Students entering the ninth grade will have a heavy reading requirement during the regular school year prior to their final exam. The Pine Bush English Department requires you to read one novel during the summer prior to entering your English class. Select one novel from the list below. While reading the novel, you must take detailed chapter notes. During the first two weeks of school a class assignment will be discussed, and during the third week, an essay test will be given on the novel. Your notes will be the key to a successful completion of this project. It is imperative that you read one of these novels and come to school prepared.  Start now to get a great beginning to your freshman year!

Time frame:

1. Students read literature over the summer and complete detailed, hand-written notes with references to:

•    Plot
•    Characters
•    Setting
•    Conflict
•    Theme

2. Teachers review assignment and format for essay/project during the first week of school.

3. Students will take an essay test during the third week of school. Exact dates will be designated upon return in September 2018.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou: An autobiographical novel that describes Angelou’s coming of age as a precocious but insecure black girl in the American South during the 1930s and subsequently in California in the 1940s.

We Were Here by Matt de la Peña: When it happened, Miguel was sent to Juvi. The judge gave him a year in a group home—said he had to write in a journal so some counselor could try to figure out how he thinks. The judge had no idea that he actually did Miguel a favor. Ever since it happened, his mom can’t even look at him in the face. Any home besides his would be a better place to live.
    But Miguel didn’t bet on meeting Rondell or Mong or on any of what happened after they broke out. He only thought about Mexico and getting to the border to where he could start over. Forget his mom. Forget his brother. Forget himself.
    Life usually doesn’t work out how you think it will, though. And most of the time, running away is the quickest path right back to what you’re running from.
   From the streets of Stockton to the beaches of Venice, all the way to the Mexican border, We Were Here follows a journey of self-discovery by a boy who is trying to forgive himself in an unforgiving world.

Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman: Shawn McDaniel’s life is not what it may seem.  He is glued to his wheelchair, unable to easily move a muscle—he can’t even move his mouth.  Shawn’s father knows his son may be suffering.  Shawn is unable to communicate verbally to his father, and his life is in danger.  To the world, Shawn’s senses seem dead.  With a little help, however, we meet a side of him that no one else has seen—a spirit that is rich beyond imagining, breathing life.

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole:

22 Arcana cards.
22 Chosen Teens.
Let the cards fall where they may.

Sixteen-year-old Evie Greene’s horrific hallucinations predicted the apocalypse, and the end of the world brought her all sorts of new powers. With the earth scorched and few survivors, Evie teams up with handsome and dangerous Jack Deveaux in a race to find answers. They discover that that an ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of teens have been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side…

Monster by Walter Dean Myers: “Monster” is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner. But was Steve really the lookout who gave the “all clear” to the murderer, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? In this innovative novel by Walter Dean Myers, the reader becomes both juror and witness during the trial of Steve’s life. To calm his nerves as he sits in the courtroom, aspiring filmmaker Steve chronicles the proceedings in movie script format.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier: Jerry Renault is pondering the question on the poster in his locker: Do I dare disturb the universe? Refusing to sell chocolates in the annual Trinity School fundraiser may not seem like a radical thing to do.  But when Jerry challenges a secret school society called The Vigils, his defiant act turns into an all-out war. Now the only question is: Who will survive.

The Sun is a Star by Nicola Yoon:

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true? 

On the Devil’s Court by Carl Deuker: Senior Joe Faust fears that, like the legendary Dr. Faustus, he has made an irrevocable pact with the devil. The only child of a famous geneticist and an artist, Joe feels inadequate except on the basketball court. When the family moves to Seattle, his parents force him to go to the private school Eastside instead of the local high school. Joe unleashes his frustrations in an abandoned gym where the devil he’s read about in Doctor Faustus seems to inspire a series of perfect shots. Desperate for success and identity, Joe vows, “Give me a full season, give me twenty four games on this power, and my soul is yours.” Joe becomes a superstar, but his uneasiness is heightened as he delves deeper into Dr. Faustus in his English class.

Boy21 by Matthew Quick: You can lose yourself in repetition–quiet your thoughts; I learned the value of this at a very young age.

Basketball has always been an escape for Finley. He lives in broken-down Bellmont, a town ruled by the Irish mob, drugs, violence, and racially charged rivalries. At home, his dad works nights, and Finley is left to take care of his disabled grandfather alone. He’s always dreamed of getting out someday, but until he can, putting on that number 21 jersey makes everything seem okay.

Russ has just moved to the neighborhood, and the life of this teen basketball phenom has been turned upside down by tragedy. Cut off from everyone he knows, he won’t pick up a basketball, but answers only to the name Boy21–taken from his former jersey number.

As their final year of high school brings these two boys together, a unique friendship may turn out to be the answer they both need.