2014 Summer Reading Choices for English Honors 9
**Inside the Walls of Troy by Clemence McLaren—Required reading!
The events surrounding the famous battle between the Greeks and the Trojans are told from the points of view of two women, the beautiful Helen and the prophetic Cassandra. This novel will serve as the groundwork for our reading of Homer’s epic poem, “The Odyssey.”
Read and complete fivejournal entries for any ONE of the following novels:
- Double Helix by Nancy Werlin.
Review of novel on Teenreads: Eli discovers a shocking secret about his life and his family while working for a Nobel Prize-winning scientist whose specialty is genetic engineering.
- Ithaka by Adele Geras.
Review of the novel on Teenreads: —The island of Ithaka is overrun with uncouth suitors demanding that Penelope choose a new husband, as she patiently awaits the return of Odysseus from the Trojan War.
- Incantation by Alice Hoffman.
Review of novel on Teenreads: —During the Spanish Inquisition, sixteen-year-old Estrella, brought up a Catholic, discovers her family's true Jewish identity, and when their secret is betrayed, the consequences are tragic.
- The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott.
Review of novel on Teenreads: twins, Sophie and Josh, find themselves caught up in the deadly struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient book that holds the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.
- Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.
Review of novel on Teenreads: scary, and deeply funny, Anansi Boys is a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth, a wild adventure, as Neil Gaiman shows us where gods come from, and how to survive your family.
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Review of novel on Teenreads: —Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, irreverent and raw, THE FAULT IN OUR STARSis award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling and tragic business of being alive and in love.
- The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Any of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series will be accepted).
—Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson discovers that the gods of Mount Olympus are very much alive in the twenty-first century. Worse, he's angered a few of them: Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now Percy has just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property, and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus.