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Honors 9 Summer Reading

During ninth grade, students study world literature while they learn about world history in their history class. To ease students into the study of other cultures, we are requiring the students to read a book over the summer.

Required:
Read a book of literary merit by an author of your choice about a culture other than your own. An example is Shabanu by Suzanne Fisher Staples, which is about Pakistan. Other possibilities are The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima about Japan, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver about Africa, Alicia: My Story, by Alicia Appelman-Jurman about Eastern Europe and the Holocaust, and The Pearl by John Steinbeck about Mexico. Literary merit implies complexity of ideas and notable writing styles. Practice active reading by underlining memorable quotes and writing notes in the margins. An in-class assignment will be based on these readings on the first week of school.

Highly recommended:
Have an opinion. Read the news, letters to the editor, and editorials or other nonfiction articles about current world events. A thorough knowledge of geography is useful for understanding the literature and text you will read in both English and history classes. Find the locations of events from the news on a world map.

Suggested Activity:
Read anything that amuses you, because English is fun.

Updated 5/9/08