All
junior class students must choose and read one (1) book from
the following list. Junior Honors class students must
read one book from the list and the additional book listed
below. The faculty will evaluate the completed reading
during your first academic cycle. Be prepared with comments
and a supporting quote.
All
juniors must choose one book from this list:
Kerr,
M.E. Night
Kites.
Seventeen-year-old
Erick's comfortable and well-ordered life begins to fall apart
when he is forced to keep two secrets: the identity of his
new girlfriend and the nature of his brother's debilitating
disease. Summary from Book
Lamb,
Wally. I’ll Fly Away.
In
2003 Wally Lamb—the author of two of the most beloved novels
of our time, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much
Is True—published Couldn't Keep It to Myself,
a collection of essays by the students in his writing workshop
at the maximum-security York Correctional Institution, Connecticut's
only prison for women. Writing, Lamb discovered, was a way for
these women to confront painful memories, face their fears and
their failures, and begin to imagine better lives. The New
York Times described the book as "Gut-tearing tales
. . . the unvarnished truth." The Los Angeles Times said
of it, "Lying next to and rising out of despair, hope permeates
this book."
Now
Lamb returns with I'll Fly Away, a new volume of intimate,
searching pieces from the York workshop. Here, twenty women—eighteen
inmates and two of Lamb's cofacilitators—share the experiences
that shaped them from childhood and that haunt and inspire
them to this day. These portraits, vignettes, and stories depict
with soul-baring honesty how and why women land in prison—and
what happens once they get there. The stories are as varied
as the individuals who wrote them, but each testifies to the
same core truth: the universal
value of knowing oneself and changing one's life through the
power of the written word. – Product Description from
Amazon.com
Picoult,
Jodi. Vanishing Acts: A Novel.
Delia
Hopkins and her bloodhound Greta work with local New Hampshire
police to locate missing persons. One day Delia's father, Andrew,
is arrested, accused of kidnapping her 28 years earlier. Delia
discovers she is a missing person, and during her father's
trial she begins to recover parts of her old life. Why did
he kidnap her? What is her mother like? How would her life
have been different? While Delia struggles to answer her many
questions, the legal system struggles with the intersection
of the letter of the law and the legal and moral responsibility
of a parent for a child. As the story makes clear, there is
very little about life that is definitively black or white.
Picoult creates another captivating tale where life's complications
are tested in court. Her characters are realistic, and listeners
will be drawn into their dilemmas; the descriptions of life
in jail are graphic and disturbing. Each character is read
by a different actor, all of whom do an excellent job. – Library
Journal from Request
All
Honors students must also read:
Neihardt,
John G. Black Elk Speaks
Black
Elk Speaks is the story of the Lakota visionary and healer
Nicholas Black Elk (1863–1950) and his people during
the momentous twilight years of the nineteenth century. Black
Elk met the distinguished poet, writer, and critic John G.
Neihardt (1881–1973) in 1930 on the Pine Ridge Reservation
in South Dakota and chose Neihardt to tell his story. Neihardt
understood and conveyed Black Elk’s experiences in this
powerful and inspirational message for all humankind.
When
Black Elk received his great vision, white settlers were invading
the Lakotas’ homeland, decimating buffalo herds, and
threatening to extinguish the Lakotas’ way of life.
The Lakotas fought fiercely to retain their freedom and way
of life, a dogged resistance that resulted in a remarkable
victory at the Little Bighorn and an unspeakable tragedy at
Wounded Knee. Black Elk Speaks offers much more than a precious
glimpse of a vanished time, however. As related by Neihardt,
Black Elk’s searing visions of the unity of humanity
and the earth have made this book a venerated spiritual classic.
Whether appreciated as the poignant tale of a Lakota life,
a history of a Native nation, or an enduring spiritual testament,
Black Elk Speaks is unforgettable. |
