US summer reading 2012

Libraries

Summer Reading for Upper School Students

2012

Dear Upper School student, It’s time to think about summer reading! I hope you have lots of time to read for fun this summer.

This year, instead of keeping a reading log, we are asking you to keep a list of the books you read on Goodreads.com.

You should read at least four books this summer. That means you should read one book every two weeks.

1) Choose one book to read for our book discussion groups.

2) Check to see if you have any required reading for honors courses or electives. If you do, count it is one of your books.

3) You should also read at least three additional books of your choice. The following pages contain a list of my suggestions if you need ideas, but also look at the suggestions of students for book discussion groups.

4) Keep a list of what you read this summer, on Goodreads.com. You will also post questions or comments on Goodreads for your book discussion groups.

Students will be able to check out books from the Faulkner Library for summer reading. Of course any books not returned in the fall will be billed.

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact me by email.

Sincerely, Toni Vahlsing Director of Libraries Abington Friends School (215) 576-3976 tvahlsing@abingtonfriends.net

Distinguished Summer Reading: For those of you who want an additional challenge, aim to become a “Distinguished Reader.” To earn this recognition, you must do the following: 1) Read 2500 pages (or the equivalent in ebooks) during the summer months, including the books required above.

2) Write a three paragraph review of each of your books on Goodreads.

Students who rise to this challenge will receive a notation on their official school transcript and will be invited to a special ice cream party.

Read at least three other books: Here are some suggestions- you can read what you want to read. The point of summer reading is to enjoy it.

The Cardturner by Louis Sachar Alton’s summer after his junior year looks bleak. His girlfriend broke up with him and his parents are insisting that he drive his uncle to play bridge four times a week and to be his cardturner. His uncle is blind, old, and very rich. Alton’s family is not the only one trying to get into his uncle’s good graces. There is a housekeeper, a young nurse, and the Castenada family. Alton soon becomes intruiged by his uncle, the game of bridge and Toni Castenada. Alton finds that things are not always as they seem.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher In his senior year of high school, Ben is diagnosed with Leukemia. Since he is eighteen, he decides to tell no one and to have as normal a senior year as possible. Suddenly his bucket list becomes more important than things like long term planning. What a year he has!

Stolen by Lucy Christopher This is a haunting book that will stay with me for some time. A girl is stolen from an airport and transported to a house in the middle of the Australian desert. Her captor had been obsessed with her for years before this kidnapping. The story is told in the form of a letter written to her kidnapper.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld This is an alternate history, set at the beginning of World War I, but both sides have completely different weapons. The Darwinists (England and allies) have bio engineered animals as transportation and weapons. The Leviathan is a whale airship, an amazing creation. One of the narrators is aboard the airship. The other narrator is a prince of Austria-Hungary and his parents' assignation has started the whole mess. The Germans, Austria, and Russia, all have amazing machines on their side.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray The biting humor and witty commentary on our society are fantastic in the book. The unbelievable plot twists are so like reality television, which is completely appropriate. The characters and the issues are fun. It took me too long to read, and the cast of characters was so large that I could not keep the characters completely straight in my head. I don’t know what issues this does not touch on: sexuality, gender identity, women’s rights, immigration, illegal arms deals, corporations running our country, and much much more.

Fault in Our Stars by John Green If you are already a John Green fan, you must read this, his latest book. If you haven’t read anything by John Green, you must read this. Hazel was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 12, and was not expected to live. Now the cancer is under control and she is tied to an oxygen tank. Then she meets Gus, a cancer survivor. It is a match made in support group. You will laugh, you might cry as Gus and Hazel take an amazing journey together.

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr Jill’s dad died last year and now her mother wants to adopt a baby. Jill’s mom finds Molly on the internet. Molly is pregnant and needs to get out of her abusive family situation.

Molly comes to live with Jill and her mother for the end of the pregnancy. Told in alternating viewpoints, this really gripped my imagination and kept me reading.

King of the Screwups by K.L. Going Liam Geller is the son of a world famous model and a well-known businessman. Liam inherited his mother’s looks and fashion sense; something Liam’s father will never forgive him for. Liam acts out, so much that he is thrown out of his home. Liam goes to stay with his cross-dressing uncle, “Aunt Pete,” in a trailer park in a tiny town. He tries to become someone his father will like; someone who likes academics, is not fashionable or popular, and he even joins the AV club. Liam even screws up trying to not be popular. I love the five older men in this book who try to help Liam fulfill his potential, but not in the way his father is thinking.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner Thomas wakes up in a grey box, not remembering anything but his name. He is then deposited in an artificial world filled with boys who are trying to get out. This is a great story of teenagers trying to break the system that the adults have put them into. Lots of action and suspense, as well as intrigue. This is the beginning of an interesting series.

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin In New York in 2083, paper is hard to get. Caffeine and chocolate are illegal, but beer for minors is okay. (Why would you waste precious water making beer, anyway?) In the bathroom at school, you need to insert quarters to get water to wash your hands. Anya Ballachine is the daughter of a criminal, he used to head a chocolate company before he was shot and killed, making Anya an orphan. Anya has got a lot on her hands. Her grandmother is dying, her older brother is simple-minded, her boyfriend is a jerk and she has to take care of her little sister. Good action.

Good premise, but scary, because you could see how NYC could end up this way.

After by Amy Efaw The police investigate the case of an infant left to die in a trash can. A teenager is home, sick from school. Her whole life she has been responsible, hardworking, and mature. How did this happen? After is an interesting look into the pysche of a desparate teen.

Divergent by Veronica Roth Beatrice must make a huge choice that will affect the rest of her life. To stay with her parents as a member of Amity, a peaceful, helpful people, or will she choose to become a member of one of four other groups? Full of action and set in a future world where Lake Michigan is a marsh, this book will appeal to fans of the Hunger Games. Beware, it is just being written. The second book was just published. The wait for the third will seem long.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld Turning 16 in Tally’s world is a milestone, not because she will get a driver’s license, but because she will get the operation that all 16-year olds get, the one that will turn her “pretty”. She can’t wait. Something goes wrong on the day of her operation that delays her transformation and changes the course of her life. You will need to obtain all of the books in this series because once you start reading about Tally, you won’t be able to stop.

Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier Dimple Lala is confused, but who isn’t? Her parents want her to meet a “suitable” Indian boy. That meeting does not go well. Then she meets him again in a nightclub, spinning a magical web. Complications follow. Dimple meets some amazing characters along the way.

Hate List by Jennifer Brown Valerie kept a “Hate list” with her boyfriend. If someone did something she didn’t like, she would remark to him, “Put that girl on the list.” One day he comes into school with a gun, killing many of the people on her list. He shoots her in the leg before killing himself.

Now she is trying to go back to school. How can she survive that?

Boy21 by Matthew Quick Basketball, the Irish mafia, secrets, and friendship all combine to make a fantastic book.

Finley has always been a solid member of his basketball team, but then his coach asks for his help with a new boy, who is a basketball star and whose parents have been murdered.

He wants to be called “Boy21” and acts very strangely. Finley helps, despite the fact that if he does, he might lose his starting position on the team.

Adult books that might appeal to young adults: Night Road by Kristin Hannah Mia and Zach are twins. When Lexi moves into town she becomes best friends with Mia, but is attracted to Zach. The intertwining relationships are sweet and complex. When the friends are seniors in high school, everything seems all set. Then tragedy strikes one night after a graduation party. A book about how people deal with loss in different ways.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See In nineteenth century China, two girls are matched in an arranged friendship. They communicate overs the years by writing on fans and other gifts in a special language developed by women. They endure foot-binding, arranged marriages and having children. A lovely book.

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult Cara has lived with her father, a man obessed with wolves, since her mother remarried.

When her father is injured in a car accident, big decisions about his life need to be made.

This is told from several points of view. You will learn a lot about wolves and about brain trauma while you are enjoying a good story.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba What a great true story of human courage and ingenuity! William Kamkwamba lives in Malawi. He lived through a terrible famine, which is difficult to read about, emotionally. He had to drop out of school, but he taught himself science and learned to build a windmill out of found parts. He wired his family’s house with no money, using flip flops and other objects for switches and other parts. Kamkwanba has given two TED talks that are amazing. Awesome book. Read it.

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende Eliza falls in love with a wildly inappropriate man who is bitten by the Gold Rush bug.

He leaves Chile to go to California. Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him. Her pluck and courage are amazing and the time period is fascinating.

The Blind Side by Michael Lewis Partly the story of Michael Oher, partly the history of football. Those who like the human story part can skim the football history or those who are fascinated by the history can skim the story. Or you can read the whole thing with great interest. Even if you have seen the movie, it is worth it to read this.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford Alternating between the 1980s and pre-World War II San Fransico, where a Chinese boy meets a Japanese girl. The reader who knows history knows that things are not going to go well for the couple.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley Flavia Da Luce has is an eleven year old chemist with a passion for poisions and great observational skills. In the summer of 1950, a series of events in her small Britsh town leads her into a lot of trouble and to solve her first mystery. If you like this one, there are more in the series.

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card Rigg is trained to keep secrets. Only his father knows about Rigg’s talent for seeing the path of a person’s history. After the death of his father, Rigg discovers that there are even more secrets that will change the course of his life drastically. Orson Scott Card has a vivid imagination and created a whole new world for this series.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie A murder in the middle of the night on a train in a snowstorm, what could lead to a better mystery. Hercule Poirot is just the detective to solve the crime. This is classic Agatha Christie. If you haven’t read any mysteries by her, you should. They are such fun!

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow Rachel, a bi-racial girl, falls off the roof of a nine story building in Chicago, with her whole family. Rachel survives the fall and is taken to live with her black Grandmother in Portland, Oregon. She tried to become “the new girl” and not remember anything that happened to her before her fall. A boy who witnessed the family’s fall from below is profoundly affected by that event; some chapters are from his perspective. Eventually the boy finds Rachel to give her a message from her father, whom she hasn’t seen in years. It is a heart-wrenching, well-written exploration of identity and discovery, as we all struggle to discover why this family fell from a roof.