LibGuides: eastlibrary.org: SUMMER READING

Summer Reading 2023

Summer Reading 2023. Features a yellow sun rising out of a red, white, and light blue book.

Dear Glenbard East Parents & Guardians,

We pride ourselves on creating a community of readers and writers, and one important facet of thatliterary community is growing your personal reading practice during the summer. Remember, reading is a muscle; it needs continuous practice to stay strong! The English Department encourages all incoming freshmen and future sophomores, juniors and seniors to read at least one book during the summer. However, with this amazing list of titles chosen to meet the needs and interests of our Glenbard East student community, we certainly encourage you to read as many titles as you like.

Beginning-of-the-year activities in all English classes will allow students myriad opportunities to share their thoughts and demonstrate understanding of the title(s) they read. In order to fully engage in these opportunities, you might find it beneficial to use post-it notes or make margin comments as you read with connections, questions, thoughts or to mark important sections. As our Glenbard East community includes the wonderful partnerships we have with our families, we also encourage parents/guardians to read alongside their students and engage in discussion.

All summer reading titles will be available to current students in the Sora app by June 1st! Future GBE Rams will be able to access titles on their school-issued iPad as soon as they complete registration and receive their device in the mail. Additionally, all community libraries have been informed of our summer reading titles. Please review the graphic below to begin your summer reading journey, starting with checking out our summer reading website which houses the list of titles and all other necessary details.

We look forward to meeting you in August. In the meantime, enjoy the rays and a great read!

Sincerely,
The Glenbard East English Department

Download the all-school Summer Reading Bibliography

Download the Freshman Summer Reading Bibliography

Download the Sophomore-Senior Summer Reading Bibliography

Summer Reading 2023. Features a yellow sun rising out of a red, white, and light blue book.

All Thirteen by Christina Soontornvat
12 soccer players and their coach enter a cave in Thailand seeking an adventure. But when they turn to leave, floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a 17 day rescue involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe. As the world sits vigil, people begin to wonder: how long can a group of ordinary kids survive in complete darkness, with no food or clean water?

NonFiction, Biography, Survival, Sports
Becoming Muhammad Ali by James Patterson; Kwame Alexander; Dawud Anyabwile (Illustrator)
Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other. The authors depict his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse, including his childhood friends, struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing. Readers will learn about Cassius' family and neighbors in Louisville, Kentucky, and how, after a thief stole his bike, Cassius began training as an amateur boxer at age twelve. Before long, he won his first Golden Gloves and began his transformation into Muhammad Ali.

Sports, Biographical Novel
Being Jazz by Jazz Jennings
An autobiography of Jazz Jennings in which she shares her experiences of transitioning for male to female and becoming an advocate for transgender youth.

Autobiography, TV Adaptation
Brown Boy Nowhere by Sheeryl Lim
*This book is not available in Sora; If you would like to check it out, feel free to visit your local library.

16 year old Filipino American Angelo has been uprooted from San Diego to a boring town in the middle of nowhere. Behind him, ocean waves, his girlfriend, and skateboarding on the California coast. Ahead, flipping burgers and, as the only Asian in his school, being trolled. Resigned to being an outcast, Angelo isn’t alone. Kirsten, a crushable ex-cheerleader and graffiti artist, and Larry, a self-proclaimed invisible band geek, recognize a fellow outsider. They may be low on the high school food chain, but they’re determined to hold their own.

Realistic
Café con Lychee by Emery Lee
Theo Mori and Gabriel Moreno have always been at odds. Their parents own rival businesses--an Asian American café and a Puerto Rican bakery. Stuck in the closet and scared to pursue his own dreams, Gabi sees his parents' shop as his future. Stuck under the weight of his parents' expectations, Theo just wants out of Vermont. So when a new café threatens both shops, Theo and Gabi realize an unfortunate truth--they can only achieve their goals by working together. But can they put aside their differences long enough to save their parents' shops?

Romance, Realistic
Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
The presidential inaugural poet--and new voice in American poetry--presents a collection of poems that includes the poem read at the inauguration of the forty-sixth President of the United States.

Poetry
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

Mystery, Thriller
Grenade by Alan Gratz
On April 1, 1945 with the battle of Okinawa beginning, fourteen-year-old native Okinawan Hideki, drafted into the Blood and Iron Student Corps, is handed two grenades and told to go kill American soldiers; small for his age Hideki does not really want to kill anyone, he just wants to find his family, and his struggle across the island will finally bring him face-to-face with Ray, a marine in his very first battle--and the choice he makes then will change his life forever.

Realistic, Historical, War, Action
Love in English by Maria E. Andreu
Ana has just moved to New Jersey from Argentina. She’s a poet and a lover of language—but now, she can barely understand what’s going on around her. All Ana wants to do is go home—until she meets Harrison, a very cute American boy. And then there’s her new friend Neo, the Greek boy she’s partnered up with in ESL class, and Altagracia, who is fluent in Spanish and able to help her settle in. But is it possible that she’s becoming too American—as her father accuses—and what does it mean when her feelings for Harrison and Neo start to change?

Romance, Realistic
Nyxia by Scott Reintgen
Emmett accepts an interstellar space contract but learns en route that to win the promised fortune he and nine other recruits face a brutal competition, putting their very humanity at risk.

SciFi, Dystopia
Oh My Gods! by Stephanie Cooke
Karen is just an average teen. But when she moves to Greece to live with her eccentric, mysterious father, Zed, suddenly everything she thought about herself—about life—is up in the air. Starting a new school can be difficult, but starting school at Mt. Olympus Junior High, where students are gods and goddesses, just might take the cake. Especially when fellow classmates start getting turned to stone. Greek mythology . . . a little less myth, a little more eek! And if Karen’s classmates are immortal beings, who does that make her?

Graphic Novel, Mythology
Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds
When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Froot Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he's falling--hard. But then Kate dies. And their story should end there. Yet Kate's death sends Jack back to the beginning, the moment they first meet, and Kate's there again. Healthy, happy, and charming as ever. Jack isn't sure if he's losing his mind. Still, if he has a chance to prevent Kate's death, he'll take it. Even if that means believing in time travel.

Romance, SciFi
The Promise of a Pencil by Adam Braun
The newest One Book One Glenbard read! Details how Adam Braun, inspired after meeting a begging young boy on the streets of India, quit his job at Bain & Company to start up the organization Pencils of Promise, which has since built more than two hundred schools around the world.

Nonfiction, Memoir
This Light Between Us: a Novel of World War II by Andrew Fukuda
In 1935, Alex Maki of Bainbridge Island, Washington, is horrified to discover that his new pen pal, Charlie Lévy of Paris, France, is a girl, but in spite of his initial reluctance, their letters continue over the years and they fight for their friendship even as Charlie endures the Nazi occupation and Alex leaves his family in an internment camp and joins the Army.

War, Historical, Realistic
When We Were Lost by Kevin Wignall
When their plane crashes in a remote rainforest with no adults left alive, a group of high school students struggles to survive against sinister threats from the jungle—and one another—in this tense thriller.

Action, Realistic, Thriller

Download the Freshman Summer Reading Bibliography

Download the E1 Summer Reading Letter

Download the E1 Honors Summer Reading Letter

blue spaceman with text use your sora app to find ebooks and audiobooks

Here is a quick video on how to access your holds in Sora. You will need to be logged in to your Glenbard Gmail to access!

Summer Reading 2023. Features a yellow sun rising out of a red, white, and light blue book.

Abuela, Don't Forget Me by Rex Ogle
Rex captures and celebrates the powerful presence of a woman he could always count on--to give him warm hugs and ear kisses, to teach him precious words in Spanish, to bring him to the library where he could take out as many books as he wanted, and to offer safety when darkness closed in. Throughout a coming of age marked by violence and dysfunction, Abuela's red-brick house in Abilene, Texas, offered Rex the possibility of home, and Abuela herself the possibility for a better life.

Poetry, Memoir
Admissions by Kendra James
Early on in Kendra James’ career, she began to feel like she was selling a lie. As an admissions officer specializing in diversity recruitment for prep schools, she persuaded students & families to embark on the same perilous journey she herself had made—to attend cutthroat and largely white schools similar to The Taft School, where she had been the first African-American legacy student. Her job forced her to reflect on her own elite education, and to realize how disillusioned she had become with America’s inequitable education system.

Nonfiction, Memoir
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
A family extending from Pakistan to California, deals with generations of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness.

Realistic, Saga
Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray
Sixteen-year-old indentured beastkeeper Koffi and seventeen-year-old warrior candidate Ekon forge an unusual alliance and venture into the Greater Jungle to hunt down a monster that has been menacing their city for a century.

Fantasy, Suspense
Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown
From age six through her high school valedictory speech, believing she and her mother are wizards helps young Echo cope with poverty, hunger, her mother's drug abuse, and much more.

Realistic, Magical Realism
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Daunis, who is part Ojibwe, defers attending the University of Michigan to care for her mother and reluctantly becomes involved in the investigation of a series of drug-related deaths.

Realistic, Mystery, Thriller
Golden Arm by Carl Deuker
Lazarus Weathers, a high school senior from the wrong side of the tracks, seeks to protect his half-brother while pitching his way out of poverty, one strike at a time.

Sports, Realistic
A Heavy Dose of Allison Tandy by Jeff Bishop
After taking painkillers for a basketball injury, eighteen-year-old Cam starts seeing visions of his comatose ex-girlfriend Ally, leaving him to wonder what her spectral visits really mean.

Realistic, Humor
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
In a country governed by a tyrannical dictator, seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer, but he decides to use his position to try to outwit his handler, undermine the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country.

Historical Fiction, Thriller, Action
The Impossible First by Colin O'Brady
Colin O’Brady’s awe-inspiring memoir spans his triumphant recovery from a tragic accident to his gripping 932-mile solo crossing of Antarctica. Honest, deeply moving, filled with moments of vulnerability—and set against the backdrop of some of the most extreme environments on earth, from Mt. Everest to Antarctica—The Impossible First reveals how anyone can reject limits, overcome immense obstacles, and discover what matters most.

Nonfiction, Memoir, Personal Growth
In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner
Attending an elite prep school in Connecticut on a scholarship with his best friend (and secret love) science genius Delaney Doyle, sixteen-year-old Cash Pruitt, from a small town in East Tennessee, struggles with emotional pain and loss until his English teacher suggests writing poetry.

Realistic Fiction
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
1954, in San Francisco's Chinatown, seventeen-year-old Lily Hu falls in love with Kathleen Miller. But America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

Romance, Realistic, Historical Fiction
Letters to a Young Athlete by Chris Bosh; Pat Riley (Foreword by)
A legendary NBA player shares his remarkable story, infused with hard-earned wisdom about the journey to self-mastery from a life at the highest level of professional sports.

Sports, Personal Growth, Nonfiction
The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He
In a near future when life is harsh outside of Earth's last unpolluted place, Cee tries to leave an abandoned island while her sister, STEM prodigy Kasey, seeks escape from the science and home she once trusted.

SciFi, Dystopian
Our Way Back to Always by Nina Moreno
Told in two voices, Lou Patterson reconnects with her neighbor and ex-best friend Sam Alvarez, now seniors in high school, after they rediscover their childhood bucket list.

Romance, Realistic
The Promise of a Pencil by Adam Braun
The newest One Book One Glenbard read! Details how Adam Braun, inspired after meeting a begging young boy on the streets of India, quit his job at Bain & Company to start up the organization Pencils of Promise, which has since built more than two hundred schools around the world.

Nonfiction, Memoir
Respect the Mic by Peter Kahn (Editor); Hanif Abdurraqib (Editor); Dan "Sully" Sullivan (Editor); Franny Choi (Editor); Tyehimba Jess (Foreword by)
Curated by award-winning and best-selling poets, this wide-ranging poetry anthology represents twenty years of poetry from the students and alumni of Chicago's Oak Park River Forest High School Spoken Word Club.

Nonfiction, Poetry
These Deadly Games by Diana Urban
Soon after receiving an anonymous message stating that she has twenty-four hours to play a game by the sender's rules or he will kill her sister, sixteen-year-old Crystal Donovan realizes that cooperating will destroy her friends' lives and she must figure out a way to beat the kidnapper at his own game before she loses everything.

Mystery, Thriller
Traitor by Amanda McCrina
17 year old Tolya Korolenko is half Ukrainian, half Polish. He joined the Soviet Red Army to keep himself alive and fed. When he not-quite-accidentally shoots his unit's political officer in the street, he's rescued by a squad of Ukrainian freedom fighters. They might have saved him, but Tolya doesn't trust them, especially Solovey, the squad's war-scarred young leader, who has plenty of secrets. Then a betrayal sends them both on the run. And in a city where loyalty comes second to self-preservation, a traitor can be an enemy or a savior--or sometimes both.

War, Historical Fiction, Action, Suspense