Students transferring from another MCPS
school during the summer are expected to contact
Summer
Reading 2008 -- 2009
Students Entering Grade 9 -- Social Studies Reading List
Students Entering Grade 10 -- Science Reading List
Students Entering Grade 11 -- Arts, Foreign Language, P.E., Technology Reading List
Students Entering Grade 12 -- English Reading List
AP Language, AP Literature, AP Language 12, and AP Foreign Language Students -- See Instructions Below
Why do we have summer reading?
In Montgomery County Public Schools, summer reading has been an expected practice in middle and high schools and an encouraged practice in elementary schools since 1998.
The ability to read is crucial to an individual’s success in school and on
the job.
Research strongly suggests that reading, like most skills, improves with practice and decreases when we don’t engage in it for even a short time. Therefore, consistent with our commitment to prepare all students for success during school and after graduation, we continue in MCPS to expect all students to read during the summer.
Overview of summer reading at
Because educational studies have shown that reading promotes mental growth
and the capacity to process information regardless of content, and because good
readers become good thinkers and good writers across the disciplines, the
summer reading program at
Expectations
All students are expected to read at least one selection.
In-coming 9th graders are required to read one of the selections of the social studies department.
In-coming 10th graders are required to read one of the selections of the science department.
In-coming 11th graders are required to read a selection from an arts, foreign language, physical education, or technology course in which they are enrolled in the fall semester. Juniors may select the department for which they wish to complete their summer reading requirement.
In-coming 12th graders are required to read one of the selections of the English department.
Advanced Placement students enrolling in the following courses -- AP Literature, AP Language, AP Language 12, AP Foreign Language -- will select their summer reading from lists provided by English and foreign language teachers.
Evaluation method and how it will be assessed
During the first two weeks of school, all students will complete a summer reading exam. This written assignment will count as 5% of the first marking period grade for the department in which the selection is read.
Lists
Lists of recommended books from which students may select are provided below. Multiple copies of some of these texts are available from the Wootton library as well as public libraries and bookstores throughout the area. They are all available from www.amazon.com.
On
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years -- Sara and Elizabeth Delaney
Born in 1889 and 1891, the Delany sisters
were New Yorkís first African American domestic science teacher and the city's
second black female dentist. Their stories teach history from a personal
perspective, from first hand accounts of Jim Crow laws to the excitement of
life in the midst of the
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to his White Mother -- James McBride
This book tells the story of growing up in
Maus: A Survivor's Tale -- Art Spiegleman
A graphic novel, Maus portrays the
Holocaust in fable form--the Jews are mice, the Germans cats, the Poles pigs,
the French frogs, and the Americans dogs.
A Tree Grows in
A young girl comes of age in the squalor and poverty of the
Touching Spirit Bear – Ben Mikaelsen
After his anger erupts into violence, Cole, in order to
avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based
on the native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan
Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his life.
Demon in the Freezer -- Richard Preston
All Creatures Great and Small – James Harriot
James Herriot was a country veterinarian
who lived in
And the Waters Turned to Blood: The Ultimate Biological Threat – Rodney Barker
An investigation of Pfiesteria outbreaks, this book chronicles the
story of a reluctant crusader who battles the establishment in order to prevent
an ecological horror story.
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story – Richard Preston
Richard Preston has woven epidemiological
fact with the terrifying true story of how a strain of the Ebola virus came to
the
The Future of Life – Edward O. Wilson
Based on a love affair with the natural world that spans 70 years,
Following is an optional book for students in regular biology or
environmental science ONLY:
My Family & Other Animals – Gerald Durrell
When the unconventional Durrell
family can no longer endure the damp, gray English climate, they do what any
sensible family would do: sell their house and relocate to the sunny Greek isle
of
Grade 11 --
Arts, Foreign Language, Physical Education, Technology
Juniors may select the department for which they wish to complete their summer
reading requirement and read the appropriate text as indicated below. Students
enrolled in AP Language
or AP Foreign Language should use the booklist provided by the AP teachers.
Arts
The Passion of Artemisia – Susan Vreeland
Eighteen-year-old Artemisia Gentileschi, having ruined her reputation by making a public accusation of rape against her art teacher, enters into an arranged marriage in post-Renaissance Italy and moves with her husband to Florence where her talent blossoms, bringing fame and conflict into her life.
Louis Artstrong’s
A narrative of the early life of jazz
artist Louis Armstrong describing his impoverished childhood, Jim Crow
legislation, vigilante terrorism, and how his life was shaped by the culturally
rich African-American traditions of New Orleans.
All His Jazz: The Life and Death of Bob Fosse -- Martin Gottfried
Gottfried writes an unvarnished portrait of a brilliant director and choreographer whose productions ñ A Chorus Line, Cabaret, All That Jazz -- were smash hits on Broadway and at the cinema box office.
Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist – Jan Greenberg
Chronicles the life of nineteenth-century
painter Vincent Van Gogh, describing his childhood in
Girl with A
This fictionalized treatment of the Dutch
painter Vermeer imagines the life of the young woman who was immortalized on
canvas in one of his most famous paintings. Chevalier captures the painstaking
techniques of Vermeer who, despite having only produced 35 works during his
career, is regarded as one of the greatest painters of all time.
Foreign Language
Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez -- Richard Rodriguez
A splendid and sensitive autobiography,
this book is not only the success story of a minority student who begins his
education knowing only 50 words of English but also a powerful examination of
how the language we use shapes us.
Physical Education
Beckham: Both Feet on the Ground – David Beckham
Chronicles
the life of English soccer legend David Beckham, discussing his childhood in East
End London, his development of his soccer skills, his 2002 World Cup win, and
other related topics.
Eagle Blue: A Team, a Tribe, and
Follows the
Four Days to Glory: Wrestling with the Soul of the American Heartland – Mark Kreidler
Chronicles
the efforts of
Go for the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life – Mia Hamm
Olympic
and World Cup soccer champion Mia Hamm discusses her life, tracing her path to
success on the field, and offers advice and tips to other girls who would like
to follow in her footsteps.
I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It – Charles Barkley
Basketball
star Charles Barkley discusses a wide variety of topics, from race and class
issues to politics and fame to religion and September 11.
Operation
Chronicles
the story behind the emergence of China's two great basketball prodigies, Yao
Ming and Wang ZhiZhi, and examines how they were handled in a tug-of-war
between East and West, how their careers reflect the role of sports in big
business, and how the NBA marketed a world superstar.
Paper Tiger: An Obsessed Golfer's Quest to Play with the Pros -- Tom Coyne
Tom Coyne
recounts his experiences as a semipro golfer, describing the crash diets,
workout regimens, and sports shrinks he used to try and improve his game and
the tournaments he competed in.
The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less than Four Minutes to Achieve It --Neal Bascomb
Chronicles
the 1952-54 struggle between
It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life -- Lance Armstrong
Armstrong tells the story of his life,
from his early childhood as the only child of a 17- year-old single parent, to
his early success in professional bicycle racing, when he was diagnosed with
cancer that should have been deadly. Instead, Armstrong became a better rider,
a better husband, and a loving father.
Seabiscuit: An American Legend -- Laura Hillenbrand
With the help of an understanding trainer,
and an owner who saw a winner in the knock-kneed grandchild of the great Man O'
War, Seabiscuit, a horse who should not have been a hero, ridden by a hard-luck
jockey who had never sat aboard a champ becomes one of the most celebrated
champions in all horseracing.
Technology
The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage -- Clifford Stoll
When a 75-cent accounting error alerts him
to the presence of unauthorized users, Stoll, an astronomer turned systems
manager at
Brave New World Revisited -- Aldous Huxley
In a work of non-fiction written 25 years
after Brave New World, Aldous Huxley examines all the breakthroughs in
technology and science that he had prophesied in his earlier work of science
fiction.
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet -- Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon
Tales of the personalities and the
breakthroughs that enabled the creation of the internet.
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time -- Dava Sobel
What made safe travel of the seas possible
-- instruments that tell time or instruments that measure position relative to
the stars?
Combining the history of clocks, astronomy, and navigation, Sobel tells the story
of an unschooled English woodworker, John Harrison, whose device solved the
thorniest difficulty in ocean navigation.
Ender's Game -- Orson Scott Card
Winner of the coveted Hugo and Nebula Awards for science fiction, this book tells the story of Ender Wiggin whose genius for war games and computer simulation enables him to save the earth from alien invasion.
Students in AP Literature should use the booklist provided by the AP Literature teachers. Students in AP Language 12 should use this list.
Snow Falling on Cedars -- David Guderson
This lyrically written fictional tale of a
murder trial in the
Students selecting this text will be expected to view the film also as their
assessment will require a comparison of the book and the film.
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea -- Sebastian Junger
Junger tells the story of the "storm of the century" and the impact it had on those caught in it, particularly the crew members of the swordfish boat, the Andrea Gail. Students selecting this text will be expected to view the film also as their assessment will require a comparison of the book and the film.
The Shipping News -- E. Annie Proulx
Winner of the National Book Award and the
Pulitzer Prize, this book tells the story of a man who, following the death of
his wife, returns to his ancestral home in Newfoundland, along with his two
daughters and his aunt and fights to establish a new life for his extended
family and a new career for himself. Students selecting this text will be
expected to view the film also as their assessment will require a comparison of
the book and the film.
Rule of the Bone -- Russell Banks
This is the story of a teenager who,
rejected by his parents, out of school and in trouble with the police, claims
for himself a new identity as "Bone," a permanent outsider. It has
been described by one critic as "an amazing journey of self-discovery
through a world of magic, violence, betrayal, and redemption."
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the
In 1996, Jon Krakauer joined an Everest
expedition guided by Rob Hall, one of
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage -- Alfred Lansing
One of the great epics in the history of
survival, Endurance tells the story of British explorer Ernest
Shackleton whose attempt to reach the South Pole fails when his ship,
Endurance, is trapped and then crushed by sea ice. Adrift on ice floes with his
27 men, Shackleton heroically manages to save them all.
The Fountainhead -- Ayn
Rand's most popular novel and her paean to
the power of the individual, this is the story of Howard Roark and his
struggles as an architect and as a man.