Summer Reading

Daniel, Half Human and the Good Nazi, David Chotjewitz. Translated by Doris Orgel.
In 1933, best friends Daniel and Armin admire Hitler. When Daniel discovers he is half Jewish, their friendship is threatened.

After reading this book, you are required to prepare a two (2) page typed commentary. Your commentary must summarize the novel and the last two paragraphs need to include your overall reaction to the characters and the plot. The paper should be double-spaced in Times Roman, 12 point font. This is due at the beginning of your first World Cultures class.

Latin Summer Reading/Assignments

Required:
View the movies “Spartacus” and “Ben Hur.” Refer to the packet that will be available before school ends.

Recommended:
D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire, pp.114-122, Hercules 132-147, Theseus 148-157, Jason 162-175.

 

Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question. In alternating narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.

Please note: This book is an all-school read and will be provided to current students before the end of the 2012-13 school year. Third formers new to the school will be given copies at Summer Bridge 2013.

History
Form III History Summer Reading Information

English
We would like you to enjoy the book(s) you read this summer, and we chose the following list with that end in mind.

Directions: Read at least one book from the list below. The book should be one you have not read before. Bring your copy of the book you read with you to school in September. We will use them during the first week of classes. While one book is required, we encourage you to read more.

Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer (ISBN: 0613663616)
A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more - including Krakauer's - in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster. (Amazon.com review)

Winterdance, by Gary Paulsen (ISBN: 0156001454)
Fueled by a passion for running dogs, Gary Paulsen entered the Iditarod - the 1150-mile winter sled-dog race between Anchorage and Nome -  in dangerous ignorance and with a fierce determination.Winterdance is his account of this seventeen-day battle against Nature's worst elements and his own frailty. [The author] presents a fine depiction of the landscape and of dogs at work in this gripping story of adventure and endurance. (Amazon.com and Publisher’s Weekly reviews)

Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card (ISBN: 0812550706)
Intense is the word for Ender's Game. Aliens have attacked Earth twice and almost destroyed the human species. To make sure humans win the next encounter, the world government has taken to breeding military geniuses -- and then training them in the arts of war... The early training, not surprisingly, takes the form of 'games'... Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games... He is smart enough to know that time is running out. But is he smart enough to save the planet? (Amazon.com review)

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (ISBN: 0307387895)
Cormac McCarthy sets his novel,The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing...McCarthy may have just set to paper the definitive vision of the world after nuclear war...Stealing across this horrific (and that's the only word for it) landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son, a boy probably around the age of ten. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy's previous work. (From a review by Dennis Lehane) 

Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissinger (ISBN: 0306809907)
H.G. Bissinger, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, enters into the spirit of one of its most fervent shrines: Odessa, a city in decline in the desert of West Texas, where the Permian High School Panthers have managed to compile the [best] record in state annals. Indeed, as this breathtaking examination of the town, the team, its coaches, and its young players chronicles, the team, for better and for worse, is the town; the communal health and self-image of the latter is directly linked to the on-field success of the former. (Amazon.com review)

Languages 

English
This Boy's Life, by Tobias Wolff (ISBN: 0802136680)

and one of the following two books:

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho (ISBN: 0061122416)
The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist.The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams. 

The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (ISBN: 0156027321)
The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional – but is it more true? 

History

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque (ISBN: 9780449911495)

Languages

Latin II
Review vocabulary from Latin for the New Millenium vol. 1, chapters 1-16
Available via the class website: http://tinyurl.com/LNMvocab

Latin II*
Review vocabulary from Latin for the New Millenium vol. 1, chapters 1-16
Available via the class website: http://tinyurl.com/LNMvocab1

Spanish
Click HERE to find the specific summer assignment for your level. If you have questions, please email any of the following Spanish teachers:

Mr. Bleckner
Ms. Epstein
Mr. Lluchlatorre
Ms. Mateos-Hirshman
Ms. Meier-Fernandez
Mr. Poolman

  

English
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey (ISBN: 0141181222)

History

Environmental Science (Fall only)
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, William McDonough & Michael Braungart (ISBN: 9780865475878)

Languages