Non-Honors level students must choose ONE book from either level 2 or level 3 below.
Note: Honors/Academy students must read both books from level # 1.
- When they return, students will take a twenty-question, multiple-choice exam during their first, full academic week. In addition, individual teachers may require further assignments.
- This test counts for 20% of first term grade.
Level 3
by Annette Curtis Klause
from Amazon.com
"Zoe is wary when, in the dead of night, the beautiful yet frightening
Simon comes to her house. Simon seems to understand the pain of loneliness
and death and Zoe's brooding thoughts of her dying mother.
Simon is one of the undead, a vampire, seeking revenge for the gruesome death of his mother three hundred years before. Does Simon dare ask Zoe to help free him from this lifeless chase and its insufferable loneliness?"
Absolutely Normal Chaos
by Sharon Creech
from Amazon.com
" Newbery Medalist Creech (Walk Two Moons) spins an affable if formulaic
tale about one pivotal summer. Narrator Mary Lou, 13, the second of the
five Finney children, is quite put out when she has to play maid for her
uncommunicative cousin Carl Ray, 17, who comes to stay while he looks
for a job. He gets one, to Mary Lou's surprise, at the hardware store
owned by their new neighbor Mr. Furtz, who shortly afterward dies of a
heart attack. Not only does Carl Ray remain in his new job, but an anonymous
benefactor leaves him money-just like in Great Expectations, as Mary Lou
points out. There the resemblance to Dickens ends: the astute reader will
early on figure out the mystery behind Carl Ray's inheritance. Mary Lou
is also slow to pick up clues about why her cute classmate Alex is always
hanging around. Despite the occasionally creaky plot, Mary Lou's bouncy
entries are still a lot of fun. Readers will enjoy her wry commentary
on The Odyssey (on the school reading list), and girls especially will
identify with Mary Lou's disgust at the giddy behavior of boy-crazy best
friend Beth Ann and her own giggly rhapsodies on her first romance ("I
am sooooo happeeeeee I can hardly stand it!"). "
Level 2
A Stranger Is Watching
by Mary Higgins Clark
From Amazon.com
"Ronald Thompson knows he never killed Nina Peterson... yet in two
days the state of Connecticut will take his life, having found him guilty
via due process of law. But Thompson's death will not stop the pain and
anger of Nina's husband, Steve. Thompson's death will not still the fears
of Nna's six-year-old son, Neil, witness to his mother's brutal slaying.
Not even the love and friendship of Sharon Martin, a journalist who is
slowly becoming a part of their world, will ever erase their bitter memories.
Only time, perhaps, will heal their wounds. But in the shadows a stranger
waits, a cunning psychopath who has killed before, who has unfinished
business at the Peterson home..."
Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl,
Book 1)
by Eoin Colfer
From Amazon.com
"Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is the most ingenious criminal mastermind
in history. With two trusty sidekicks in tow, he hatches a cunning plot
to divest the fairyfolk of their pot of gold. Of course, he isn't foolish
enough to believe in all that "gold at the end of the rainbow"
nonsense. Rather, he knows that the only way to separate the little people
from their stash is to kidnap one of them and wait for the ransom to arrive.
But when the time comes to put his plan into action, he doesn't count
on the appearance of the extrasmall, pointy-eared Captain Holly Short
of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaisance) Unit--and her senior
officer, Commander Root, a man (sorry, elf) who will stop at nothing to
get her back.
Fantastic stuff from beginning to end, Artemis Fowl is a rip-roaring, 21st-century romp of the highest order. The author has let his imagination run riot by combining folklore, fantasy, and a fistful of high-tech funk in an outrageously devilish book that could well do for fairies what Harry Potter has done for wizardry. But be warned: this is no gentle frolic, so don't be fooled by the fairy subject matter. Instead, what we have here is well-written, sophisticated, rough 'n' tumble storytelling."
Level 1
Catalyst
by Laurie Halse Anderson
From Amazon.com
"Meet Kate Malone-straight-A science and math geek, minister's daughter,
ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell "Early Decision
Harvard" Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional
avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it as logically
as the periodic table. She can handle it all-or so she thinks. Then, things
change as suddenly as a string of chemical reactions; first, the Malones'
neighbors get burned out of their own home and move in. Kate has to share
her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri's little brother. The
days are ticking down and she's still waiting to hear from the only college
she applied to: MIT. Kate feels that her life is spinning out of her control-and
then, something happens that truly blows it all apart. Set in the same
community as the remarkable Speak, Catalyst is a novel that will change
the way you look at the world."
Click image to enlarge
Earth Abides
by George R. Stewart
From the Publisher
A disease of unparalleled destructive force has sprung up almost simultaneously in every corner of the globe, all but destroying the human race. One survivor, strangely immune to the effects of the epidemic, ventures forward to experience a world without man. What he ultimately discovers will prove far more astonishing than anything he'd either dreaded or hoped for.