Wareham High School Summer Reading List

Required Reading

Going Into Grade 9

Sheila Gordon. Waiting for the Rain *
Chronicles nine years in the lives of two South African youths--one black, one white--as their friendship ends in a violent confrontation between student and soldier.

or

Ursula LeGuin. A Wizard of Earthsea
This is the first book in the Earthsea Cycle which begins the tale of Sparrowhawk, a wizard's apprentice who comes to understand that who he is has far reaching implications.

Going Into Honors English 9

Laurie Halse Anderson. Catalyst
Kate Malone is an honor roll student who finds that her life starts to fall apart when she is rejected by the college of her choice.

And

George Orwell. 1984
"Thought Police. Big Brother. Orwellian. These words have entered our vocabulary because of George Orwell's classic dystopian novel, 1984. The story of one man's nightmare odyssey as he pursues a forbidden love affair through a world ruled by warring states and a power structure that controls not only information but also individual thought and memory, 1984 is a prophetic, haunting tale." (Amazon.com)

Going Into Grade 10

Gary Soto. Buried Onions *
When nineteen-year-old Eddie drops out of college, he struggles to find a place for himself as a Mexican American living in a violence-infested neighborhood of Fresno, California.

Going Into Honors English 10

Gary Soto. Buried Onions*
When nineteen-year-old Eddie drops out of college, he struggles to find a place for himself as a Mexican American living in a violence-infested neighborhood of Fresno, California.

And

F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby
This classic depicts the tragic life of a young man who is searching for love and success during the "Jazz Age" of the 1920's.

Going Into Grade 11

Carl Deuker. Painting the Black*
When star athlete Josh Daniels moves in across the street, Remy Ward doesn't realize how much his life will change during his senior year at Seattle's Crown Hill High.

Or

Daniel Wallace. Big Fish
"What William knows about his father he's had to piece together from the little bits of stories he's gathered over the years. Now, watching his father die, William grows increasingly desperate to know him before it's too late. And in a wonderful sleight of hand, William recreates his elusive father's life in a series of legends and myths inspired by the few facts he knows." (Publisher's blurb)

Going Into Honors English 11

John Grisham. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
"The focus of the work is on John Singer, a deaf-mute in a Georgia mill town during the 1930's, and on his effect on the people who confide in him. When Singer's mute Greek companion of 10 years goes insane, Singer is left alone and isolated." (Barnes and Noble.com)

And

John Grisham. Bleachers
In the south football reigns supreme. In his book, Grisham tells the story of one southern high school team and the coach they loved and hated.

Going Into AP 11

Francis Parkman. The Oregon Trail
Despite a sickly nature Parkman traveled to the frontier, lived with Indians, and experienced life on the western plains.

And

Willa Cather. Death Comes for the Archbishop
Cather tells the story of two priests who suffer isolation and hardship as they try to establish a church in the newly acquired territory of New Mexico.

Going Into Grade 12

Alden R. Carter. Upcountry*
When his mother's drinking problem causes him to spend several months with country relatives in upstate Wisconsin, sixteen-year-old Carl begins to build a new life for himself, only to see it threatened by a serious mistake from his painful past.

Or

Alice Sebold. The Lovely Bones
Sebold writes the story of a murdered teen told by the teen herself.

Going Into Honors English 12

Doris Lessing. The Fifth Child
A smug, self-satisfied couple give birth to a child who is evil. How does a family with four "perfect" children cope with this child?

And

Virginia Woolf. To the Lighthouse
The author writes about a family living in the far away Hebrides Islands and their search for a meaningful life.

Going Into AP 12

Dava Sobel. Longitude
"In 1714, England's Parliament offered a reward to anyone whose method or device for measuring longitude proved successful. John Harrison imagined a clock that would withstand pitch and roll, temperature and humidity, and keep precise time at sea--something no clock had been able to do on land. This is the story of Harrison's 40-year effort to build his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer." (Barnes and Noble.com)

And

Stuart Dybek. I Sailed with Magellan
"… writer Stuart Dybek returns with eleven masterful and masterfully linked stories about Chicago's fabled and harrowing South Side. United, they comprise the tale of Perry Katzek and his widening, endearing clan. Through these streets walk butchers, hit men, mothers, and factory workers, boys turned men, and men turned into urban myth. (Barnes and Noble.com)