The 2007 Required Summer Reading List for Honors Eleventh and Twelfth Grade Students
Available for All Eleventh and Twelfth Grade Students
Do Not Read Any Book
That You Have Read Previously for Summer Reading.
PLEASE NOTE THAT
THIS LIST IS NOT THE SAME AS LAST YEAR’S LIST!
BE CERTAIN TO READ BOOKS FROM THE 2007 LIST.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
(R.L. 6.1). Based on a true story. At the age of 22,
Eggers became both an orphan and a "single mother" when his parents
died within five months of one another of unrelated cancers. He is charged with
raising his 8-year-old brother.
American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
(R.L. 8.5). Corruption and destruction of one man who forfeits his life in
desperate pursuit of success.
Blindness by Jose Saramago
(R.L. 8.1). A man sitting in his car waiting for a
traffic light to change is suddenly struck blind. The blindness then spreads to
others. Like any inexplicable contagion, this plague sets off panic.
Bonesetter’s Daughter, The by Amy Tan (R. L.
5.7). While tending to her ailing mother, Ruth discovers her mother's writings,
and is transported to a backwoods village in
Devil in the
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (R. L. 13.2). The great classic tells of the adventure of an eccentric country gentleman and his faithful companion who set out as knight and squire of old to right wrongs and punish evil.
Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
(R. L. 6). One of the most poignant love stories ever written. Set
in World War I
Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (R. L. 7.0). The brilliant story of society attempting to stifle the creativity of one man and failing.
Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
(R. L. 5.4). In the futuristic
House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel
Hawthorne (R. L. 11.0). This enduring novel of crime and retribution is a
psychological drama that vividly reflects the social and moral values of
Inside the Kingdom by Carmen Bin Ladin (R. L. 8.0). Shady business dealings, power
struggles between brothers, ties with the royal family . . . Carmen reveals the
intimate secrets of the most powerful clan in
In the Time of Butterflies by Julia
Alvarez (R.L. 5.8) The story of the Mirabel Sisters, also known as
the “Butterflies,” who became national heroes after helping to lead the
resistance against a tyrannical dictator in the Dominican Republic.
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott (R. L. 12.9)
The great historical romance by Sir Walter Scott giving reality to
twelfth-century
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (R. L. 8.9). Victorian novel of Jude Fawley whose children and two women destroy his ideals and cause his destruction.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (R.
L. 9.8). Frank revelation of life in
Life of Pi: A Novel by Yann Martel (R. L. 9.0). A young man, traveling from
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad (R. L. 9.1). Haunted sailor, driven from port to port, from island to island, Lord Jim is a man trying to hide from his past.
Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy (R. L. 9.5). The blind energies and defiant acts that bring an ambitious man to power can also destroy him.
Native Son by Richard Wright (R. L. 6.1). A black author’s assault upon a society that transforms self-destructiveness into an art.
Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (R.L. 11.8). Comedy, sentiment and social criticism as Mr. Pickwick rescues Mr. Peepers from debtors’ prison.
QB Seven by Leon Uris (R. L. 8.4). Best-selling novel of courtroom clash between famous writer and doctor who claims to have been libeled.
Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (R.
L. 10.2). Set in the vast, brooding heathlands
of
Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk (R. L.
7.5). Fourteen-year-old Lily Owen, neglected by her father and isolated
on their
Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
(R. L. 4.4). This stream-of-consciousness tale of the Compson
family of
Tender is the Night by F. Scott
Fitzgerald (R. L. 8.8). An idealist confronted by a doomed marriage.
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
(R.L. 5.8.) Twenty-two tales relate the exploits and personalities of a
fictional platoon of American soldiers in
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut (R. L. 5.9). A collection of shorter science-fiction works share Vonnegut's audacious sense of humor and extraordinary range of creative vision.