2016 Summer Reading List

It's finally finished!

This year, the Student Reading Committee (SRC) chose forty-two books for the summer reading list. We reviewed almost 100 books between November and April. Talk about being particular.  But all joking aside, I think it is awesome that our student members recommended each book on this list. The list has quite an eclectic group of titles. They include memoirs, realistic fiction, science fiction, thrillers, history, biography, and cosmology...just to name a few.

To see the books on this year's summer reading list, click here. When students are finished reading their book or books, they must complete a questionnaire for each book they read so they can get credit from their 2016-17 ELA teacher. The questionnaire can be found here.

While the SRC can vouch for the quality of all the books on this list, there are some I really liked. Even though it was published in 2003 and might seem dated, Ghost ship: the mysterious true story of the Mary Celeste and her missing crew by Brian Hicks is still an enthralling mystery that offers a new, heart-wrenching theory about how the crew and passengers disappeared. Was this ship haunted? After all every captain who manned the Mary Celeste died under dubious circumstances. This is an edge-of your seat thriller.




How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon is told from multiple points of view as each character gives their interpretation of how Tariq Johnson was killed. This is a timely novel and will help to open up a much need discussion about race relations in the United States today.




We have four classics on this year's list. The rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells is a story about how to "make it in America," but Silas Lapham learns that ethics are more important than business. It was recommended to our 11th graders. Years ago I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn and recommended it to one of our student members. She loved it; it's a story about survival while living in totalitarian, Soviet society. Finally, our 12th graders will read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte; this is a truly Gothic romance about unrequited love.

The other books that received much admiration from our students included Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb; The Storm and the Tide by Lars Anderson; Jackaby by William Ritter; and The Circle by Dave Eggers.

Needless to say, there is something for everyone in this year's summer reading list!

Please enjoy the following production I put together to promote summer reading.