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WSHS English 11 :
Summer Reading List 2007

Rising eleventh grade students will read any one of the following books, then return to school in September prepared to discuss it and to complete an assessment of their chosen book.  Having personal copies of the text and taking notes while reading would be most helpful. Parental guidance is encouraged when selecting a title.  The West Springfield Summer Reading List supersedes the Fairfax County Summer Reading List.

 Please select from the following list:
 
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. This play was the first drama by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. It also won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award as the best play of the year. Hansberry's portrayed individuals who defend their own and other's dignity. "All art is ultimately social: that which agitates and that which prepares the mind for slumber," Hansberry once said.  (812.54 Han)

 London, Jack. The Call of the Wild. Jack London's classic 1903 story of Buck, a courageous dog fighting for survival in the Alaskan wilderness, is widely considered to be his masterpiece. This epic vividly evokes the harsh and frozen Yukon during the Gold Rush. As Buck is ripped from his pampered surroundings and shipped to Alaska to be a sled dog, his primitive, wolf-like nature begins to emerge. Savage struggles and the bonds between man, dog, and wilderness are explored, as Buck undertakes a journey that transforms him into the legendary "Ghost Dog" of the Klondike. (F Lon)

 Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. This novel was written in Cuba in 1951 and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction to be produced by Hemingway and published in his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it centers upon an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. The novella reaffirmed his worldwide literary prominence and was significant in his selection for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. (F Hem)

 Steinbeck, John. Tortilla Flat. Above the town of Monterey on the California coast lies the district of Tortilla Flat, inhabited by a colorful gang whose revels recall the adventures of King Arthur's knights. Soft-hearted, unquestioningly loyal to one another, and in complete disregard of social conventions and expectations, the gutsy denizens of Tortilla Flat cheerfully reside in a world of idyllic poverty. This is one of Steinbeck’s most poignant and charming novels. (F Ste)