Summer Reading List

Since Flintridge is a college-preparatory institution, we stress the relationship between recreational reading and academic success.  Therefore, we require summer reading of all our students.

Each student entering grades seven through twelve must read one required text; at the start of the year classes will closely analyze the assigned texts listed below.

Because of our commitment to life-long learning, and because one of the few indisputably
successful ways to prepare for the verbal sections of the SAT is to read extensively, we encourage students to read above and beyond the required assignment. We wish our students many hours of enjoyable reading.

Middle School

Required texts

Seventh Grade:Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Eighth Grade: Lu,  Legend   
Lawrence and Lee, Inherit the Wind

Recommended texts

Mystery and Suspense
Crichton, MichaelAirframe
Christie, AgathaThe Murder of Roger Ackroyd, And Then There Were None, A Pocketful of Rye
DuMaurier, DaphneJamaica Inn, Rebecca
Duncan, LoisThe Twisted Window, Killing Mr. Griffin, Stranger with My Face
Garfield, LeonSmith
L’Engle, MadelineThe Arm of the Starfish
King, LaurieThe Beekeeper’s Apprentice
Peck, Richard Ghosts I Have Been, The Ghost Belongs to Me
Raskin, EllenThe Westing Game
Sleator, WilliamHouse of Stairs, Singularity
Tey, Josephine Daughter of Time
Voigt, Cynthia The Callender Papers
Wells, RosemaryThrough the Hidden Door
Adventure
Adams, RichardWatership Down
Creech, SharonThe Wanderer
Hobbs, WillJason’s Gold
Kipling, RudyardCaptains Courageous
Krakauer, Jon Into Thin Air
London, Jack The Call of the Wild; Martin Eden
Renault, Mary The King Must Die
Steinbeck, JohnTravels with Charley
Stevenson, R.L.Kidnapped, Treasure Island
Verne, JulesThe Mysterious Island, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the sea
General Fiction
Buck, PearlThe Good Earth
Burnett, Frances H.A Little Princess
Cisneros, SandraThe House on Mango Street
Dickens, CharlesDavid Copperfield
Hemingway, Ernest The Old Man and the Sea
Kingsolver, BarbaraThe Bean Trees
Lewis, C.S.The Chronicles of Narnia
Oates, Joyce CarolBig Mouth and Ugly Girl
Orwell, GeorgeAnimal Farm
Potok, Chaim The Chosen
Steinbeck, JohnThe Red Pony, The Pearl
Stoker, Bram Dracula
Twain, MarkA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court; The Prince and the Pauper
Short Stories
Berry, James A Thief in the Village and Other Stories
Brooks, MarthaParadise Cafe
Cormier, RobertEight Plus One
Doyle, Arthur Conan The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Henry, O. The Best Short Stories of O. Henry
Hughes, Langston Short Stories of Langston Hughes
Kipling, RudyardPlain Tales from the Hills
Poe, Edgar AllanTales of Mystery and Imagination
Singer, Isaac B.A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Asimov, Isaac Foundation Trilogy
Bradbury, Ray The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451
Heinlein, RobertStranger in a Strange Land
Herbert, Frank Dune
L’Engle, MadelineA Wrinkle in Time
LeGuin, UrsulaThe Beginning Place; The Tombs of Atuan; A Wizard of Earthsea
Lowry, Lois Gathering Blue
Pierce, Tamora Alanna: The First Adventure
Pullman, PhilipThe Golden Compass (first of trilogy)
Sleator, William Interstellar Pig; Rewind
Stewart, Mary The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment
Wells, H.G.The Time Machine
Wrede, PatriciaDealing with Dragons
Yolen, JaneDragon’s Blood; Briar Rose
Historical Fiction
Clavell, James Shogun
Crane, StephenThe Red Badge of Courage
Crichton, MichaelTimeline
Dana, Richard H.Two Years Before the Mast
Gaarder, JostenSophie’s World
Greene, BetteSummer of My German Soldier
Haley, AlexRoots
Hersey, JohnHiroshima
Michener, JamesHawaii
Paton, AlanCry, the Beloved Country
Peck, Robert A Day No Pigs Would Die
Remarque, Erich M.All Quiet on the Western Front
Taylor, MildredRoll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; The Land
Uris, LeonExodus
White, T.H.The Once and Future King
Wouk, HermanThe Caine Mutiny
Zindell, PaulThe Gadget
Autobiography/Biography
Angelou, MayaI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Crow Dog, MaryLakota Woman
Denenberg, BarryNelson Mandella: No Easy Walk to Freedom
Fossey, DianGorillas in the Mist
Frank, Anne Diary of a Young Girl
Herriot, James All Creatures Great and Small
Houston, Jeanne WakatsukiFarewell to Manzanar
Keller, HelenThe Story of My Life
Myers, Walter DeanMalcolm X: By Any Means Necessary
Parks, RosaRosa Parks: My Story
Wolff, TobiasThis Boy’s Life
Wright, RichardBlack Boy

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Upper School

Required texts

English 9 FoerLoud and Incredibly Close
American LiteratureO’Brien

The Things They Carried

Pinsky, RobertAmericans’ Favorite Poems
British Literature HonorsBronteJane Eyre
Contemporary Fiction (Miley)EricksonZeroville
Contemporary Fiction (Hamlyn)EricksonZeroville
The City in LiteratureChandler, RaymondThe Long Goodbye
ShakespeareShakespeare, WilliamTitus Andronicus

Recommended texts

Classics
Austen, JaneEmma, Sense and Sensibility, or Persuasion
Bronte, CharlotteJane Eyre
Camus, Albert The Fall
Chopin, KateThe Awakening
Collins, Wilkie The Woman in White
Conrad, JosephLord Jim
Defoe, DanielMoll Flanders, Journal of the Plague Year, or Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, CharlesDavid Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, or Hard Times
Eliot, George Middlemarch or Silas Marner
Ellison, RalphInvisible Man
Faulkner, WilliamAs I Lay Dying or Light in August
Flaubert, GustaveMadame Bovary
Forster, E.M. A Passage to India or A Room with a View
Hardy, ThomasTess of the d’Urbervilles or The Mayor of Casterbridge
Hemingway, ErnestFor Whom the Bell Tolls or A Farewell to Arms
James, HenryThe Portrait of a Lady or The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, JamesA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Lawrence, D.H.Sons and Lovers
Lewis, Sinclair Main Street , Arrowsmith, or Babbit
Morrison, ToniBeloved, Song of Solomon, or Paradise
Remarque, ErichAll Quiet on the Western Front
Rhys, JeanWide Sargasso Sea
Salinger, J.D.Nine Stories (short stories)
Steinbeck, JohnEast of Eden, Cannery Row, The Moon Is Down, Tortilla Flat, or Sweet Thursday
Shelley, MaryFrankenstein
Tolstoy, LeoAnna Karenina
Twain, MarkA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court or Puddinhead Wilson
Warren, Robert PennAll the King’s Men
Waugh, EvelynBrideshead Revisited, Decline and Fall, or The Loved One
Wharton, EdithEthan Frome
Wilde, OscarThe Picture of Dorian Gray
Woolf, VirginiaMrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse
Wright, RichardBlack Boy
General Fiction
Achebe, ChinuaThings Fall Apart
Adams, RichardShardik
Alexie, ShermanThe Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Allende, Isabel The House of the Spirits
Angelou, MayaI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Asimov, Isaac Foundation, I,Robot
Atwood, MargaretThe Handmaid’s Tale
Auster, PaulMr. Vertigo, The Music of Chance, or City of Glass
Barnes, JulianFlaubert’s Parrot
Brown, DanAngels and Demons
Byatt, A.S.Possession
Chandler, RaymondThe Long Goodbye
Chevalier, TracyThe Girl with a Pearl Earring
Cisneros, SandraThe House on Mango Street
Clarke, ArthurChildhood’s End
Clavell, JamesKing Rat
Courtenay, BryceThe Power of One
Dahl, RoaldRoald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected (short stories)
Danielewski, MarkHouse of Leaves
Davies, RobertsonFifth Business
Doyle, Arthur ConanThe Complete Sherlock Holmes (short stories)
Doyle, RoddyPaddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha or The Commitments
Fforde, Jasper The Eyre Affair
Fowles, JohnThe French Lieutenant’s Woman or The Magus
Franzen, JonathanThe Corrections
Frazier, CharlesCold Mountain
Gaarder, JostenSophie’s World
Gardner, John Grendel
Garcia Marquez, G.Love in the Time of Cholera or One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gibbons, KayeEllen Foster
Greene, GrahamThe Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, or Travels with My Aunt
Hansberry, LorraineTo Be Young, Gifted, and Black
Hasek, JaroslavThe Good Soldier Schweik
Hearn, Liam Across the Nightingale Floor (volume one of trilogy)
Hegi, UrsulaStones from the River
Heller, Joseph Catch-22
Herbert, Frank Dune
Hesse, HermannSiddhartha
Irving, JohnA Prayer for Owen Meany
Ishiguro, KazuoThe Remains of the Day
Jen, GishTypical American
Jackson, Mick The Underground Man
Kesey, KenOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Kingsolver, BarbaraAnimal Dreams, The Bean Trees or Pigs in Heaven
Kingston, Maxine H.The Woman Warrior
Knowles, John A Separate Peace
Kundera, MilanThe Unbearable Lightness of Being
Lamb, WallyShe’s Come Undone
Lewis, C.S.The Screwtape Letters or Till We Have Faces
London, JackThe Sea Wolf
Malamud, BernardThe Natural
McCarthy, CormacBlood Meridian
McEwan, IanAtonement
Mitchell, MargaretGone with the Wind
Murdoch, Iris A Severed Head
O’Connor, FlanneryWise Blood
Ondaatje, MichaelThe English Patient
Proulx, AnnieThe Shipping News
Reynolds, SheriRapture of Canaan
Sillitoe, Alan The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (short stories)
Strieber, WhitleyCommunion
Styron, WilliamConfessions of Nat Turner or Sophie’s Choice
Tan, AmyThe Kitchen God’s Wife, The Joy Luck Club, or The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Tremain, Rose Sacred Country or Music and Silence
Trumbo, DaltonJohnny Got His Gun
Vonnegut, KurtCat’s Cradle or Slaughterhouse Five
Walker, AliceThe Color Purple
Welsh, IrvineTrainspotting
White, T.H.The Once and Future King
Nonfiction
Bettelheim, BrunoThe Uses of Enchantment
Brooks, GeraldineNine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women
Campbell, JosephThe Hero with a Thousand Faces
Capote, TrumanIn Cold Blood
Carson, RachelSilent Spring
Davis, MikeCity of Quartz
Didion, JoanSlouching Towards Bethlehem
Eggers, Dave A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Ehrenreich, BarbaraNickel and Dimed
Ellis, JosephAmerican Sphinx
Friedman, ThomasFrom Beirut to Jerusalem
Galbraith, J.K. The Affluent Society
McCullough, DavidJohn Adams or Truman
Orwell, GeorgeCollected Essays or Down and Out in London and Paris
Reisner, MarcCadillac Desert
Said, EdwardCulture and Imperialism
Schlosser, EricFast Food Nation
Wiesel, ElieNight
Woolf, VirginiaA Room of One’s Own
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