English Language Arts (ELA)

Incoming Grade 9 (Honors and College Prep) ­- Students choose one:

The Gospel According to Larry, Janet Tashjian

Fever, 1793, Laurie Halse Anderson

Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

Incoming Grade 10 (Honors and College Prep) ­- Students choose one:

Whistling Past the Graveyard, Susan Crandall

The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd

Dracula, Bram Stoker

Slow Getting Up, Nate Jackson

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan

An Invisible Thread, Laura Schroff

Incoming Grade 11 (Honors and College Prep) ­- Students choose one:

Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann

The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson

Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown

Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple

Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance

Caleb’s Crossing, Geraldine Brooks

Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson

The Round House, Louise Erdrich

Incoming Grade 11 (AP) ­- Students read ALL of the following:

Guidelines and Expectations

Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs provides an overview of the basic tools of argument that are the foundation of AP English Language using contemporary examples and illustrations.

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester chronicles the contributions of Dr. William Minor in the development of the Oxford English Dictionary.  It is not only a testament to the changing nature of language, but a highly engaging work of nonfiction.

On Writing by Stephen King, which is part memoir and part writing manual, follows the development of one highly successful writer who shares his secrets of success.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss argues for clarity in writing by pointing out some of the most abused rules of Standard Written English as well as providing insight into the historical development of punctuation.

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder follows Paul Farmer as he establishes a first world medical center in Haiti while working to eradicate tuberculosis.  The biography traces the career of an exceptional doctor from his unorthodox upbringing to an internationally renowned champion of social justice.

Incoming Grade 12 (Honors and College Prep) ­- Students choose one of the following (picking a book related to one of the semester courses they plan to take):

A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson (Humor or Survival)

Right Ho, Jeeves, P. G. Wodehouse (Humor)

Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie (Crime or Survival)

Pronto, Elmore Leonard (Crime)

The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro (Contemporary Social Issues or Creative Writing)

The Samurai's Garden, Gail Tsukiyama (Survival or Creative Writing)

Ball Four, Jim Bouton (Sports Literature)

The Breaks of the Game, David Halberstam (Sports Literature)

Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut (Survival or Contemporary Social Issues)

Dead Fathers Club, Matt Haig (Shakespeare)

Incoming Grade 12 (AP) ­ Students read ALL of the following:

Enrique’s Journey, Sonia Nazario

Students will consider both sides of the immigration debate through the story of one young boy coming to America from the Honduras in search of his mother.

The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien

This work of post-modernism will prepare students to understand the shifting realities and truths experienced by characters in literature of the 20th Century. 

How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster

Students will consider archetypes, timeless literary themes, methods for close reading, and common literary allusions.

Emma, Jane Austen

Austen’s heroine is willful, intelligent, and ambitious. As such, she contrasts starkly with other female literary heroines of the time (early 1800’s). Students should draw conclusions about the roles and expectations of women and men in this novel and relate their conclusions to their knowledge and understanding of the Industrial Revolution.