Schools

Back to School: Hinsdale Central Summer Reading List

For those Hinsdale Central students who haven't been spending their summer reading, here's a quick reminder on what you need to have read by the start of school.

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Joe O'Donnell, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge

We all know how much 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds love spending their summers reading books, right?

But just in case there are a few Hinsdale Central students out there leaving their required summer reading to the last minute (wink, wink), Patch pulled the assigned books by class, according to a document posted on the home page of the English department.

Here's to getting it over with and enjoying the last days of summer!

English 1

Choose ONE of the following:

  • Elsewhere, Gabrielle Zevin
  • Left for Dead: A Young Man’s Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis, Pete Nelson

ES English 1


  • Elsewhere, Gabrielle Zevin

English 1-Honors


  • Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

English 2


All students will read:

  • A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah

In addition, choose ONE of the following:

  • The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
  • Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult
  • Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
  • Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher

ES English 2


  • Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher

English 2-Honors


All students will read:

  • Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand

In addition, choose ONE of the following:

  • I Am the Messenger, Markus Zusak
  • The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
  • The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks, E. Lockhart

English 3


Choose ONE of the following:

  • Little Brother, Cory Doctorow
  • Matched, Ally Condie
  • Paper Towns, John Green

ES English 3 / 4


  • An Abundance of Katherines, John Green

Expository Writing


All students will read:

  • On Writing, Stephen King

In addition, choose ONE of the following:

  • A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
  • Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell

American Literature


  • A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson

U.S. Literature & Composition


  • On Writing, Stephen King

AP Language & Composition


Students will read BOTH:

  • In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
  • Moonwalking with Einstein, Joshua Foer

World Literature


  • Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie

Rhetoric


  • Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

British Literature 1: Shakespeare


Choose ONE of the following:

  • Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Bill Bryson
  • Will in the World, Stephen Greenblatt


Senior Composition, Senior Literature


  • The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom

AP Literature & Composition


Students will read BOTH:

  • Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquéz
  • The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

Honors Seminar in Writing


Students will read BOTH:

  • Best American Essays 2012, David Brooks, editor
  • On Writing, Stephen King

Discussion and Debate


Choose ONE of the following:

  • My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult
  • Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult

Speech/Communication


Choose ONE of the following:

  • Of Beetles and Angels, Mawi Asgedom
  • The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls

Honors Seminar in Writing


Students will read BOTH:

  • Best American Essays 2012, David Brooks, editor
  • On Writing, Stephen King

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