English 11 Summer Reading 2011
Please read any age-appropriate nonfiction book that you have not read before. You will find some excellent suggestions below, but you are not restricted to this list. Please take notes as you read because you will be expected to write about your book early in the school year.
DO NOT READ The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Sports
The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
Express: The Ernie Davis Story by Robert Gallagher & Floyd Little
The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll
The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball by Darcy Frey
Counting Coup: A True Story of Basketball & Honor on the Little Big Horn by Larry Colten
My Losing Season by Pat Conroy
Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season by Jonathan Eig
Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival by Norman Ollestad
Far From Home: Latino Baseball Players in America by Tim Wendel & Jose Luis Villegas
Friday Night Lights; A Town, A Team, & A Dream by H.Q. Bissinger & Rob Clark
Days of Grace by Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
Animals
Marley & Me by John Grogan
Out of Harm’s Way: The Extraordinary True Story of One Woman’s Lifelong Devotion to Animals by Terri Crisp
The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa’s Wildlife by Kobie Kruger
A Rare Breed of Love by Jane Kohl
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
Survival / Adventure
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (Hurricane Katrina)
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
A Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger
General Biography
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Going Rogue by Sarah Palin
Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barak Obama
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia & Bulimia by Marya Hornbacher
Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaupen
Running With Scissors; A Memoir by Augustine Burroughs
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg
Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos
Space by Jesse Lee Kercheval
It’s a Bird by Steven Seagle
Working Fire: The Making of an Accidental Fireman by Zac Unger
Twilight People: One Man’s Journey to Find His Roots by David Houze
A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana
America’s Boy: A Memoir by Wade Rouse
Miss American Pie: A Diary of Love, Secrets, & Growing Up in the 1970s by Margaret Sartor
Learning Joy from Dogs Without Collars: A Memoir by Lauralee Summer
Smashed: The Story of a Druken Girlhood by Karen Zailckas
Live Through This by Debra Gwartney
Greasy Rider by Greg Melville
Living Up the Street by Gary Soto
On Our Way to Being Beautiful: A Family Memoir by Yolanda Young
My Own Two Feet by Beverly Cleary
King of the Mile Frontier Chris Crutcher
Sky of Stone by Homer Hickam Jr (sequel to Rocket Boys)
The Coalwood Way by Homer Hickam Jr
We Are Not Afraid by Homer Hickam Jr
Science / Technology
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam Jr (also published as October Sky)
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
Madame Curie by Eve Curie
Holocaust
Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
Night by Elie Wiesel
I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree: A Memoir of a Holocaust Survivor by Laura Hillman
Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
Historical
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
In the Garden of the Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson
Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima by James Bradley
Left for Dead: A Young Man’s Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis by Peter Nelson
Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic
The Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy by Diana Preston
African American Literature
Black Boy by Richard Wright
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Incidents of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years by Sara and Elizabeth (Hill Hearth) Delany
Equal Rights
An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford Mississippi, 1962
Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High
Fight On! Mary Church Terrell’s Battle for Integration by Dennis Brindell Fradin & Judith Bloom Fradin
The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman
This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fanny Lou Hammer by Kay Mills
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Eyes on the Prize by Juan Williams
Multi-Cultural
Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan by Ali Eteraz
Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah
To Afghanistan and Back: A Graphic Travelogue by Ted Rall
Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago
When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi
First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung
Black, White, and Jewish: An Autobiography of a Shifting Self by Rebecca Walker
The Diary of Ma Yun: The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese Schoolgirl by Ma Yan
The Skin Between Us: A Memoir of Race, Beauty, and Belonging by Kym Ragusa
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
To Destroy You is No Loss: The Odyssey of a Cambodian Family by Jan D. Criddle and Teeda Butt Mam
The Flame Trees of Thinka by Elspeth Huxley
Growing Up Latino by Iiand Starans and Harold Augenbraum
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by McBride
My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer by Anousheh Ansari with Homer Hickam
Education & Bullying
The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell
Please Stop Laughing At Me by Jodee Blanco
Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High by Melba Pattillo Beals
Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year by Esme Raji Codell
True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
Please Don’t Kill the Freshman: A Memoir by Zoe Trope
Columbine by Dave Cullen
Diabetes
Needles by Andie Dominick
Real Life Mystery & Crime
Who Killed My Daughter by Lois Duncan
Picking Cotton by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, Erin Torneo, and Ronald Cotton