LibGuides: eastlibrary.org: SUMMER READING

Summer Reading 2021

Dear English Student and Guardians:

The English department requires all incoming freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors to read at least one book during the summer, and we certainly encourage you to read more than a single title. Please select a book (or more) from the list provided. The list includes a range of interests and genres. Guardians, please feel free to help your student come up with a final selection.

No formal written response is required before school begins; however, beginning-of-the-year activities will center around these books. You might find it beneficial to use post-it notes, make margin comments, or take screenshots of important passages as you read. Please bring any/all notes regarding the book to class with you on the first day of school, if possible. If you have borrowed from the library please bring any extensive notes you may have taken.

It is important for families to read and discuss together, so we encourage parents/guardians to read these books as well. All summer reading books will be available through students’ school-issued iPads through the Sora app. Should your child wish to use a paper version of the book, please visit your community libraries who have been informed of our summer reading program for copies, or feel free to purchase one at a local bookstore or online.

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

Sincerely,

The Glenbard East English Department

#MurderTrending by Gretchen McNeil
Falsely accused of murdering her stepsister, seventeen-year-old Dee fights to survive paid assassins on Alcatraz 2.0, the most popular prison on social media.

(Realistic, Dystopian, Horror, Action, Thriller)
All Thirteen by Christina Soontornvat
On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon’s adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation 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)
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, LGBTQ+)
Chlorine Sky by Mahogany l. Browne
Picked on at home, criticized for talking trash while beating boys at basketball, and always seen as less than her best friend, a girl struggles to like and accept herself.

(Realistic, Teen, Sports, Mental Health)
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)
Hooper by Geoff Herbach
Adam's basketball skills have taken him from an orphanage in Poland to a loving adoptive mother in Minnesota. When he's tapped to play on a select team it just confirms that basketball is his ticket to the good life: to new friendships, to the girl of his dreams, to a better future. But life is more complicated off the court. When an incident with the police threatens to break apart the bonds Adam's finally formed after a lifetime of struggle, he must make an impossible choice between his new family and the sport that's given him everything.

(Realistic, Sports, Teen Fiction)
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
As Will, fifteen, sets out to avenge his brother Shawn's fatal shooting, seven ghosts who knew Shawn board the elevator and reveal truths Will needs to know.

(Realistic, Teen, Supernatural)
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, Teen)
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, Teen)
What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper
Liberated from Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in 1945, sixteen-year-old Gerta tries to make a new life for herself, aided by Lev, a fellow survivor, and Michah, who helps Jews reach Palestine.

(Historical, War, Romance)

Find eBooks and Audio

Select sign in, then log in with your Glenbard Google

or go straight to the Sora App on your Glenbard-issued iPad

Freshman choices:

Freshman Summer Reading Bibliography

Basketball (and Other Things) by Shea Serrano; Arturo Torres (Illustrator); Reggie Miller (Foreword by)
Presents 33 basketball questions and answers, accompanied by color illustrations and charts. Questions cover NBA history, pickup basketball, and basketball players from television and film.

(Sports, TV, History, NonFiction)
Boots on the Ground by Elizabeth Partridge
An exploration of the Vietnam War from many different perspectives including an American soldiers, a nurse, and a Vietnamese refugee.

(War, NonFiction, Biography, Photography)
Breathless by Jennifer Niven
With high school coming to an end, Claudine Henry is focused on her future. But when her parents announce they are splitting up, her entire world begins to fall apart. The epic road trip she planned with her best friend is cancelled, and she finds herself stuck on a remote island off the coast of Georgia with her mom--an island with no WiFi, no cell service, and no friends.

(Romance, Realistic, Teen, Family)
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
Eighteen for the three hundred twenty-seventh time, Prince Rhen despairs of breaking the curse that turns him into a beast at the end of each day until feisty Harper enters his life.

(Fantasy, Romance, Disability Rep)
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
At the Castellana Hilton in 1957 Madrid, eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson connects with Ana Moreno through photography and fate as Daniel discovers the incredibly dark side of the city under Generalissimo Franco's rule.

(Historical, Romance)
Frankly in Love by David Yoon
High school senior Frank Li takes a risk to go after a girl his parents would never approve of, but his plans will leave him wondering if he ever really understood love--or himself--at all.

(Humor, Romance, Teen, Family)
Game Changer by Neal Shusterman
All it takes is one hit on the football field, and suddenly Ash's life doesn't look quite the way he remembers it. Impossible though it seems, he's been hit into another dimension--and keeps on bouncing through worlds that are almost-but-not-really his own. The changes start small, but they quickly spiral out of control as Ash slides into universes where he has everything he's ever wanted, universes where society is stuck in the past . . . universes where he finds himself looking at life through entirely different eyes.

(Sports, SciFi, Teen)
The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib
Forced to seek treatment after her anorexia and depression made her lose too much weight, professional dancer Anna Roux is admitted at 17 Swann Street. There she meets three other girls who are also struggling with their own problems. All of them are on a journey and fight to reclaim their lives.

(Teen, Realistic, Mental Health)
The Hive by Barry Lyga; Morgan Baden; Jennifer Beals (Created by); Tom Jacobson (Created by)
Cassie McKinney has always believed in the Hive. Social media used to be out of control. People were torn apart by trolls. Even hackers--like Cassie's dad--were powerless against it. But then the Hive came. A better way to sanction people for what they do online. Cause trouble and a crowd can come after you, teach you a lesson in real life. Entering her senior year, Cassie makes an edgy joke online. Cassie doubts anyone will notice. But the Hive notices everything. And as her viral comment whips an entire country into a frenzy, the Hive demands retribution.

(Dystopia, Action, SciFi, Teen)
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
When seventeen-year-old Jay Reguero learns his Filipino cousin and former best friend, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, he flies to the Philippines to learn more.

(Realistic, Family, Teen)
Salt in My Soul by Mallory Smith
Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of three, Mallory Smith grew into a determined, talented young woman who inspired others even as she raged against her illness. Despite the daily challenges of endless medical treatments and a deep understanding that she'd never lead a normal life, Mallory was determined to 'live happy,' a mantra she followed until her death.

(Autobiography, Disability Rep)
Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus
While true-crime afficionado Ellery and her twin brother are staying with their grandmother in a Vermont community known for murder, a new friend goes missing and Ellery may be next.

(Mystery, Thriller, Teen)
The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells
The author describes possible ways global warming will affect the Earth and people, including scientific research that support his theories.

(NonFiction, Global)
We'll Fly Away by Bryan Bliss
Toby and Luke are best friends, bound by a goal of leaving their hometown for Luke's wrestling scholarship, but a series of events during their senior year will test their resolve.

(Realistic, Sports, Friendship, Teen)

Find eBooks and Audio

Select sign in, then log in with your Glenbard Google

or go straight to the Sora App on your Glenbard-issued iPad

Sophomore - Senior choices:

Sophomore, Junior, & Senior Bibliography

Honors English 1 (E1H)

Students will choose a second title to read from the Freshmen Summer Reading list, in addition to Of Mice and Men.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Sustained by the hope of someday owning a farm of their own, two migrant laborers arrive to work on a ranch in central California.

E1H Letter - Summer Reading

Honors English 2 (E2H)

In lieu of a specific novel, students in E2H should choose TWO of the books on the sophomore-senior summer reading list.

E2H Summer Reading Letter 2021

REACH English 3AP

There are two, short required summer readings/writings for this course. We ask that you read two articles (you will have your choice of several topics), one in June, and one in July, that will emulate the types of reading we will study next year. For each of those assigned articles, you will be asked to record a guided response in Flip Grid and join in a virtual class discussion by responding to one other student’s ideas on the Flip Grid thread. This will all be asynchronous work, to be completed at your leisure.

REACH 3AP Letter

English 3AP

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
The author explores why some people are high achievers and others are not, citing culture, family, and upbringing as possible reasons some people are not as successful as others.
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Related stories, linked by recurring characters and an interwoven plot, recreate an American foot soldier's experience in the Vietnam War.

3AP Summer Reading Letter

English 4AP

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into two different tribal villages in 18th century Ghana. Effia will be married off to an English colonial, and will live in comfort in the sprawling, palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising half-caste children who will be sent abroad to be educated in England before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the Empire. Her sister, Esi, will be imprisoned beneath Effia in the Castle's women's dungeon, and then shipped off on a boat bound for America, where she will be sold into slavery.

4AP Summer Reading Letter 2021

Humanities Honors

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
An investigation into the origins of morality, which turns out to be the basis for religion and politics. The book explains the American culture wars and refutes the "New Atheists."

Humanities Summer Reading Letter