Summer Reading
All Stevenson High School students are expected to complete assigned summer reading for their English class and level. These books will be discussed and tested in the opening days of the new school year. Students should annotate, as this should help prepare them for the opening day's discussion and other activities, and will encourage good active reading skills. If you have any questions about the summer reading assignments, please contact the Communication Arts Office at 847-415-4325. If you'd like to learn more about the summer reading program, click
here.
Please note that some courses offer a choice among several titles for summer reading. Clicking on the link to each of those titles will provide a further link to a review of that title by ALA/
Booklist, School Library Journal, Library Journal or another reputable source. We encourage students to consult those reviews when making their summer reading selection.
Seniors (Class of 2013)
Click on the book title for more information, including guiding questions for student reading.
• Seniors enrolled in
Advanced Placement Themes in World Literature must read
both Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Saije,
and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
• Seniors enrolled in
World Masterpieces must read
Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
• Seniors enrolled in general senior electives (
Creative Writing, Film/Media, Literary Analysis, Literary Genres, Political Thought, Public Speaking, Radio Broadcasting or
Writing for College) must read
one of the following:
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls;
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman; or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.
Juniors (Class of 2014)
Click on the book title for more information, including guiding questions for student reading.
• Juniors enrolled in
College Prep or
American Studies must read
one of the following:
The Rich Part of Life: A Novel by Jim Kokoris;
The Flamingo Rising by Larry Baker or
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
• Juniors enrolled in
Advanced Placement Junior English must read
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
• Juniors enrolled in
Accelerated English must read
one of the following:
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson;
The Rich Part of Life: A Novel by Jim Kokoris;
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd;
This Boy's Life: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff;
or Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.
Sophomores (Class of 2015)
Click on the book title for more information, including guiding questions for student reading.
• Sophomores enrolled in
College Prep must read
one of the following:
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver;
Divergent by Veronica Roth;
or Snow in August by Pete Hamill.
• Sophomores enrolled in
Accelerated English must read
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.
Freshmen (Class of 2016)
Click on the book title for more information, including guiding questions for student reading.
• Freshmen enrolled in
Reading Enrichment and/or College Prep must read
one of the following:
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi; Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer; Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin; Rash by Pete Hautman; The Maze Runner by James Dashner; The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson; or Downriver by Will Hobbs.
• Freshmen enrolled in
Accelerated English must read
both The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo and The Color of Water by James McBride.