Services

Mcgann-Mercy Summer Reading List

English 9

Cover	Title	Author	Description

	The Last Lecture	Pausch, Randy	Reflections of a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor who lectured on "Really achieving your childhood dreams," shortly after having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. His advice concerned seizing the moment while living, rather than dying.
	A Raisin in the Sun	Hansberry, Lorraine	An African-American family is united in love and pride as they struggle to overcome poverty and harsh living conditions, in a new television adaptation of the award-winning 1959 play about an embattled Chicago family.
	The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian	Alexie, Sherman	Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
	Does My Head Look Big In This?	Abdel-Fattah, Randa	Year eleven at an exclusive prep school in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, would be tough enough, but it is further complicated for Amal when she decides to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full-time as a badge of her faith--without losing her identity or sense of style.
	Watership Down	Adams, Richard	An allegorical tale of survival in which a band of wild rabbits leave their ancestral home to build a more humane society.

English 10

Cover	Title	Arthor	Description

	Tuesdays with Morrie	Albom, Mitch	A Detroit sportswriter conveys the wisdom and life lessons of his late mentor, professor Morrie Schwartz.
	Flowers for Algernon	Keyes, Daniel	Mentally retarded Charlie Gordon participates in an experiment designed to increase his intelligence, the key, he hopes, to being valued as a human being and to being loved.
	The Secret Life of Bees	Kidd, Sue Monk	After her "stand-in mother," a bold black woman named Rosaleen, insults the three biggest racists in town, Lily Owens joins Rosaleen on a journey to Tiburon, South Carolina, where they are taken in by three black, bee-keeping sisters.
	The Bad Seed	March, William	A seemingly normal and attractive young girl, Rhoda Penmark uses her strange powers and talent for evil to force others to give her what she wants, in a new edition of the 1954 thriller. Reissue. 10,000 first printing.
	Jane Eyre	Bronte, Charlotte	Orphaned Jane Eyre endures an unhappy childhood and later, Lowood School. She stays on as a teacher though she still longs for love and friendship. At Mr. Rochester's house, where she goes to work as a governess, she hopes she may have found them - until she learns the terrible secret of the attic.

English 11

Cover	Title	Author	Description

	Fast Food Nation	Schlosser, Eric	A journalist explores the homogenization of American culture and the impact of the fast food industry on modern-day health, economy, politics, popular culture, entertainment, and food production.
	Light in August	Faulkner, William	In a novel about hopeless perseverance in the face of mortality, guileless Lena Grove searches for the father of her unborn child, Reverend Hightower is plagued by visions of Confederate horsemen, and drifter Joe Christmas is consumed by his mixed ancestry.
	Ragtime	Doctorow, E.L.	Tells the story of the connections between the lives of the families of a New Rochelle manufacturer, an immigrant socialist, and a Harlem musician, and their involvement with a host of famous characters, including Henry Ford, Houdini, and Freud.
	Handmaid's Tale	Atwood, Margaret	A chilling look at the near future presents the story of Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, once the United States, an oppressive world where women are no longer allowed to read and are valued only as long as they are viable for reproduction.
	Founding Brothers	Ellis, Joseph	An analysis of the intertwined careers of the founders of the American republic documents the lives of John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.

Seniors

Cover	Title	Author	Description

	Darkness at Noon	Koestler, Arthur	During Stalin's purges, Nicholas Rubashov, an aging revolutionary, is imprisoned and psychologically tortured by the party he has devoted his life to. Under mounting pressure to confess to crimes he did not commit, Rubashov relives a career that embodies the ironies and betrayals of a revolutionary dictatorship that believes it is an instrument of liberation.
	Hard Times	Dickens, Charles	This story of class conflict in Victorian England serves as a powerful critique of the social injustices that plagued the Industrial Revolution.
	High Fidelity	Hornby, Nick	Follows the love affairs and belated growing up of a "Generation X" pop music fanatic and record store owner.
	Emma	Austen, Jane	Depicts a rich and beautiful heiress whose matchmaking schemes cause many complications.

Senior AP Literature and Composition

Cover	Title	Author	Description

	Invisible Man	Ellison, Ralph	A Black man's search for success and the American dream leads him out of college to Harlem and a growing sense of personal rejection and social invisibility.
	Metamorphosis	Kafka, Franz	Writings by and about Kafka and textual notes accompany his translations of his early twentieth-century work about Gregor Samsa, an ordinary man who wakes up one morning only to discover that he has been transformed into a monstrous insect and must deal with his physical alteration, as well as the alienation from his family
	Crime and Punishment	Dostoevsky, Fyodor	A man must endure relentless physical and metal punishments as retribution for his act of murder.
	The Stranger	Camus, Albert	An ordinary man is unwittingly caught up in a senseless murder in Algeria.

Services

Mcgann-Mercy Summer Reading List

Hours: