2015 Summer Reading List

Required Reading

Students will have two reading assignments this summer: a book specified by English teachers and another assignment listed below. Students must take notes on both, as instructed.

For English class: The following memoir, two poems, and three short writing assignments are required summer reading and writing for entering ninth graders.

Frank Chin, Donald Duk

Write one page in response to one of the following topics:

1. In many books, things are often left unsaid. Write a letter from one character to another in which the writer reveals or
confesses something that in the book is left unsaid.

2. Choose a scene you consider to be a turning point in the novel and write about the elements of the scene that you
consider significant.     

The two poems: both of these poems are available online or in local libraries or bookstores.

Robert Frost, “Birches”
Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish”    

3. For each poem, choose a line or an image you consider to be significant and write one paragraph discussing its significance.
You will be expected to turn in your notes to the English department head at registration. Please bring Donald Duk to the first English class meeting. If you have questions regarding English reading, call Meg Donnelly at 413-498-2001.

Summer Reading

The freshmen class is also required to read the following book:

J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye