As the school year comes to an end, teachers are handing out summer reading lists to their honors english kids to prepare for next school year.  

Honors English 9 is required to read The Odyssey by Homer and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.  Honors English 9 teacher Lindsey Wangler says, “The Honors 9 English reading list has been an ever changing list.  This past year, we incorporated to pieces, one that is fairly easy (and a lower reading level) and one that is difficult.”  

Honors English 10 students must read Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson and they have a choice to read either Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya, 1984 by George Orwell, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, or A Separate Peace by John Knowles.

IB English 11 gets an option to read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, The Bean Trees: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver, Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura  Hillenbrand, or Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.  IB English 11 teacher Ben Neal says, “It’s awesome [the IB English 11 reading list] as it has some more contemporary selections mixed with the classics and even some nonfiction.”

IB English 12 is required to read A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift as well as write one required essay.  It must be one page, and it has to be one of the essay selections on Mr. Crocker’s website.  Crocker said, “We know students are reading, but this helps keep their brains interacting with quality literature so that, not only are they learning, but they are maintaining their relationship with depth and understanding.”  

Click here to read the NL pro-con editorial battle on summer reading.