Required Summer Reading

Jefferson Parish Public School System

Magnet Schools

 

English I (Honors)

 

Directions: You MUST read at least three books from the list

below. Each of your three chosen books must come

from a different category: fiction, non-fiction,

drama or mythology.

 

            Fiction

                        Great Expectaions— Charles Dickens

The rags to riches story of a young boy set in Victorian England.

 

 

                  The Picture of Dorian Gray—Oscar Wilde

In this novel handsome young Victorian, Dorian Gray supernaturally retains his youthful appearance while pursuing a debauched life of hedonistic pleasures. As the years slip by, Dorian never grows older, more wrinkled, or grey. His portrait, however, becomes increasingly corrupted and repulsive with each of his decadent immoralities, thus giving a fresh twist to the novel.

 

Member of the Wedding—Carson McCullers

Set in Georgia near the end of World War II, McCullers’ play captures the frustration and yearnings of Frankie Adams, a spirited young girl who runs away from home when told she cannot accompany her brother and his new wife on their honeymoon. Ignored by her widower father, the painfully sensitive Frankie turns to Berenice, the family’s African-American housekeeper, who helps the twelve-year-old meet the challenges of growing up, assisting Frankie in growing up.

 

And Then There Were None—Agatha Christie

This stylishly written and intricately plotted murder mystery tells the story of ten people invited by a common friend to enjoy a holiday on a deserted island. The holiday turns bleak when the guests begin to be murdered one by one, in accordance with the children’s nursery rhyme suggested by the title. The survivors grow increasingly anxious, unable to discover the murderer’s identity and wondering who will be next. Many consider Christie’s And Then There Were None one of the best murder mysteries ever written.

 

 

            Non-fiction

                        Anne Frank Remembered—Miep Gies

 

Miep Gies and others helped protect the Frank family for 25 months, bringing them food and news from the outside world while they hid from the Nazis in the Annex, a secret living space above Otto Frank’s office. Eventually, the Gestapo discovered the hideout and sent Anne to Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp.

In the confusion following the discovery of the Franks, Miep Gies saved young Anne’s diary, hoping to give it back to her after she returned at the war’s end. Anne Frank Remembered is Miep Gies’ story about how she and her husband did what they could during World War II to protect Jews from the Nazis’ brutality.

 

Barrio Boy—Ernesto Galarza

In his acclaimed autobiography, Barrio Boy, Ernesto Galarza (1905-1984) tells of his experiences as an eight-year-old boy after he emigrated from a Mexico torn by revolution to California with the hope of a better life. The experiences described in Barrio Boy show the origins of Galarza’s life-long struggle to achieve both social justice and a quality education for Latinos in America. His autobiography focuses on the closeness of the Galarza family, the tragedy of illness, politics, and the family’s fear of violence.

 

 

Freedom Riders—Raymond Arsenault

A narrative account of the freedom riders of the 1960’s and their struggle for equality.

 

Drama

                                    A Raisin in the Sun – Lorraine Hansberry

This is the drama of an African-American family trying to break through the wall of prejudice when they decide to use the benefits of the deceased father’s life insurance policy to buy a home and a dream in a racially segregated Chicago neighborhood.

 

Cyrano de Bergerac—Edmond Rostand      

First produced in Paris in 1897, this immensely popular play is a tragic love story about its title character, a clever but sensitive soldier who feels his ability to be loved is overshadowed by an inescapable physical defect—his very large nose. Strongly attracted to Roxanne, Cyrano discovers that his beloved is infatuated with someone else: a tongue-tied young soldier named Christian. Cyrano unselfishly agrees to ghostwrite love letters that Christian uses to woo the beautiful Roxanne, all the while falling more deeply in love with her himself.

        

 

Mythology

                  Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of Greek Myths—Bernard Evslin

Western languages, cultures, and civilizations are inextricably connected to the ancient myths of Greece and Rome. In this compelling book, Evslin introduces readers to the wondrous and terrifying world of superhuman beings like Medusa and the Minotaur and to the glory of gods like Zeus, Athena, and Poseidon. Evslin gives many of these stories new life through his exciting retellings of great adventure.