Thayer Summer Reading- Upper School
Get your summer reading books at Buttonwood Books and Toys! Orders can be picked up in person at the store or shipped via USPS. Please double check the Thayer Website for specifics on each grade.
Unfortunately, Buttonwood is unable to provide any of the world language titles so they are not included in this list!
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Directions from your school:
Students entering all grades must read THREE books: one required for their grade level (under “For All”), one from the “Choose at Least One” list for their grade level, and one of their own selection. Please note that students registered for Honors or AP level English must read a second required text in addition to those three, and that the second required text for AP Literature & Composition is different than the second required text for AP Language & Composition.
The optional texts lists are intentionally short so that more students read the same books. We hope this common reading will spark frequent, substantial literary discussions about those texts. A defining characteristic of the Thayer community is that we enjoy sharing with each other—that sharing includes passionate conversations about books!
MEMBEAN: Membean accounts will stay open and available throughout the summer. We encourage students to continue their work with Membean; frequent vocabulary practice improves reading comprehension (and confidence!) and performance on standardized tests. 9th graders and new 10th and 11th graders will open Membean accounts at the start of the school year.
This is the required book for the entire 9th grade.
Critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Saenz's multiple award-winning novel focuses on two boys and the friendship that blooms between them. In hardcover, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a Printz Honor Book, a Stonewall Award winner, a Pura Belpre Award winner, a winner of the Lambda Literary Award, and a School Library JournalBest Book of the Year.
This is the second required book for those in 9th grade honors.
The "brilliant, funny, meaningful novel" (The New Yorker) that established J. D. Salinger as a leading voice in American literature--and that has instilled in millions of readers around the world a lifelong love of books.
This is an option for the second required book for those in 9th grade. It is an option for the third required book for those in 9th grade honors.
A genre-defying novel from the award-winning author NPR describes as “like [Madeline] L’Engle…glorious.” A singular book that explores themes of identity and justice. Pet is here to hunt a monster. Are you brave enough to look?
This is an option for the second required book for those in 9th grade. It is an option for the third required book for those in 9th grade honors.
Christina Baker Kline’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel—the captivating story of a 91-year-old woman with a hidden past as an orphan-train rider and the teenage girl whose own troubled adolescence leads her to seek answers to long-buried questions…now with an extended scene that addresses the number one question readers ask, and an excerpt from Kline’s upcoming novel A Piece of the World
This is an option for the second required book for those in 9th grade. It is an option for the third required book for those in 9th grade honors.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu—when a game called Warcross takes the world by storm, one girl hacks her way into its dangerous depths.
This is the required book for all who are in the 10th grade.
Introducing a bright young voice destined to charm the world, The Universe Versus Alex Woods is a celebration of curious incidents, astronomy and astrology, the works of Kurt Vonnegut and the unexpected connections that form our world.
This is the second required title for those in 10th grade honors.
Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five is “a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century” (Time).
This is an option for the second required book for those in 10th grade. It is an option for the third required book for those in 10th grade honors.
In his wildly entertaining debut novel, Hank Green—cocreator of Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, and SciShow—spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined.
Email or call for price.
This is an option for the second required book for those in 10th grade. It is an option for the third required book for those in 10th grade honors.
The Stonewall Book Award-winning novel from the author of The Bridge, Openly Straight, and Honestly Ben
This is an option for the second required book for those in 10th grade. It is an option for the third required book for those in 10th grade honors.
The highly anticipated second novel by Angie Thomas, the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning THE HATE U GIVE, is about a teen girl whose dreams of a career in rap music turn into a desperate necessity to help her family.
This is the required book for those in 11th grade AM 1, AM 2, and AP Lang.
One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University
This is the second required book for those in 11th grade/AP Lang.
In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die.
This is the first required book for 11th grade/AP Lit.
Let the Great World Spin is the critically acclaimed author’s most ambitious novel yet: a dazzlingly rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s.
Email or call for price.
This is the second required book for those in 11th grade/AP Lit.
From the national bestselling author of Brother, I’m Dying and The Dew Breaker: a “fiercely beautiful” novel (Los Angeles Times) that brings us deep into the intertwined lives of a small seaside town where a little girl, the daughter of a fisherman, has gone missing.
This is an option for the second required book for 11th grade AM 1 and AM 2. It is an option for the third required book for 11th grade AP Lang and AP Lit.
The most famous true crime novel of all time "chills the blood and exercises the intelligence" (The New York Review of Books)—and haunted its author long after he finished writing it.
This is an option for the second required book for 11th grade AM 1 and AM 2. It is an option for the third required book for 11th grade AP Lang and AP Lit.
A “brilliant” (Lupita Nyong’o, Time), “poignant” (Entertainment Weekly), “soul-nourishing” (USA Today) memoir about coming of age during the twilight of apartheid
This is an option for the second required book for 11th grade AM 1 and AM 2. It is an option for the third required book for 11th grade AP Lang and AP Lit.
A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder.
This is the required book for all those in the 12th grade.
From the acclaimed, bestselling author of The Remains of the Day comes “a Gothic tour de force" (The New York Times) with an extraordinary twist—a moving, suspenseful, beautifully atmospheric modern classic.
This is the second required book for those in 12th grade honors.
The world’s most famous work of horror fiction: a devastating exploration of the limits of human creativity. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
This the second required book for those in 12th grade Voice/Advanced Comp.
A timely new edition of the classic journalism text, now featuring updated material on the importance of reporting in the age of media mistrust and fake news—and how journalists can use technology to navigate its challenges
This is an option for the second required book for those in 12th grade. It is an option for the third required book for those in 12th grade honors and Voice/Advanced Comp.
“A vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people [of Afghanistan] have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence—forces that continue to threaten them even today." –New York Times Book Review
This is an option for the second required book for those in 12th grade. It is an option for the third required book for those in 12th grade honors and Voice/Advanced Comp.
A dazzling novel of two sisters and their emotional journey through love, loyalty, and heartbreak
This is an option for the second required book for those in 12th grade. It is an option for the third required book for those in 12th grade honors and Voice/Advanced Comp.
A contemporary literary classic and "an accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (Village Voice), from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Goldfinch.