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=Welcome to the SHS Summer Reading 2012 wiki!=

http://shs-summerreading2012bookgroups.wikispaces.com/
=We will use this site to keep a running list of the nominated book choices for the SHS Summer Reading. We encourage students to select a book that both interests and challenges them. With so many quality titles to choose from, students should select a title they have not read previously.= = = =Students select the book they will read over the summer, and then they analzye and discuss their book in a "book group" in early September.=

Books are available in all formats (paperback, hardcover, or ebook) unless otherwise noted.
= = =Please email Ryan Lynch, rlynch@scit.org, with any questions about SHS Summer Reading= =Happy Reading!=

|| A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again. At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone. Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, //Wild// vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.
 * ==Book Title== || ==Summary== ||
 * ===//Wild// by Cheryl Strayed===
 * [Available in hardcover and ebook only]** ||
 * === //**Mockingjay**// by Suzanne Collins ===

|| Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking //The Hunger Games// trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year. [Amazon.com] || For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world — and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now. [Amazon.com]
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * ===//Feed// by M.T. Anderson===
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * === //The Great Train Robbery// by Michael Crichton ===

|| ====== This true crime story is set in Victorian London in 1855 where the police are a recent innovation, and nothing is as it seems. One gentleman has a plan: rob a moving train of 12,000 pounds in gold from a safe could not be blown, and was too heavy to carry away. Michael Crichton, the author of Jurassic Park, proves his versatility by taking the reader into the dark, criminal underworld of London to tell a story of a prison escape during a hanging, a coffin equipped with a bell, and four keys. The story of Edward Pierce's planning and execution of the robbery is packed with vivid descriptions and fascinating historical facts about the period. The author does wonders describing authentic period scenes and showing us the huge divide between the English middle class and the wretched poor in Victorian times. ======

||
 * === **//Marine Sniper// by Charles Henderson** ===

|| The topic of snipers may not the most politically correct, but Henderson brings us a real life graphic story that is difficult to put down. This story presents the grisly events and disturbing conflicts that engaged the ordinary citizens and soldiers in Viet Nam. Except Carlos Hatchcock is no ordinary American marine. Students who have read //A Long Way Gone// will be prepared for this kind of writing. “Henderson does an admirable job but realistically it is a story that sells itself. This narration details some of the many missions Hatchock underwent during two tours of Vietnam. It chronicles the more often than not painful self-discipline that made Hatchcock the deadliest sniper in Vietnam. The author also peppers the account with enough of Hatchcock's personal life to show what a great man and Marine he really was.” || Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. [Amazon.com]
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * ===//Catching Fire// by Suzanne Collins===
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * === //Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman// by Jon Krakauer ===

|| “Pat Tillman walked away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract to join the Army and became an icon of post-9/11 patriotism. When he was killed in Afghanistan two years later, a legend was born. But the real Pat Tillman was much more remarkable, and considerably more complicated than the public knew...” --Amazon.com || After their parents divorced in the 1970s, Andre Dubus III and his three siblings grew up with their exhausted working mother in a depressed Massachusetts mill town saturated with drugs and crime. To protect himself and those he loved from street violence, Andre learned to use his fists so well that he was even scared of himself. He was on a fast track to getting killed--or killing someone else. He signed on as a boxer.Nearby, his father, an eminent author, taught on a college campus and took the kids out on Sundays. The clash of worlds couldn't have been more stark--or more difficult for a son to communicate to a father. Only by becoming a writer himself could Andre begin to bridge the abyss and save himself. His memoir is a riveting, visceral, profound meditation on physical violence and the failures and triumphs of love. [Author's web page] [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** || || Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, //Born to Run// is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: //Why does my foot hurt?//In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * ===//**Townie**// by Andre Dubus III===
 * STUDENTS REGISTERED FOR AP LANGUAGE SHOULD NOT SELECT THIS BOOK AS IT WILL BE USED IN THE COURSE CURRICULUM**
 * ===//Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen// by Christopher McDougall===

Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. With the help of Caballo Blanco, a mysterious loner who lives among the tribe, the author was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultra-athlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of Americans, including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder.

With a sharp wit and wild exuberance, McDougall takes us from the high-tech science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultrarunners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to the climactic race in the Copper Canyons. //Born to Run// is that rare book that will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that the secret to happiness is right at your feet, and that you, indeed all of us, were born to run. [Amazon.com]
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * ===** //Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea// by Barbara Demick **===

|| What if you had to live in a country where radio dials were fixed to a single government station? Where the surroundings were entirely black-and-white except for the red lettering of the propaganda signs? Where you were required to keep a large portrait of the president on your living room wall and bow to it on national holidays? // This is a real place – the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea or North Korea. The Communist regime that has controlled the northern half of the Korean peninsula since 1945 might be the most totalitarian of modern world history. //// Award-Winning Journalist Barbara Demick’s //// book //// offers a never-before-seen view of a country through the stories of six ordinary citizens and reveals a society largely unknown to the rest of the world. //


 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * ===** //Defending Jacob// by William Landay **===

|| Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student. Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy. Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him. Andy must. He’s his father. But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own—between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive. [Publisher Description] || Fifth-grade scholarship students and best friends Henry and Keiko are the only Asians in their Seattle elementary school in 1942. Henry is Chinese, Keiko is Japanese, and Pearl Harbor has made all Asians-even those who are American born-targets for abuse. Because Henry's nationalistic father has a deep-seated hatred for Japan, Henry keeps his friendship with and eventual love for Keiko a secret. When Keiko's family is sent to an internment camp in Idaho, Henry vows to wait for her. Forty years later, Henry comes upon an old hotel where the belongings of dozens of displaced Japanese families have turned up in the basement, and his love for Keiko is reborn. In his first novel, award-winning short-story writer Ford expertly nails the sweet innocence of first love, the cruelty of racism, the blindness of patriotism, the astonishing unknowns between parents and their children, and the sadness and satisfaction at the end of a life well lived. The result is a vivid picture of a confusing and critical time in American history. || "Monster" is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner. But was Steve really the lookout who gave the "all clear" to the murderer, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? In this innovative novel by Walter Dean Myers, the reader becomes both juror and witness during the trial of Steve's life. To calm his nerves as he sits in the courtroom, aspiring filmmaker Steve chronicles the proceedings in movie script format. Interspersed throughout his screenplay are journal writings that provide insight into Steve's life before the murder and his feelings about being held in prison during the trial. "They take away your shoelaces and your belt so you can't kill yourself no matter how bad it is. I guess making you live is part of the punishment." Myers, known for the inner-city classic [//Motown and Didi//]] (first published in 1984), proves with //Monster// that he has kept up with both the struggles and the lingo of today's teens. Steve is an adolescent caught up in the violent circumstances of an adult world--a situation most teens can relate to on some level. Readers will no doubt be attracted to the novel's handwriting-style typeface, emphasis on dialogue, and fast-paced courtroom action. By weaving together Steve's journal entries and his script, Myers has given the first-person voice a new twist and added yet another worthy volume to his already admirable body of work. [Amazon.com] || ** FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING BIOGRAPHIES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND ALBERT EINSTEIN, THIS IS THE EXCLUSIVE BIOGRAPHY OF STEVE JOBS. ** ==== Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. ==== ==== At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering. ====
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * **// The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet // by Jamie Ford **
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * ===Monster by Walter Dean Myers===
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * ===//Steve Jobs// by Walter Isaacson===

[This autobiography also includes significant information regarding Steve Job’s personal life and personality which were much more controversial]
|| Jane Eyre is an amazing classic British tale about Jane, a young orphan who overcomes poverty, loneliness, and cruelty to find true love and happiness. She is fiercely independent and wishes to live life on her own terms. Even though the book was published in 1847, it was revolutionary in its exploration of the themes of identity, ambition, and morality. The story begins with Jane as a ten year orphan girl who lives unhappily with her Aunt Reed. Mrs. Reed casts her off to the Lowood School for girls where she and the other students endure extremely harsh conditions but she works hard in her classes and rises to the rank of teacher. Jane has a strong sense of independence and wanting more from life. She eventually leaves Lowood to become a governess for young Adele, the ward of the mysterious Mr. Rochester the master of Thornfield Hall. Thornfield is a place of many secrets. And it’s also the key to Jane’s happiness. Come join us for Jane’s exciting journey.
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * ===//Jane Eyre// by Charlotte Bronte===

|| Andrew "Ender" Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games; he is, in fact, engaged in something far more desperate. The result of genetic experimentation, Ender may be the military genius Earth desperately needs in a war against an alien enemy seeking to destroy all human life. The only way to find out is to throw Ender into ever harsher training, to chip away and find the diamond inside, or destroy him utterly. Ender Wiggin is six years old when it begins. He will grow up fast. || __ All The Right Stuff __, just released in April, is Walter Dean Myer's newest novel. Like __Monster__, __Hoop__, __Slam__, and all of his others, **All the Right Stuff** is a fabulous read.
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * ===//Ender's Game// by Orson Scott Card===
 * [Available in all formats: paperback, hardcover, and ebook]** ||
 * ===//All// t//he Right Stuff// by Walter Dean Myers===

Who's on top of the social food chain? How do you get ahead? Who makes the rules? Who needs to follow them? Paul DuPree is working at a soup kitchen in Harlem the summer his father dies, just trying to get by. But Elijah, the soup man, won't stop talking about the social contract and asking Paul questions about heavy-duty things. Paul has never thought about this stuff. He'd rather hang out with Keisha, an unwed teen mom whose basketball skills rival his own.

Then Sly, a notorious Harlem big shot, shows up. Paul is both intrigued and intimidated by Sly and his conspiracy theories, and for once he starts contemplating how you really get ahead in life. As the talk of what-ifs turns into reality, Paul realizes his summer is about more than getting by—it's about taking charge of your life. []

|| Did you know that the most creative companies have centralized bathrooms? That brainstorming meetings are a terrible idea? That the color blue can help you double your creative output?From the //New York Times// best-selling author of //How We Decide// comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Shattering the myth of muses, higher powers, even creative “types,” Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single gift possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively.Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, daydreaming productively, and adopting an outsider’s perspective (travel helps). He unveils the optimal mix of old and new partners in any creative collaboration, and explains why criticism is essential to the process. Then he zooms out to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective.You’ll learn about Bob Dylan’s writing habits and the drug addictions of poets. You’ll meet a Manhattan bartender who thinks like a chemist, and an autistic surfer who invented an entirely new surfing move. You’ll see why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar’s office space is designed to spark the next big leap in animation.Collapsing the layers separating the neuron from the finished symphony, //Imagine// reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world.
 * [Available in hardcover and ebook only]** ||
 * ===**//Imagine: How Creativity Works// by Jonah Lehrer**===
 * [Available in Hardcover and ebook only]** ||