ROCKY HILL HIGH SCHOOL
SUMMER READING LIST 2008

Bold print indicates Cora J. Belden library call number.
All copies are on the display shelves in the Teen Zone of the adult fiction room.

 ART

9-10

Boardingham, Robert. The Young Picasso. A biography. Describes Picasso’s formative years. B PICASSO

11-12

Chevalier, Tracy. Girl With a Pearl Earring. (mature content) CHEVALIER

9-12

Audette, Anna Held. The Blank Canvas: Inviting the Muse. This book describes the psychology of an artist. 700.19 AUDETTE

O’Keefe, Georgia . (A Studio Book, The Viking Press) Georgia O’Keefe Autobiography 759.13 O’KEEFE

BUSINESS

9-12

Semler, Ricardo. Maverick: the Success Story Begind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace. NO COPIES AVAILABLE

Freiberg, Kevin. Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success. 387.7 FREIBERG

Underhill, Paco. Why We Buy: the Science of Shopping. NO COPIES AVAILABLE

Friedman, Thomas L. The World is Flat. 303.4833 FRIEDMAN

Bolles, Richard Nelson. What Color is Your Parachute. 331.1128 BOLLES

ENGLISH

9-12

Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. AUSTEN

Brown, Dan. Deception Point. BROWN

Bissinger, HG. Friday Night Lights.* 796.332 BISSINGER

Bradbury, Ray. Martian Chronicles. BRADBURY

Dickens, Charles. Tale of Two Cities. DICKENS

Grisham, John. Bleachers. GRISHAM

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. HADDON

Jones, Ron. The Acorn People. JONES

Kidd, Susan Monk. Secret Life of Bees. KIDD

Kingsolver, Barbara. The Bean Trees.* KINGSOLVER

Mah, Adeline Yen. Falling Leaves. B MAH

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. MARTEL

McBride, James. The Color of Water. B MCBRIDE

Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye.* MORRISON

Mosley, Walter. White Butterfly.* M MOSLEY

Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. MYERS

O’Faolain, Nuala. Are You Somebody? B O’FAOLAIN

Picoult, Jodi. The Tenth Circle . PICOULT

*May contain adult language or content.

FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCE

9-12

Bohjalian, Chris. Midwives. BOHJALIAN

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. HADDON

Robbins, John. A Diet For A New America . 613 ROBBINS

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. 394.1 SCHLOSSER

Tobin, Jacqueline L. and Raymond G. Dobard. Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad. 973.7 TOBIN

LIBRARIAN

Holland, Robert. 3 rd and Long. Mystery/football happenings at Martha’s Vineyard. NO COPIES AVAILABLE

Cussler, Clive. Dragon. Fiction/Mystery. A businessman plots to control the world’s economy. CUSSLER

Garcia, Christina. Dreaming in Cuban. Fiction that looks at Cuban revolution through the eyes of three generations. GARCIA

11-12

Mortenson, Greg and David Oliver Relin. Three Cups of Tea. A New York Times bestseller of one man’s efforts to “change the world.” 371.822 MORTENSON

Jansen, Hanna. Over a Thousand Hills I Walk with You. Based on a true story of a youg Rwandan girl as she tries to survive her elements. JANSEN

MATHEMATICS

9-10

Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland. A book about the fourth dimension. 530.1 ABBOT

Gould, Stephen Jay. Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville. Essays on baseball, including “Why No One Hits 0.400 Anymore.” 796.357 GOULD

Kaplan, Robert. The Nothing That Is. A natural history of zero. 511.2 KAPLAN

Norton, Malba Tahan W.W. The Man Who Counted. Adventures of Beremiz Samir and his extraordinary mathematical powers. 793.74 NORTON

11-12

Amdahl, Kenn, and Loats, Jim. Algebra Unplugged. Through the use of creative analogies, the authors explain the areas that are often stumbling blocks for students. No exercises, just clear writing, humor, and information. 512 AMDAHL

Burger, Dionys. Sphereland. A fantasy about curved spaces. 530.1 ABBOTT

Hickam, Jr., Homer. October Sky. The story of a small town boy and his dreams of making rockets. B HICKAM

Nasar, Sylvia. A Beautiful Mind: The life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash. The story of Professor John Nash, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of his generation, who had spiraled into schizophrenia in the 1950’s. B NASH

MUSIC

9-12

Barber, David. Bach, Beethoven and the Boys: Music History as it Ought to be Taught (Sound & Vision Publishing) 780.9 BARBER

Brown, Peter and Gaines, Steven. The Love You Make. An insiders story of the Beatles. 784.54 BROWN

DePree, Max. Leadership is an Art, Explores the attributes and development of leadership skills. 784.54 BROWN

Fidelman, Geoffrey Mark. First Lady of Song. A biography of one of America’s vocal jazz treasures, Ella Fitzgerald. B FITZGERALD

Green, Barry. The Inner Game of Music. A self-help book that deals with overcoming performance jitters. 781.63 GREEN

Ristad, Eloise. A Soprano on Her Head. Deals with stress, nerves, and performance jitters. 780.7 RISTAD

PHYSICAL EDUCATION/HEALTH

9-10

Levy, Marilyn. Run for Your Life. A 13 year old living in a housing project joins a track team. LEVY

11-12

Dorris, Michael. The Broken Cord. A story of an adopted Sioux Indian and his health problems. 362.292 DORRIS

Lobo, RuthAnn & Rebecca Lobo.The Home Team. A tale of basketball players. B LOBO

Pitino, Rick. Success is a Choice. The book deals with the psychological aspects of success in life. 158.1 PITINO

9-12

Myers, Walter Dean. Slam. The story revolves around the theme of basketball talents vs success in life. MYERS

Wallace, Rich. Wrestling Sturbridge. The book deals with friendship, wrestling and championships. WALLACE

9-10

Abner, Allison and Linda Villarosa. Finding our Way: the Teen Girl’s Survival Guide. The book describes various life skills for teenage girls. 646.7 ABNER

Pennebaker, Ruth. Don’t Think Twice. The book is about teen pregnancy and adoption.Y PENNEBAKER

11-12

Dessen, Sarah. That Summer. The author describes various aspects of growing up female, self-esteem, and also deals with changes in life and interpersonal relations. DESSEN

Kozol, Jonathan. Amazing Grace: the Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. The book is about inner city children and how they deal with violence, AIDS, poverty and hope in the South Bronx. 362.7 KOZOL

9-12

Bode, Janet. Hard Times: a Real Look at Juvenile Crime and Violence NO COPIES, NOT IN PRINT

Lane, Dakota. Johnny Voodoo. The book deals with a mother’s death, a girl’s search for friendship, love and belonging. LANE

PRINCIPAL & PARENT CHOICES

Brokaw, Tom. Greatest Generation. Narrative about the 1910’s & 20’s generation. 940.54 BROKAW

McCullough, David. 1776. George Washington and the Americans in the ranks who fought and won against insurmountable odds. 973.3 McCULLOUGH

Philbrick, Nathaniel. Mayflower. The story of how America began and the truth behind our most sacred myth. 973.22 PHILBRICK

Poitier, Sidney . The Measure of a Man. A memoir by a true American icon. B POITIER

Stanton, Doug. In Harm’s Way. Sinking of the Indianapolis, World War II. 940.54 STANTON

Wiesel, Elie. Night. A story of the holocaust and faith. B WIESEL

SCIENCE

9-12

Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the Woods. Entertaining guide through the history and ecology of the Appalachian Trail. 917.404 BRYSON

Mallett, Ronald. Time Traveler. Dr. Mallett, a theoretical physicist at UConn, describes the basics of a time machine and the real possibility of traveling back to the past. NO COPIES AVAILABLE

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma. 394.12 POLLAN

Palmer, Michael. Natural Causses. Readers of Robin Cook or Michael Crichton will enjoy this medical thriller based on genetic engineering. PALMER

Silver, Lee. Remaking Eden . A molecular biologist, Lee M. Silver, takes a “cautiously optimistic look at the scientific advances” in human cloning. NO COPIES AVAILABLE

SOCIAL STUDIES

9-10

Jackson, Livia Bitton. I Have Lived a Thousand Years. A 13 year old Hungarian Jewish girl who is sent to Auschwitz and survives. 940.53 JACKSON

Ellis, Joseph. Founding Brothers. 973.4 ELLIS

King, Ross. Brunelleschi’s Dome. The reconstruction of the roof of the Florentine Cathedral. 726.6 KING

11-12

Ambrose, Stephen. Undaunted Courage. Lewis & Clark expedition 978 AMBROSE

Ball, Edward. Slaves in the Family. Portrait of plantation life in the Charleston , South Carolina region. 973.0496 BALL

Caputo, Philip. A Rumor of War. Reflections of a young soldier who served in Vietnam 959.704 CAPUTO

Farrow, Ann. Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged and Profited from Slavery. 326.973 FARROW

Geier, Arnold: Heroes of the Holocaust. Series of stories of people who exhibited great courage and humanity during WWII. 940.53 GEIER

Murray, Paul. Proud Shoes: The Story of an African American Family. 301.45 MURRAY

Shattan, Joseph. Architects of Victory. Short biographies of Cold War heroes. 327.73 SHATTAN

9-12

Alderman, Ellen & Kennedy, Caroline. In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action. 342.73 ALDERMAN

Cather, Willa. My Antonia. Bohemian immigrant family in late 19 th century Nebraska. CATHER

Tygiel, Jules. Baseball’s Great Experiment. The Jackie Robinson story. B ROBINSON

Smith, Betty. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. An Irish-American family in New York City. SMITH

Hanson, Victor Davis. The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny. 355 HANSON

SPECIAL EDUCATION SUMMER READING

Borntrager, Mary Christner. Andy. This is a fictional account of a teenage boy who is “different” from his peers. Y BORNTRAGER

Clayton Lawrence and Jaydene Morrison. Coping with a Learning Disability. Written for middle school and high school students with learning disabilities, this book “speaks” to them with concern, humor, and sincerity. 371.9 CLAYTON

Gordon, Sol. When Living Hurts. The subtitle of this guide for teenagers and young adults is: “A lively what to do book for yourself or someone you care about who feels discouraged, sad, lonely, hopeless, angry, frustrated, unhappy, bored, depressed, or suicidal.” For young people in any of those categories, this is essentially a serious minded pep talk in a book. 616.85 GORDON

Scott, Virginia. Belonging. Like all teenagers, fifteen year old Gustie puts a premium on “belonging” to the right crowd. When she contacts meningitis and loses her hearing, however, her world is turned upside down. SCOTT

Hockenberry, John. Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations ofIndependence. At nineteen, Hockenberry’s spinal cord was severed in a car accident. In his memoir of his life as a paraplegic, he takes an unflinchingly honest look at how his injury changed his life and his views of society. 362.4 HOCKENBERRY

Hill, David. See Ya Simon. The extraordinary friendship between two teenage boys, Nathan and Simon, is the subject of this powerful novel set in New Zealand. Simon has muscular dystrophy but hates to be pitied, so Nathan tries his hardest to treat his friend like just another kid, in the process learning a great deal about human dignity and courage. Y HAYES

*Hayes, Marnell. The Tuned-In, Turned-On Book about Learning Problems. This book for children and teens that have learning disabilities is written in a way that will make the younger reader feel that it was written especially for him. Y HAYES

Walls, Jeannette. The GlassCastle. This is a true story about growing up in a dysfunctional family. B WALLS

*Requires teacher permission to read.

TECHNOLOGY

9-12

Ballard, Robert D. The Discovery of the Titanic. 910.9164 BALLARD

 Bradley, Bill. Values of the Game. 796.325 BRADLEY

 Hartinger, Brent. Geography Club. HARTINGER

 Hartinger, Brent. Order of the Poison Oak. HARTINGER

 Hartinger, Brent. Split Screen. HARTINGER

 Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy. Y LEVITHAN

 Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. ROWLING

 Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. ROWLING

 WORLD LANGUAGES

 FRENCH

9-10

Ionesco. The Lesson. Modern drama. 843 IONESCO

Leroux, G. The Phantom of the Opera. A mystery and love story. LEROUX

Moliere. The Bourgeois Gentleman. A man who’s trying to be a nobleman 842 MOLIERE

Racine. Phaedre. A play based on a classical Greek legend. 842 RACINE

Verne, Jules Around the World in 80 Days. Phileas Fogg’s fantastic circling of the globe. VERNE

Voltaire. Candide. Adventure story of Candide and Dr. Pangloss. VOLTAIRE

11-12

Camus, Albert. The Stranger. An ordinary little man living quietly in Algiers commits a pointless murder. CAMUS

Hugo, Victor. The Hunchback of Notre Dame. HUGO

 Ionesco. Rhinoceros. Allegory play dealing with resisting Nazism. 842 IONESCO

St. Exupery. Night Flight. A writer/pilot sharing his experiences as a pioneer aviator. SAINT-EXUPERY

Zola, Emile. Germinal. A late 19th century setting depicting poverty in a mining town. ZOLA

 LATIN

9-12

Davis, Lindsey. The Iron Hand of Mars. Detecive novel set in ancient Rome. NO COPIES, NOT IN PRINT

Graves, Robert. I Claudius. Novel of nasty Romans from Augustus to Nero GRAVES

Graves, Robert. Claudius the God. Novel of nasty Romans from Augustus to Nero GRAVES

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. 291 HAMILTON

Mattingly, Harold. The Man in the Roman Street. Description of a common man. 937.3 MATTINGLY

McCullough, Collen. Caesar’s Women. Julius Caesar’s relationships with various women including his daughter, Julia, who becomes wife of Pompey. McCULLOUGH

McCullough, Collen. The First Man in Rome. Marius and Sulla both strive for position of First Man. McCULLOUGH

Renault, Mary. The King must Die. The story of the mythical hero, Theseus, and the slaying of the Minotaur. RENAULT

Renault, Mary. Fire from Heaven. The story of young Alexander the Great, from his childhood to age twenty. RENAULT

Renault, Mary. The Bull from the Sea. Continuation of Theseus’ story from his triumphant return to Athens from Crete after slaying the Minotaur. RENAULT

Saylor, Steven. Catalina’s Riddle. Murder mystery set in ancient Rome. SAYLOR

Saylor, Steven. The Venus Throw. Murder mystery set in ancient Rome. SAYLOR

Saylor, Steven. A Murder on the Appian way. Murder mystery set in ancient Rome. SAYLOR

Virgil. The Aeneid. The wanderings of hero Aeneas after the Trojan war. (Penguin prose translation) 873 VIRGIL

Homer (Virgil?) The Odyssey. The wandering of hero Odysseus after the Trojan War. (Penguin prose translation) 883 HOMERUS

Homer (Virgil?) The Iliad. (Penguin prose translation) 883 HOMER

SPANISH

9-10

Paulsen, Gary. Sisters. The story reveals the life of two girls from very different backgrounds trapped in their life of beauty. YPB PAULSEN

Mohr, Nicholasa. El Bronx. A migrant “fresh from the boat” from Puerto Rico. Can he pursue the American dream? Y MOHR

Gallo, Donald. Join In: Multiethnic Short Stories. YPB J

Merino, Jose Maria. The Gold of Dreams. Miguel hopes to equal the triumphs of his father, a sixteenth century Spanish conquistador. NO COPIES, NOT IN PRINT

Rodriguez, Luis J. It doesn’t have to be This Way: A Barrio Story. Y RODRIQUEZ

11-12

Castellanos, Rosario. The Nine Guardians: A novel of Mexico. CASTELLANOS

Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. A young girl, who lives in the boarder of United States and Mexico, reveals secrets to a witch woman. CISNEROS

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. This novel is about a young girl whose duty is to remain single to care for her cruel mother. (Required for seniors entering Spanish 5.) ESQUIVEL

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The investigation of a crime in a small town in Colombia. (Required for seniors entering Spanish 5). GARCIA MARQUEZ

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. No One Writes to the Colonel. The mundane life of the colonel waiting for a letter from the government confirming his pension that never comes. GARCIA MARQUEZ

Ruiz, Don Miguel. The four Agreements. A practical guide to personal freedom. 299.792 RUIZ

Santiago, Esmeralda. When I was Puerto Rican. Biographical account about the life in the barrios of Puerto Rico and poverty in Brooklyn. B SANTIAGO