Rome High School

Summer Reading 2010-2011

Rome High School ’s summer reading program aims to encourage a lifelong habit of reading for enrichment. Book selections are based on literary merit, the new state standards and teacher recommendations. Students at all levels will complete an ABC book project over one book selected from a choice of two lists. Students must read at least one book for each English course in which they are enrolled and complete a project for each book, even for classes which are being repeated. The grading rubric may be accessed here.

**11th and 12th grade AP students must read two books. One book must be the contemporary selection for their grade level and the second selection is the One Book, Many Voices selection from the faculty recommendation list. AP students will be evaluated with written and alternative assignments.**

This project is worth one test grade and is due the first Wednesday after returning to school. Additional activities such as writing assignments, presentations, group discussions, etc. may be required by individual instructors as differentiation between diploma types.  

Local bookstores and the public library have received copies of the summer reading list, which can also be accessed from the RHS Website: www.rcs.rome.ga.us/rhs. Please call the high school if you have any questions at (706) 235-9653.  

ALL STUDENTS IN ALL GRADES AND LEVELS MUST READ ONE BOOK PER ENGLISH CLASS IN WHICH THEY ARE ENROLLED!!!  

**Parents, although all of the books on the list below have literary merit, some may be suitable for more mature students. We urge you, therefore, to carefully review the list and help your son or daughter make a selection that is appropriate for his or her interests, age, reading level, and maturity. For your convenience, you can find a short summary of each book below.

Rome High School---Summer Reading List 2010-11

NinthGradeRecommended Novels:

Also See Faculty Recommendation List

Tenth Grade Recommended Novels:

Also See Faculty Recommendation List

Eleventh Grade Recommended Novels:

Also See Faculty Recommendation List

  Twelfth Grade Recommended Novels:

Also See Faculty Recommendation List  

Brief Book Summaries

Ninth Grade Summaries :

Call of the Wild by Jack London - The story of Buck, a half-St. Bernard/half-Scotch shepherd that is abducted and taken to the Klondike where it reverts to the wild and becomes a leader of a pack of wolves.

The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander - In August 1914, the renown explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 set sail for Antarctica, hoping to be the first to cross its icy vastness on foot. Eighty miles short of their destination, their ship, Endurance, was trapped then crushed in the freezing Weddell Sea. The party makes two near-death attempts to escape by open boat during their 20 months of being stranded.

Izzy, Willy, Nilly by Cynthia Voight - A young girl has to face physical and emotional challenges as she adapts to the amputation of a leg following a serious car accident.

Warriors Don’t Cry : Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High by Melba Pattillo Beals - Using the diary she kept as a teenager and through news accounts, Melba Pattillo Beals relives the harrowing year when she was selected as one of the first nine students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.

90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life by Don Piper, With Cecil B. Murphey - Ninety minutes after a semi-truck crashed into his vehicle, while a minister prayed for him, Piper miraculously returned to life on earth with only the memory of inexpressible heavenly bliss.

Buried Onions by Gary Soto - When 19 year old Eddie drops out of college, he struggles to find a place for himself as a Mexican American living in a violence-infested neighborhood of Fresno, California.

Tenth Grade Summaries:

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card - An expert at winning games, young Andrew “Ender” Wiggins is recruited for Battle School, not realizing that his simulated encounters with invading aliens have turned real.

A Lesson Before Dying by Earnest Gaines - A disillusioned teacher helps a prisoner gain dignity before his execution.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - Death, a character, relates the horrors of WWII through the eyes of Liesel, a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

Persepolis : The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi - In graphic novel format, the author describes her youth in revolutionary Iran. From the overthrow of the Shah to the establishment of the new regime, she witnesses heartbreak and struggle as life changes in her country.

Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America by Sharon Robinson - The author reveals the life of her legendary father, explaining how historical events shaped the life of one of baseball’s greatest players.

Riding the Bus With My Sister by Rachel Simon - Rachel explains how she was challenged by her mentally disabled sister to accompany her on the “short bus” for a year. During that time, Rachel came to see her sister as an individual with strong feelings about how she wanted to live her life.

Eleventh Grade Summaries:

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner - A family’s struggle to fulfill its matriarch’s last wishes.

The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College by Jacques Steinberg – The book follows a diverse group of prospective students as they compete for places in the nation’s most elite colleges.

March by Geraldine Brooks – A man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause in the Civil War. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs.

September 11, 2001: Attack on New York City - Wilborn Hampton - Describes the September 11 attacks in the United States and presents several personal stories of tragedy told by New Yorkers who lived through the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Who Killed My Daughter? by Lois Duncan - A riveting, gut-wrenching story of Duncan’s search for her daughter’s killer.

Twelfth Grade Summaries:

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - A novel relating the immigrant experience and the clash of cultures as the Ganguli family from India settles in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

My Losing Season by Pat Conroy - An American tale about young men and the bonds they form, about losing and the lessons it imparts, about finding one’s voice and one’s self in the midst of defeat.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – A typically British story of five daughters and the amazing romances they encounter on the way to “the proper” marriage.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach – This book is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies, postmortem.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch - means What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacies? When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying.

Faculty Recommended List

**Students from any grade may read a book from this list as their summer reading selection .

The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf and the Game of Life by Steven Pressfield takes place in Georgia . In 1931, a mythical golf match is arranged between the legendary Bobby Jones and the fabled Walter Hagen to promote a luxurious golf resort on an island near Savannah, Ga. Former hometown golf champ Rannulph Junah, agrees to participate in the match. Junah has been traveling the world in search of meaning ever since his experience in the Great War. The man whom Junah calls "my mentor and boon companion" is Bagger Vance, a charismatic Eastern mystic, who is black. The tournament attracts a multitude of celebrities from all over the world; it's a heroic 36-hole battle of the titans that takes place during the course of one fateful, stormy day. For Junah, the struggle is not to conquer his opponents, the elements, or the daunting golf links--the conflict resides within himself. (Coach Todd Wheeler, Business Technology Teacher)

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Pulitzer Prize winner, New York Times Notable Book of the Year) - A father and son walk alone on a road through burned America. Everything is covered in ash and the sky is dark. They have nothing but a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bandits that stalk the road. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. (Mrs. Erin Strickland , Media Specialist )

Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy - As an Irish-American, Roman Catholic from Savannah, Georgia, Will is an outsider and finds life as a "knob" or "plebe" (a first-year cadet in training) at the South Carolina Military Institute to be physically and emotionally brutal. But he finds solace in three boys who become his great friends. (“The best novel I have ever read!” Dr. Joe Young, Spanish Teacher)

HMS Ulysses by Alistair McLean - MacLean’s personal experiences in the Royal Navy during World War II provided the background material and the ill-fatedPQ-17 convoy to Murmansk provided the basis for the story. This book will teach you whatever you wanted to know about military strategy. You won’t be able to put this book down. (Coach David Adams, History Teacher)

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See - The novel centers on the complex relationship between two sisters, Pearl and May, as they go through great pain and suffering in leaving war-torn Shanghai and try to adjust to the difficult roles of wives in arranged marriages and of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. The author treats Chinese immigration from a personal view through Pearl's narration. (Mrs. Rochelle Myers, English Teacher)

Eragon by Christopher Paolini – The book tells the story of a young farm boy named Eragon, who finds a mysterious stone in the mountains. As it turns out the stone is an egg from which a dragon he later names Saphira hatches. When the evil King Galbatorix finds out about Eragon and his dragon, and sends servants after them in an effort to capture them. Eragon and Saphira are forced to flee from their hometown, and decide to search for the Varden, a group of rebels who want to see the downfall of Galbatorix. (Ms. Holly Matthews, English Teacher)

Life of Pi by Yann Martel – On the way from India to America with his family and animals from their zoo, their ship sinks. The young boy, Picine, must survive on a lifeboat with a hyena, orangutan, and tiger. This suspenseful tale will keep you riveted and leave you wondering about the truth. (Mrs. Dawn Faulkner, English Teacher).

*Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher has been selected for Floyd County's One Book/Many Voices 2010. – A young girl commits suicide and leaves tapes for all those who contributed to her death. This is a thought provoking story about relationships and human responsibility. (Required reading for 11 th and 12 th AP students.)

Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin - T his American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is a failure. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts. (Mrs. Holly Amerman, Science Teacher)

Brian’s Song by William Blinn - This book is one of the best books that I have ever read. It tells a real story about a truthful friendship between two football players, who are from different races, have different personalities and come from different places in USA, but become best friends like brothers. (Coach Franco Perkins, Health and P.E. Teacher)

Summer Reading

ABC Book Instructions

You will create a book with one page for each letter of the alphabet. From the book that you read, you will choose an element that represents each letter and explain the element on the page for that letter. Elements include, but are not limited to: character, setting, events/plot elements, imagery, historical significance, author, etc. You will illustrate each letter as well as explain the significance of each representation to the rest of the novel.

 Each project must have:

• A cover including title, author, student name, grade
• Binding (what holds the book together)
• 23-26 pages  

On each page:

• The letter of the alphabet
• A graphic that helps exemplify the element. Those graphics may be computer generated, hand-drawn or painted, from a magazine, etc.
• A complete and concise explanation of the element for that page - Ex: P stands for Pig. The head of the pig the boys killed was called “the lord of the flies”. It represents the dark, violent, animal side of human nature.
• Supporting quotes for 6-10+ pages
• A page number where that element is used in the novel

*You may choose to leave out the letters X, Y and Z; however, you will receive bonus points for using these letters.

 *Using more than 10 quotes may earn bonus points. Please include page numbers for each of the quotes that you use.

**ABC books may be created in media which is hand-crafted or electronic (a WORD document, or POWER-POINT). Final submissions must be in paper format.