EAST MEADOW HIGH SCHOOL
2017 Summer Reading List
- All students are required to read at least one of the novels listed below
- Honors students must read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath along with ONE other texts.
- Students must complete the summer assignment found here.
Alas Babylon by Pat Frank
Depicts the events of an atomic war between the United States and the Soviet Union in the early sixties. The focus of the book takes place around a small town in Florida that was spared a direct hit but lost power and water. The citizens have to begin anew with farming techniques that their grandparents used years ago. They also they have to find clean drinking water and salt to preserve foods and supply nutrients. At the same time they have to defend themselves from marauding outlaws who have wandered in from contaminated cities.
Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson
Eighteen-year-old Kate, who sometimes chafes at being a preacher’s daughter, finds herself losing control in her senior year as she faces difficult neighbors, the possibility that she may not be accepted by the college of her choice, and an unexpected death.
Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
Obama, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Set in the rich farmlands of California’s Salinas Valley, East Of Eden follows the intertwined destinies of two families–the Trasks and the Hamiltons–whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
Two freelance adventurers—swords for hire who enjoy relieving people of their bags of gold coins—are invited to escort a young prince back to his native land, to restore the prince’s rightful inheritance after a bloody coup against his family.
Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
Hanneke, a procurer of black-market goods in 1943 Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, is compelled to help a desperate neighbor track down a missing Jewish teen who had been hiding from the Nazis.
I am Legend by Richard Mathieson
Robert Neville may well be the last living man on Earth . . . but he is not alone. An incurable plague has mutated every other man, woman, and child into bloodthirsty, nocturnal creatures who are determined to destroy him. By day, he is a hunter, stalking the infected monstrosities through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn.
Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
A coming-of-age tale of Art Bechstein, the son of a mob money launderer who falls into a love triangle with a charming young man, Arthur Lecomte, and a beguiling young woman named Phlox Lombardi.
On Writing by Stephen King *
Divided into 3 sections: The first being an autobiography of King’s early exposure to the world of fiction and his childhood attempts at writing; the second provides practical advice on writing, and the third discusses the 1999 car accident that almost ended his life.
Skinny by Ibi Kaslik
After the death of their father, two sisters struggle with various issues, including their family history, personal relationships, and an extreme eating disorder.
The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho
A shepherd boy named Santiago travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasure found within.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
In a tale spanning twenty-five years, a doctor delivers his newborn twin daughter during a snowstorm and, rashly deciding to protect his wife from the baby’s affliction with Down Syndrome, turns her over to a nurse, who secretly raises the child.
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
A portrait of the immigrant experience follows the Ganguli family from their traditional life in India through their arrival in Massachusetts in the late 1960s and their difficult melding into an American way of life.
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Revered by some and despised by others, the Scarlet Pimpernel–an Englishman who works to save aristocrats during the height of the French Revolution–is pursued by a blackmailing agent of the new Republic.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Esther Greenwood, a talented and successful writer, finally succumbs to madness when the world around her begins to falter.