The purpose of the Berlin High School summer reading program is to foster and maintain students’ active reading skills during the summer months, and to reinforce the idea of reading as a lifelong skill. To this end, all BHS students in grades 9-12 during the 2010-2011 school year are required to read twobooks: one book from the list of approved books, all pertaining to the 2010 summer reading theme of “An Important Life,” and one free choice book. Additionally, all students are strongly encouraged to read additional free choice books.

 

As they read, students are urged to think about the guide questions on the attached sheet in order to deepen their understanding of the book they have chosen to read. Students are not required to write responses to the guide questions.

 

 

 

“Set during World War II in Germany, this is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.”

“In this powerful and realistic tale, eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital city during the Taliban rule. When Parvana's father is arrested, the family is left without someone who can earn money or even shop for food. Forbidden by the Taliban government to earn money as a girl, Parvana must transform herself into a boy and become the breadwinner.”

“Nick is one of the chosen few at his high school: intelligent, popular, and wealthy. People think his life is pretty easy. Except for one thing. Nick has never told anyone about his father's violent temper. When Nick meets Caitlin, he thinks she is the answer to all his problems. Caitlin is everything Nick has ever wanted--beautiful, talented, and in love with him. But then everything changes, and Nick must face the fact that he has gotten more from his father than green eyes and money.”

(Please note: This book contains some profanity and descriptions of teen sexual behavior and physical violence.)

“This gripping story follows the adventures of the loyal dog Buck, who is stolen from his comfortable family home and forced into the harsh life of an Alaskan sled dog. Passed from master to master, Buck embarks on an extraordinary journey that ends with his becoming the legendary leader of a wolf pack.”

 “At Ballou Senior High, a crime-infested school in Washington, D.C., honor students know that any special attention can make you a target of violence. But Cedric Jennings will not swallow his pride, and with unwavering support from his mother, he studies and strives as if his life depends on it--and it does. Cedric must manage a bewildering array of intellectual and social challenges, relying on his faith, his intelligence, and his determination to keep alive his hope in the unseen--a future of acceptance and reward that he struggles, each day, to envision.”

 “Paul Farmer is a radical public health reformer devoted to providing medical care to the poor, mainly in Haiti. He created the aid organization Partners in Health, and he is gifted with an unshakable moral imperative, an ardent imagination, and limitless energy and compassion. Dr. Farmer is a genuinely inspired and heroic individual, whose quest for justice will make every reader examine her or his life in a new light.”

 “The author tells of her life in Iran from the age of 10, when the Islamic revolution of 1979 reintroduced a religious state, through the age of 14 when the Iran-Iraq war forced her parents to send her to Europe for safety. This story, told in graphic format with simple, but expressive, black-and-white illustrations, combines the normal rebelliousness of an intelligent adolescent with the horrors of war and totalitarianism.”

 “Melba Beals, one of the nine black students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, tells an incredible story of faith, family love, friendships, and strong personal commitment. Drawing from the diaries she kept, the author easily puts readers in her saddle oxfords as she struggles against those people in both the white and black communities who would have segregation continue.”

 “Through a series of skillfully crafted poems, the author has pieced together a collage of the life and work of the American writer. Arranged chronologically from Plath's birth to the month of her suicide, the poems are written from the points of view of people involved in her life. The voices of Plath's mother; her poet husband, Ted Hughes; and other intimates are interspersed with those of more fleeting acquaintances, each chosen to underscore a unique aspect of the subject's fiery life and tumultuous literary career.”

American Library Association—Young Adult Library Services Association Booklists

International Reading Association—Young Adults’ Choices Booklists

AdLit.org—Booklists

As you read, think about the guide questions below in order to deepen your understanding of the book you have chosen. You may want to identify specific scenes, episodes, or events in the book as examples to support your understanding, interpretation, and evaluation of what you have read. 

 

Whatare your thoughts and questions about the book?

 

How do the events of the book reflect the theme of “An Important Life”?

 

What does this book say about people in general? In what ways does it remind you of people you have known or experiences you have had? 

 

How successful is the author in creating a good piece of literature?