Required Book: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Optional Books: (Choose one)

• Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah
  After her mother dies, Adeline's affluent, powerful family considers her bad luck. Life does not get any easier when her father remarries. She ad her siblings are subjected to their stepmother's disdain, while her half brother and half sister are thoroughly spoiled. In spite of this, Adeline yearns for the love and understanding of her family.(non-fiction)
  
  
• Forbidden City by William Bell
  Seventeen-year-old Alex accompanies his father, a cameraman for a Canadian TV network, to China for a foreign assignment. Although both of them thought it would be a learning experience, neither realized the true adventure they would be experiencing in the spring of 1989 at Tien An Men Square, where a massacre of Chinese people took place.  Alex discovers what risks newspeople must take to let the world know of terrible events.
  
  
• I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson
  The inspiring and haunting story of a teenage girl who survived the Nazi death camps of World War II along with her mother and brother. The many obstacles that they face give way to the strength of the human spirit.
  
  
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
  The Hiding Place contains an autobiographical description of a Dutch woman's efforts to help Jewish people flee from the Nazis during World War II. This book has an inspirational account of how faith in God helps to overcome terrible evil.
  
  
• Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green
  When German prisoners of war are brought to her Arkansas town during World War II, twelve-year-old Patty, a Jewish girl, befriends one of them and must deal with the consequences of that friendship. She is willing to risk losing family, friends --even her freedom-- for what has quickly become the most important part of her life.

Required Books : A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Optional Books: (Choose One)

• Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah
  After her mother dies, Adeline's affluent, powerful family considers her bad luck. Life does not get any easier when her father remarries. She ad her siblings are subjected to their stepmother's disdain, while her half brother and half sister are thoroughly spoiled. In spite of this, Adeline yearns for the love and understanding of her family.(non-fiction)
  
  
• Forbidden City by William Bell
  Seventeen-year-old Alex accompanies his father, a cameraman for a Canadian TV network, to China for a foreign assignment. Although both of them thought it would be a learning experience, neither realized the true adventure they would be experiencing in the spring of 1989 at Tien An Men Square, where a massacre of Chinese people took place.  Alex discovers what risks newspeople must take to let the world know of terrible events.
  
  
• I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson
  The inspiring and haunting story of a teenage girl who survived the Nazi death camps of World War II along with her mother and brother. The many obstacles that they face give way to the strength of the human spirit.
  
  
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
  The Hiding Place contains an autobiographical description of a Dutch woman's efforts to help Jewish people flee from the Nazis during World War II. This book has an inspirational account of how faith in God helps to overcome terrible evil.
  
  
• Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
  Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in 1996. In this true story he describes the deadliest season in the history of Mount Everest where he takes the reader step by step from the bottom to the top of the mountain unfolding a breathtaking story that will thrill. (non-fiction)

Required Book : Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Optional Books: (Choose One)

• Bleachers by John Grisham
  Neely Crenshaw, a great high school quarterback for the Messina Spartans, returns to his hometown 15 years later because his former coach is dying. Neely reunites with players from his high school team, but he feels strangely out of place and apparently harbors bitterness towards the very successful Coach Rake, who had lasting effects on his players.
  
  
• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  Holden Caulfield, a high school student at Pencey Prep, tells the reader his opinions of different people around him, especially the phonies. He tries to justify what he does and how he thinks, but he is not doing well at school and does not fit in with the rest of the boys. This classic contains problems and concerns that teens have experienced right up to the present day.
  
  
• Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
  The basic premise of the story is that American industry is run by a tiny group of wealthy and powerful managers and engineers, while the vast majority of the population are stripped of their well-paying industrial jobs and forced to live as poor, powerless menials. The unlikely uprising against an over-industrialized society proves to be too successful and reminds the reader to "be careful what you wish for."
  
  
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
  Merricat lives with her older sister, Constance, and her invalid uncle Julian in a mansion cut off from the local village. Several years ago four members of the family were poisoned and Constance was accused, but was acquitted. One day Charles, a cousin, shows up. Although Merricat does not like him, Constance makes him welcome in the house, but Merricat decides that she must do something to drive him away. Gothic horror & psychological thriller.
  
  
• Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler
  In 1965, the Bedloe family is living an ideal life in Baltimore. Then, in the blink of an eye, a tragic event occurs that will transform their lives forever -- particularly that of seventeen-year-old Ian Bedloe, who blames himself for the sudden "accidental" death of his older brother.
  
  
• You Belong To Me by Mary Higgins Clark
  This novel is the suspenseful story of the mysterious murders of many women. Former undercover agent Dr. Susan Chandler tries to discover the identity of the murderer by piecing together clues provided by talk-show listeners. The murderer's identity shocks her and will shock you, too.

Required Book: A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer

Optional Books: (Choose One)

• The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall
  Red Stevens was a self-made man who gave his family everything and ruined them in a the process. Now, as his estate is divided among the greedy and self-serving relatives, one member is singled out for something special: Red's great-nephew, Jason. In a darkened room, Jason is confronted by the image of his deceased great uncle on a video monitor and is about to learn the secret of The Ultimate Gift. An inspiration book.
  
  
• The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
  In Victorian England, where wealth and poverty live side by side, one mysterious man navigates both world with perfect ease. Rich, handsome and ingenious, Edward Prince charms the most prominent of the well-to-do as he orchestrates the crime of his century. Crichton authored other best sellers such as Airframe, Jurassic Park, and The Lost World.
  
  
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
  In this science fiction story the narrator has created a machine capable of moving through time. He boards the machine and rushes headlong into the future where he finds himself in the strangely utopian society of the "Eloi." But unknown by the time traveler, that society is built on the back of a much darker one, the underground world of the "Morlock."
  
  
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
  This novel is about Susie Salmon, a young girl who is murdered, and about her family, who is left behind to deal with her disappearance and the murder investigation. Uniquely, this story which is told from Susie's view from heaven, holds the reader's attention from the beginning to end.
  
  
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
  Agatha Christie once again shows her genius for writing detective fiction.  In this novel there is a rumor circulating in town that a woman has poisoned her husband.  Then there is another death -- another victim.  Unfortunately for the killer, the king of all detectives Hercule Poirot takes over the investigation.

Summer Reading List
Holy Name High School