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Sophomores - Class of 2015

Read your book by the first day of school (August 22, 2012).
You will sign up for a book choice and you will be expected to attend the discussion for your chosen book in the fall.
You will not be able to change your book over the summer.
As you read your book this summer, please keep track of the ideas that are important to you and any questions you would like to ask other readers.
Write the notes in the book or on your own paper.
Bring the book and notes to the book discussion that will be held in September.

**Incoming English 2 Honors students, please read Lord of the Flies by William Goldman plus one book from the list below.
You will attend the book discussion for the additional book, and you will work with Lord of the Flies in your English class.


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Chew on This
by Eric Schlosser & Charles Wilson

Kids love fast food.  And the fast-food industry loves kids: it couldn't survive without them.  The are, after all, the industry's biggest consumers.  In the national bestseller Chew on This, the award-winning journalists Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson share with young readers the fascinating and sometimes frightening truth about what lurks behind those sesame seed buns.
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The Christopher Killer
by Alane Ferguson

As the daughter of a Colorado County coroner, seventeen-year old Cameryn Mahoney is no stranger to death. In fact, she's always been fascinated by the science of it. So she is thrilled to finally get some hands-on experience in forensics working as her father's assistant. But Cammie is in for more than she bargained for when the second case that she attends turns out to be someone she knows: the latest victim of a serial killer known as the Christopher Killer. And if dealing with that isn't hard enough, Cammie soon realizes that if she's not careful, she might wind up as the killer's next victim. (From Follett TitlePeek)


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Insurgent*
Book 2 of the Divergent Series
by Veronica Roth

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

* Available as eBook from http://glenbardsouth.lib.overdrive.com
Use your ID # as your login.

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Little Brother
by Cory Doctorow

Marcus, aka 'w1n5t0n,' is only seventeen, but he figures he already knows how the system works--and how to work the system.  Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school's intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco.  In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they're mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist.  He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.  (Summary from author's website)
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The Good Guy*
by Dean Koontz

Timothy Carrier, having a beer after work at his friend's tavern, enjoys drawing eccentric customers into amusing conversations.  But the jittery man who sits next to him tonight has mistaken Tim for someone very different--and passes him a manila envelope full of cash.  "Ten thousand now.  You get the rest when she's gone."

The stranger walks out leaving a photo of a pretty woman marked for death, and her address.  But things are about to get worse.  In minutes another stranger sits next to Tim.  This one is a cold-blooded killer who believes Tim is the man who hired him.

Thinking fast, Tim says, "I've had a change of heart.  You get ten thousand--for doing nothing.  Call it a no-kill fee."  He keeps the photo and gives the money to the hired killer.  And when Tim secretly follows the man out of the tavern, he gets a further shock: the hired killer is a cop.

Suddenly, Tim Carrier, an ordinary guy, is at the center of a mystery of extraordinary proportions, the one man who can save an innocent life and stop a killer far more powerful than any cop... and as relentless as evil incarnate.  (Summary from author's website)

* Available as eBook from http://glenbardsouth.lib.overdrive.com
Use your ID # as your login.
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Lord of the Flies
by William Golding

When war breaks out, a group of schoolboys are loaded on a plane for evacuation, but their plane is shot down and they're wrecked on a deserted island. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet."




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Love is the Higher Law*
by David Levithan

First there is a Before, and then there is an After...

The lives of three teens--Claire, Jasper, and Peter--are altered forever on September 11, 2001.  Claire, a high school junior has to get to her younger brother in his classroom.  Jasper, a college sophomore from Brooklyn, wakes to his parents' frantic calls from Korea, wondering if he's okay.  Peter, a classmate of Claire's, has to make his way back to school as everything happens around him.

Here are three teens whose intertwining lives are reshaped by this catastrophic event.  As each gets to know the other, their moments become wound around each other's in a way that leads to new understandings, new friendships, and new levels of awareness for the world around them and the people close by.

David Levithan has written a novel of loss and grief, but also one of hope and redemption as his characters slowly learn to move forward in their lives, despite being changed forever.  (Summary from author's website)

* Available as eBook from http://glenbardsouth.lib.overdrive.com
Use your ID # as your login.
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Matched
by Ally Condie

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.


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Rucker Park Setup
by Paul Volponi

Best friends Mackey and JR have waited their whole lives to win the basketball tournament at Rucker Park, where some of the sport's greatest pro ballers squared off against street legends.  Then the day of an important game, JR is fatally stabbed.  Mackey didn't wield the knife, yet he feels responsible.  Now he has a score to settle, but the killer is watching his every move.

Mackey is caught between two opposing forces, but he's determined to finish the final game of the Rucker Park Tournament on his own terms.

This gripping story of friendship and basketball from award-winning, critically acclaimed author Paul Volponi explores the true meaning of loyalty and greed, while powerfully exposing the painful truth that some wrongs can not be made right.  (Summary from author's website)

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When it Happens
by Susane Colasanti

At the start of senior year, Sara wants two things: to get into her first-choice college and to find true love. Tobey also wants two things: to win Battle of the Bands and to make Sara fall in love with him.

Dave, the boy Sara was hoping would realize she exists, moves in on Sara first. But Tobey is impossible for Sara to ignore. He gets the little things that matter to her and, most importantly, he feels like something real. Can a slacker rock star wannabe win the heart of a pretty class brain like Sara?