The English department requires summer reading for many of its upper-level courses. Please check the list below for your course and complete the reading before the start of school. You can expect your teacher to assign work covering the reading the first week of school.  If your teacher has assigned study guides or any other materials, you can find them at the “Summer Reading” link on the LZHS English department web site.

Read the texts for more than just plot. Look for theme, characterization, symbolism, historical context, and other more sophisticated literary elements. Your teachers will expect you to participate in discussion at a high level at the start of the course.

We recommend that you buy the books; they are all available at local bookstores and on-line. Since teachers may ask you to mark them up, take notes in them, or otherwise use them actively, we do not recommend you borrow them from a local library.

Freshmen | Sophomore | Junior | Senior | Electives

Freshmen

Honors English I: read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

World Cultures: read the following selections from Mythology by Edith Hamilton (Warner Books Edition):

                1.  Cupid and Psyche (p.96)

                2.  Perseus (p. 146)

                3.  Theseus (p. 155)

                4.  Hercules (p. 166)

                5.  Atalanta (p. 180)

                CLICK HERE for study materials

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Sophomores

Honors English II: read Ordinary People by Judith Guest.

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Juniors

Honors English III: read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Del Rey reissue edition, 1987). CLICK HERE for study materials.

Honors American Studies: read The Crucible by Arthur Miller. CLICK HERE for study materials.

AP English III—Language and Composition:  read the following selections from Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness by Edward Abbey (Random House Publishing Group edition, ISBN 0345326490).

1.  Author's Introduction  (pgs ix-xii)

2.  The First Morning (pgs 1-8)

3. The Serpents of Paradise (pgs 17-25)

4.  Cowboys and Indians I & II (pgs 102-140)

5.  Water(pgs 141-160)

6.  Between pages 1 and 187, choose one other chapter not listed above.

7.  Between pages 188-337, choose one chapter.

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Seniors

Honors English IV: read King Lear by William Shakespeare, edited by Russell Fraser (Signet Classic edition). CLICK HERE for study materials.

AP English IV—Language and Composition:  Read at least four (4) of the following texts this summer to prepare for the school year. Read each text with attention to standard story elements (plot, setting, character, theme, conflict, tone, and point of view) and any other literary techniques featured prominently (i.e. symbolism, narrative structure, language, social commentary, genre elements). You may choose books you have already read, but be sure to re-read them carefully. All texts should be fresh in your mind at the start of school, so time your reading accordingly. During the first week of classes in August, you will prepare a brief summary of each of the four texts and write an essay on one of them in response to a prompt taken from a recent AP exam.

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Electives

Advanced Journalism:  see Ms. Wagner’s website for information on the required summer journalism project.

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