Summer Independent Reading 2023-24

Note: Summer assignments for students in Advanced Placement courses are in the other sections on this page.

The mission of Parkview High School is to engage and inspire the hearts and minds of every learner every day. It is our shared vision to become a thriving community of learners in an environment that embraces a culture of thinking. Within this culture of thinking, reading is expected, valued, and celebrated.

During the school year, our curriculum provides opportunities for students to build their critical reading skills and develop an appreciation for reading. Summer is a time for students to continue to build upon that foundation. Research shows that leisure reading can contribute to many important practices such as supporting reading comprehension, increasing vocabulary development, and creating self-confidence and positive attitudes towards reading.

Summer reading is an opportunity for you to broaden your life experience through the eyes of an author. Enjoy this reading assignment, expand your vocabulary and reading repertoire without the pressure and demands of the school year. Your summer reading assignment is extra credit, so get a jumpstart on next semester!  

Suggestions to help you do well on your extra credit assignment next semester: Keep a journal on characters who have an impact on the events in the book, events that influence characters’ actions and motivations, and universal themes explored throughout the book. You should be able to recall specific people’s names and their contributions to the overall story or theme.

Please follow the minimal requirements for your book selection

• The book meets the challenge of a young adult or adult reader.
• The book HAS NOT BEEN MADE INTO A MOVIE / TV SHOW / SERIES!
• Do not “recycle” a book from a previous class or independent reading assignment.
• Avoid texts used for classroom study listed on the following page. 

The Do’s and Don’ts of Choosing a Summer Reading Book

DO use these resources.

The following resources can help in selecting books that are relevant, interesting, and have the appropriate reading level, values, and interests for you.

• YALSA Teen Book Finder Database
  • YALSA - Outstanding Books for the College-Bound
  • YALSA - Best Fiction Book List
  • YALSA - Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers
• TED Ideas: 88 Books to Enjoy This Summer

Do NOT choose any of the books listed below.

Because we will study many of these books together in class, we will not accept an extra credit assignment based on these texts.

9th Grade

• Romeo and Juliet
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Homer’s The Odyssey
• The Glass Castle
• Anthem
• The Secret Life of Bees
• All American Boys
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
• Night
• Born a Crime

10th Grade

• Lord of the Flies
• Oedipus
• Antigone
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Julius Caesar
• Things Fall Apart
• All Quiet on the Western Front (gifted only)
• Kafka’s The Metamorphosis
• Fahrenheit 451
• The Alchemist
• A Doll's House

11th Grade

• The Great Gatsby
• Of Mice and Men
• Their Eyes Were Watching God
• The Scarlet Letter
• The Crucible
• Red Badge of Courage
• A Raisin in the Sun
• The Sound and the Fury

12th Grade British Literature

• 1984
• Brave New World
• Frankenstein
• Macbeth
• Hamlet
• Namesake
• Pygmalion
• Antigone
• Jane Eyre
• Heart of Darkness

12th Grade Multicultural Literature

• American Born Chinese
• Between the World and Me
• Interpreter of Maladies
• The Distance Between Us

Advanced Placement Courses

AP courses have specific summer assignments listed in the other sections on this page.

Advanced Placement Seminar - 10th and 11th Grade

• Join the Google Classroom
  • 10th grade Join Code -  6ect3j3
  • 11th grade Join Code - 2uq42oy
• Here you will find your assignment along with any resources you may need to complete the work over the summer.
• You can use the Google Classroom to email any questions you may have.  In a collegiate environment, the expectation is that you will complete similar work independently.
• We will respond to your questions as quickly as we can, but please bear in mind that we are away from our classrooms for the summer.
• If you are new or cannot access Google Classroom, please use the PDF-only version of the assignment.
• You may also access this assignment in a Google Docs format.

Advanced Placement Language - 11th Grade ONLY

• Join the Google Classroom:  Join Code -  rfp3mno
• Here you will find your assignment along with any resources you may need to complete the work over the summer.
• You can use the Google Classroom to email any questions you may have.  In a collegiate environment, the expectation is that you will complete similar work independently.
• We will respond to your questions as quickly as we can, but, please bear in mind that we are away from our classrooms for the summer.
• If you are new or cannot access Google Classroom, please use the PDF-only version of the assignment.
• This assignment is also available in a Google Doc.

Advanced Placement Language - 12th Grade ONLY

• Join the Google Classroom:  Join Code -  pkxgasn
• Here you will find your assignment along with any resources you may need to complete the work over the summer.
• You can use the Google Classroom to email any questions you may have.  In a collegiate environment, the expectation is that you will complete similar work independently.
• We will respond to your questions as quickly as we can, but, please bear in mind that we are away from our classrooms for the summer.
• If you are new or cannot access Google Classroom, please use the PDF-only version of the assignment.
• This assignment is also available in a Google Doc.

AP Lit Summer Reading 2023

This assignment is also available in a PDF or in Google Docs.

Required Reading:

1. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
   • You need to read the Preface, Introduction, and Chapter 1 of this book by Mr. Thomas C. Foster.
   • We will continue reading this book during the school year.
   • If you have read this book before, make sure you refamiliarize yourself with the content.
   • I’d love for you to have a copy of this text, but if circumstances prevent it, here is a link to its PDF:
     How to Read Literature Like a Professor Revised: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines
2. Choose ONE novel from the list below (or go crazy and read more, then pick one!):

MAKE SURE YOU DISCUSS AND HAVE APPROVAL FROM YOUR PARENTS FOR YOUR SUMMER READING CHOICE. AS THIS COURSE IS INTENDED FOR COLLEGE CREDIT, SOME OF THESE NOVELS HAVE MATURE CONTENT.

Title	Author	Description
Where the Crawdads Sing	Owens	If you liked To Kill a Mockingbird, this one is NEW.
Crime and Punishment	Dostoevsky	Classic Russian novel about a man who decides to play God
The Orphan Master’s Son	Jackson	A family inside enigmatic North Korea – 2013 Pulitzer Prize
Emma	Austen	If you enjoyed Clueless, here’s the original script.
Beloved	Morrison	A baby ghost creates the re-memory of slavery - Nobel Prize
Midnight’s Children	Rushdie	Telepathic children born on India’s Independence day
Never Let Me Go	Ishiguro	Scientific mystery in a school where all is not as it seems
Madame Bovary	Flaubert	Be careful what you wish for.
The Poisonwood Bible	Kingsolver	Missionary family in Africa in the 1950s
Cry, the Beloved Country	Paton	Two families, one African, one white, in South Africa
Ceremony	Silko	Native American heritage heals traumatized war veteran
The Awakening	Chopin	19th century woman rebels against traditional female role
The Picture of Dorian Gray	Wilde	Dark satire about wealth, class, and beauty
The Kite Runner	Hosseini	Two Afghani boys, politics, loyalty, and dueling kites
The Joy Luck Club	Amy Tan	First generation immigrants deal with mother/daughter issues
The God of Small Things	Roy	Brilliant child tells story of twins in a family in India
The Goldfinch	Tartt	Boy keeps a small famous painting -2014 Pulitzer Prize
A Tale of Two Cities	Dickens	A short Dickens. The French Revolution. It’s awesome.
Alias Grace	Atwood	Girl convicted of double murder; based on true 19th c. event
All the Pretty Horses	McCarthy	A love story set in the 50s amidst the backdrop of the Cowboy West
Jane Eyre	Bronte	19th century governess finds secret in the attic. It’s awesome.
Cutting for Stone	Verghese	Two twins born of a nun try to unravel the mystery of their lives.
All the Light We Cannot See	Doerr	World War II drama, a blind girl, a young Nazi, and a magic stone
Wide Sargasso Sea	Rhys	Acclaimed prequel to Jane Eyre about the secret’s origin
Bel Canto	Patchett	Terrorists take over an embassy during a party: love and music
Station Eleven	St John Mandel	Global pandemic leads to a world without technology
Less	Greer	An author’s comic journey to avoid his ex’s wedding
The Handmaid’s Tale	Atwood	Dystopian patriarchy in a post-fertility world
Leave The World Behind	Alam	A family in a vacation house confronts the apocalypse
The Haunting of Hill House	Jackson	Ghosts inhabit a family’s dream home
Purple Hibiscus	Adichie	A young woman’s coming of age in Nigeria
Transcendent Kingdom	Gyasi	Neuroscience grad student grapples with life and family issues
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao	Diaz	Nerdy guy tries to find love despite everything
The Nickel Boys	Whitehead	Racism and institutionalized violence in a Florida reform school
The Sympathizer	Nguyen	A North Vietnamese spy is embedded in a community in the US

You will receive your summer reading assignments on the first day of school. Please read and annotate/take notes on both texts before the first day. Questions? Email David Thompson.

Advanced Placement Research - 12th Grade

The goal of this summer reading assignment is two-fold.  First, it is designed to get you accustomed to finding and reading peer-reviewed journal articles.  Second, it is a way (hopefully) for you to get a jump-start on your research for this course.

Using a journal database such as JSTOR or Taylor and Francis, find and read four (4) journal articles on a topic or topics that you might like to do your research on this year. 
For each article you read, write a citation and, in one long paragraph, a summary of the findings in the article.

This assignment is available in other formats:

• AP Research Summer Assignment PDF
• AP Research Summer Assignment Google Slide