State College Area School District
Secondary English Department
Summer Reading List
For Students Entering 11th and 12th Grades
2010-2011
Achebe, Chinua
Things Fall Apart. A classic story of a “strong” man who is motivated by fear
and rage.
Allende, Isabel
Paula. The author describes the changes her family went through when her
daughter, Paula, fell gravely ill.
Armstrong, Lance
It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life. A teenage misfit who finds
his niche in cycling calls on the same personal characteristics that made him a
cycling champion to survive cancer, win the Tour de France, and find real joy.
Austen, Jane
Pride and Prejudice. Social comedy with an enchanting heroine, this novel
embodies Austen’s belief that the truly civilized maintain a balance between
energy and reason.
Bryson, Bill
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian
Trail. A personal memoir of the author’s experiences hiking the Appalachian
Trail accompanied by an old college friend.
Chabon, Michael
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Joe Kavalier and his cousin
Sammy Clay team up to produce comic books at the beginning of WWII.
Chevalier, Tracy
Girl with a Pearl Earring. Sixteen-year-old Griet is hired to work as a maid in
the home of the renowned painter Johannes Vermeer in 17th-century Delft.
Conroy, Pat
The Water Is Wide. The triumphant story of one man’s battle for the kids on a
forgotten American island.
Courtenay, Bruce
The Power of One. A boy growing up in South Africa during World War II
learns about freedom, courage, and friendship from two older men, one black and
one white.
Dillard, Annie
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. This autobiography records the seasons as they come
and go at Tinker Creek in Virginia.
Gaines, Ernest
A Lesson before Dying. Two black men–one a teacher, the other a death row
inmate–struggle to live and die with dignity.
Heller, Joseph
Catch 22. World War II flier John Yossarian decides that his only mission each
time he goes up is to return alive.
Herriot, James
All Creatures Great and Small. An autobiographical work recounting the
problems and joys of the life of a British country veterinarian.
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Hosseini, Khaled
The Kite Runner. This novel, the first Afghan work written in English, tells a
story about family, love, and friendship and the devastating history of
Afghanistan during the last thirty years.
Kerouac, Jack
On the Road. A saga of youth adrift in America, traveling the highways,
exploring the midnight streets of the cities, and the vast expanses of the land,
searching for their country and themselves.
Kingsolver, Barbara The Bean Trees. This novel follows the experiences of Taylor Greer as she
leaves her childhood home and acquires an abused, abandoned baby girl.
Throughout her journey, Taylor discovers a new appreciation for everyday
miracles and a new definition for family.
Letts, Billie
Where the Heart Is. This recent novel concerns a pregnant teenage girl who
finds a new life among the quirky inhabitants of a small town in Oklahoma.
Maclean, Norman
A River Runs Through It and Other Stories. Beginning with the memorable
line, "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing,"
Maclean paints an evocative portrait of the sons of a small-town Montana
minister, two brothers headed in very different directions.
Malamud, Bernard
The Natural. The portrait of a man adored and corrupted by the madcap world of
major league baseball.
Mathabane, Mark
Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid
South Africa. In stark prose, Mathabane describes his life growing up in a
non-white ghetto outside Johannesburg–and how he escaped its horrors.
Nasar, Sylvia
A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel
Laureate John Nash. Presents the life of a mathematical genius whose brilliant
career was cut short by schizophrenia and who, after three decades of devastating
mental illness, recovered and was honored with a Nobel Prize.
Naylor, Gloria
Mama Day. A mesmerizing tale of the modern day descendants of a white slave
owner and the black woman who was his slave.
Pipher, Mary
Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. Explores the
confounding behavior of adolescent girls, who in rapidly increasing numbers are
succumbing to depression, eating disorders, addictions, and suicide.
Proulx, E. Annie
The Shipping News. Quoyle is wrenched violently out of his workaday life when
his two-timing wife meets her just deserts, and he retreats with his two daughters
to his ancestral home on the starkly beautiful Newfoundland coast.
Read, Piers Paul
Alive. Incredible true story of a band of crash survivors isolated in the high
Andes and how they survived by resorting to cannibalism.
Sophocles
Oedipus Rex. One of the greatest of the classic Greek tragedies and a masterpiece
of dramatic construction. Catastrophe ensues when King Oedipus discovers he
has inadvertently killed his father and married his mother. Masterly use of
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dramatic irony greatly intensifies the impact of agonizing events. This is
Sophocles’ finest play.
Sparks, Nicholas
The Notebook. Set amid the beauty of coastal North Carolina in 1946, this is a
poignant and compelling love story about two lovers reunited after World War II.
Tan, Amy
The Joy Luck Club. Chronicles the lives of four Chinese women, their 40-year
friendship and how the death of one brings a new understanding for each of them.
Wright, Richard
Native Son. A black author’s assault upon a society that transforms selfdestructiveness into an art.
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