Summer Reading

Incoming: Freshmen | Sophomores | Juniors | Seniors

DeSales High School
English Department

"Get Out of the Starting Gate with 9th Grade Summer Reading"

Dear Colt Parent,

Now that summer is beginning, we want to remind you how important it is for your son to include reading in his vacation activities. Studies have proven that reading improves writing skills, increases vocabulary, and creates better readers.

We have selected the following books for next year’s freshmen to read before the beginning of school in August. Your son will be given an assessment on two books within the first full week of school. The assessment grade will count on his first report card.

You might find these books at local book stores, online at Amazon.com, or at the public library. Please encourage your son to read. You might want to read with him!

Required: A Separate Peace, by John Knowles

The volatile world of male adolescence provides the backdrop for John Knowles' engrossing tale of love, hate, war, and peace. Sharing a room at Devon, an exclusive New England prep school, in the summer prior to World War II, Gene and Phineas form a complex bond of friendship that draws out both the best and worst characteristics of each boy and leads ultimately to violence, a confession, and the betrayal of trust. – Amazon.com

Choose one of the following:

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. You'll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. The Hitchhiker's Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads.—Amazon.com

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Before Johnny Depp stumbled off of the Black Pearl, Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins thrilled fans of high-seas adventure. Treasure Island features everything legendary in pirate lore: Pirates with fantastic names, like Captain Flint, Billy Bones, Black Dog, and the now-infamous Long John Silver, himself with a parrot on his shoulder; a single treasure map that has three red crosses (designating two piles of treasure, one pile of arms); a beautiful schooner; a 23 member crew most of whom become gentlemen of fortune; mutiny; double-crosses; the song "15 men on a Dead Man's chest/Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum"; the notorious Jolly Roger; spirits, superstition, and lore; and even a skeleton or two.—Amazon.com