Summer Reading & Math
Math Recommendations
Reading Recommendations
Studies show that daily reading offers students several benefits. It improves concentration and memory, critical thinking, vocabulary and language skills, and written expression. Because reading comprehension is a cross-curricular skill, it also yields higher achievement in all school subjects and helps students better deal with increasing demands of schoolwork as they grow older. Advanced reading comprehension that develops in students who read for pleasure is also the single biggest indicator of success on the ACT and SAT. Finally, students who read regularly develop empathy for others, learn about the world beyond themselves, become life-long learners, and have a productive way to deal with stress.
To help students develop these important skills, we recommend students read 20-30 minutes 5 times per week. Advanced students hoping to be best prepared for Honors-level classes should challenge themselves more by reading 45 minutes 5 times a week. In addition, we encourage families to develop a culture of reading in your home. Parents, let your child see you reading for pleasure, and talk to him or her about the books you love. Have a book club, letting your teen choose the book, and then come together over delicious food to talk about the book. Starting or continuing read-alouds as a family can also create passion for reading in students and connect your family in new ways as well. Creating a family reading culture will positively impact your child’s learning, deepen family relationships, and forge impactful memories.
As with any suggested reading list, we encourage parents to preview books both for content and reading level to make sure books are right for your student.
Tier 1 – Developing
Robin Hood, Paul Creswick
The Call of the Wild, Jack London
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love, Katie Davis
Amos Fortune, Free Man, Elizabeth Yates
The Best Short Stories of O. Henry, O.Henry
The Ascendance Series, Jennifer A. Nielsen
Our Town, Thornton Wilder
Sonnets from the Portuguese, Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The Poems of Robert Frost: Poetry for the Ages, Robert Frost
The Pearl, John Steinbeck
Across Five Aprils, Irene Hunt
Let’s Roll, Lisa Beamer
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia
Earhart, Candace Fleming
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, Phillip Hoose
Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream, Tanya Lee Stone
Tier 2 – Growing
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane
Little Women, Louis May Alcott
The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, Ben Carson
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, Edith Hamilton
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance
During the Holocaust, Doreen Rapport
Tier 3 – Challenging
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Up from Slavery, Booker T. Washington
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Into the West: From Reconstruction to the Final Days of
The American Frontier, James M. McPherson
Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly
Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders
Different, Gordon Wood
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving
The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain
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