALL A Hope in the Unseen, Suskind Friday Night Lights, Bissinger ? ? What do these books reveal about how one formulates one’s identity?  Do cultural influences determine character or does biology?  Do all Americans inhabit the same culture? British Literature C-1                                        READ AND VIEW ALL The Hobbit, Tolkien V for Vendetta,  Moore Film:  Monty Python and the Holy Grail ?? What are the elements of the hero’s journey? ?? What is the relationship between violent revolution and political change? ?? How can humor be used to illuminate the flaws of a society? British Literature Honors                                             READ & VIEW ALL Lyrical Ballads 1798,  Wordsworth/Coleridge Henry IV Part 1,  Shakespeare (Folger Library Edition) Dracula,  Stoker Film: Passage to India ??  How are these works the same and/or different?  What elements survive the centuries and what elements seem to be left out?          American Studies C-1 and Honors_______                      H -  READ & VIEW ALL                                                         C-1   - READ TWO & VIEW ALL Required for Honors only:  Billy Budd, Melville* All the Pretty Horses, McCarthy Killers of the Dream, Smith Film: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance   ?? What does Ford’s film tell us about the power and function of myth in the making of the American West? What American ideals are represented in each of these novels?  In what sense are these ideals flawed or exposed as myth? American Lit I /Creative Writing                                              CHOOSE TWO         Miracle in the Andes : My Long Trek Home, Parrado and Rause Deliverance, Dickey True Grit, Portis ?? Each of these books involves a physical and a spiritual journey.  What does each journey reveal about the persons taking it? Speech and American Literature II_________________      ______________________                                   The Audacity of Hope, Obama ?? This book involves a physical and a spiritual journey.  What does this  journey reveal about the person taking it? Shakespearean and Modern Drama C-1 and Honors                      READ ALL_ A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare  (Folger Library Edition) Crimes of the Heart, Henley The Piano Lesson, Wilson Tuesdays with Morrie, Albom ??How does the playwright, working with love or life itself, make the choice between comedy and tragedy? Masterpieces C-1 & Honors                                                 H- CHOOSE THREE Catch 22, Heller                                                        C-1 CHOOSE TWO The Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver The World According to Garp, Irving The Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri ??  As you read, consider what is desired by the central characters and what drives the choices they make? Literature and Film C-1                                    READ AND VIEW ALL Beggars in Spain, Kress The Shining, King Films:  Psycho, Hitchcock         Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gondry ??  As you read and view the films, consider what the authors and directors are suggesting about human nature or individual identity. How do the filmmakers or authors convey the state of a character’s consciousness?   How does Beggars comment on the ideas of genetic manipulation, politics, trade and the idea of the individual in society? Journalism/Non-Fiction C-1 and Honors                                        READ BOTH Dispatches from the Edge, Cooper The Tipping Point, Gladwell ?? What potential impact can a good journalist or non-fiction writer have on his or her community? Humanities C-1 & Honors                                                  READ  ALL The Agony and the Ecstasy, Stone The Republic, Plato  --  Read  Chapters 1-3. The Odyssey, Homer  translated by Robert Fitzgerald  --  Read Chapters I – XI and read explanatory notes available at Humanities website: sites.google.com/site/whshumanities. Sailing the Wine Dark Sea, Cahill ?? What has allowed the ancient Greek collection of small, relatively isolated city states to have such a significant influence on Western art, literature, and music? AP English                                                                               READ ALL_ The Oresteia, Aeschylus – Read Agamemnon only:  (Fagles Translation, Penguin Books.  For background, read pp 13-23 and then 86 – 91.) Alias Grace, Atwood Catch-22, Heller The Inheritance of Loss, Desai ??  Pay particular attention to the views of the universe and human nature that each text provides.  Are there any perspectives that reflect your views?  Be prepared to identify how you in particular define the nature of the universe and human beings. WINCHESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY SUMMER READING PROGRAM GRADES 6-12   2010 Find out what’s out there! All online June 15 – Sept.8, 2010 http://www.readsinma.org/winpublib/ Sign up online: Go to WPL to get your prize.