Reading is LIFE work, not homework! Get lost in a book!

Looking for a book to read? There are so many resources for you out there on the internet. I did a quick search and came up with these lists. Use them to find something for your final reading project or to plan your summer reading life! Click HERE for previous posts that have all kinds of summer reading lists and recommendations and links. Or, browse below for links to other lists. I included our recommended reading list from class at the bottom.





YALSA Top Teen Books 2015 , 2014, 2013

Interesting lists on Goodreads

School Library Journal: Faith and Spirituality in YA Literature

A great list from Imagination Soup






















100 Best Young Adult Novels

Book Options from Class:

Book Options

(All books are advanced young adult fiction unless otherwise noted):

**Most challenging adult fiction

*Adult fiction

Contemporary Fiction:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer **

Alternating narrators tell the story of a boy’s search to find the meaning behind an object he found in his father’s (who died on 9/11) closet.

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult*

Conceived as a bone marrow match for her sister, Anna begins to think about her identity apart from her family.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo*

The philosophical tale of a boy who yearns to travel and seeks adventure.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

A high school freshman navigates the social landscape of high school while dealing with events of his past. 

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

A collection of poetic vignettes about a poor girl in Chicago who dreams of a better life

The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

A native American boy tries to navigate life on and off the reservation. Hilarious and poignant

Into the Wild by John Krakauer*

The true account of a boy who left his privileged life after college to travel and iltimately live away from society in Alaska’s wilderness

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow

A young biracial girl must deal with society’s ideas of race and class after a family tragedy

Historical Fiction/Classic Fiction:

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The classic story of class struggle, friendship, loyalty, honor

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver**

The 4 daughters and wife of a southern preacher tell their story of their evangelical trip to the Congo in the 1950s

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger*

The story of a disenchanted teenage boy out to seek what is real in New York City in the late 1940s.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles*

The story of adventure, friendship, and competition between two boys at a boarding school in the 1950s. 

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd*

Set in the 1960s south, 14 year old Lily discovers herself and what family means while in search of her deceased mother’s past. 

Sweet Dates in Basra

Set in Iraq in the 1940s, the friendship between a Muslim boy and a Jewish boy as well as other issues of religion, loyalty and country are explored

Tales of the Madmen Underground by John Barnes

Set in Ohio in 1973, this story follows Karl and the group of kids he has been in group therapy with since 4^th grade

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

A mystery set in post World War Two America

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Witness the trial of a unfairly accused black man through the eyes of his white lawyer’s children.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

A turn of the century story about a girl struggling to grow amidst poverty and family struggle

Memoir:

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou*

A moving story of a girl who has to move forward and deal with a horrible thing that happens to her as a child.

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

Ishmael Beah’s memoir about his experience as a child soldier and how he was able to leave it behind him.

Perspolis (I & II) by Marjane Satrapi

A graphic novel memoir of the author’s experiences growing up in Iran. (graphic novel)

Teen Angst by Ned Vizzini

The author’s semi-autobiography about growning up in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn. 

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

A memoir of how the author survived a highly dysfunctional, non traditional upbringing

Vietnamerica: A Family's Journey by GB Tran (graphic novel)

A memoir of an immigrant family

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

A memoir in verse of how famous author Woodson found her voice and place.

Night by Elie Wiesel**

An account of the author’s time in the ghettoes and concentration camps of WW2

Science Fiction:

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman*

A brilliant fantasy/science fiction novel in a vein similar to The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings.

More Than This by Patrick Ness

A boy wakes up in his old house, though the entire neighborhood seems deserted

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

A science fiction coming of age story

The House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

A science fiction coming of age story

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Explores artificial intelligence

Romeo and Juliet reading support!

Remember that reading Romeo and Juliet requires more stamina, effort, and for you to monitor your understanding. You will need to be an active reader, utilizing various resources as you go. This is not a text where most students will be able to read it straight through the way you do an independent reading book. Doing this work will pay off! Here are the resource charts we discussed in class, and don't forget to use No Fear Shakespeare as a supplemental support if you need it.

Why Shakespeare Loved Iambic Pentameter

We are so excited to begin our Romeo and Juliet unit! 

Here's the video from this week's sonnet lesson. 

Creating a bibliography

As you know, it is really important to cite the resources you used to learn more about your social justice topic, whether you directly quoted them in your author's note or not.  In ELA, we use MLA format. Here are some steps to help you create a bibliography for the 2-3 sources you used:

To use the "Easy Bib" tool: 

1. Gather the research you used and make sure you have it nearby.

2. Go to easybib.com site and make sure "MLA" is the format highlighted in orange.

3. Choose the kind of source you are going to cite from.  Most of you used newpapers, magazines, and websites. Click on the "All 59 options" to find the tab for magazines.

4. Using the source information you got from your printed article or what you wrote down on your worksheet, follow the directions to get your citation.

5. On the top of your page, type "Bibliography" and center it. Put your citations below, aligned to the left, in alphabetical order.

To use your agenda book as a mentor: 

1. Turn to page R-5 in your agenda book (in the back)

2. On the top of your page, type "Bibliography" and center it.

3. Choose the kind of source you are going to cite from and use the mentor to type your own.

4. Type in your citations aligned to the left, in alphabetical order.

All Star Mentor Blogs + Upcoming blog post due

For our Quarter 2 Cycle 2 blog post, be sure to use your synthesis page as an outline of sorts to guide your writing process. A few things to remember:

• Take your ideas out of the text, especially in your opening and closing paragraphs! This will make your work so much more interesting for your reader. 

• Create an INTERESTING title that will attract readers. "Reading Response 12/18" is boring.  Think of yourself as a headline writer for a newspaper.   

• You should be commenting on your partner's work.  Be specific and encouraging! Last cycle's all star commenter is Steven in 806! 

• Check out the mentors that Ms. Warren and Ms. DePalma  referenced in class for additional guidance. 

These writers did a great job writing a fiction blog post.  Check out a mentor or two from your class to see what you can emulate in your own writing.

Class 803 

Claire
Leela
Zoe
Leonardo
Matt

Class 806

Michael
Najal
Zachary

Class 809

Rithika
Maxine
Angela
Josef
Zunayed

All Star Synthesis Pages: Quarter 2 Reading Cycle 1

These synthesis pages look great! What they all have in common is that there is a space on their page that takes their ideas out of the text and into the world, making their ideas relevant and extra thought-provoking.  Try this out on your next page.  Here are a few sentence starters that might help you get there...

a. What I learned about __________ was...

b. I realized that sometimes in life...

c. Reading this books really made me think about...

Then, those statements can become great CLAIMS for your blog post. 

Go, readers, go!

All Star Mentor "Reading the World" Synthesis Pages!

Social Action Research: CNN Heroes of 2014

Here is the link to the CNN Heroes page that we used in class on Friday.  Feel free to continue to explore, watch additional videos, or read more articles as you continue to "read" the world around you!

Art & Social Justice

Here are a few links and images from our lesson on 11/12!

http://www.onemillionbones.org/the-project/

"The Uprising"

-Diego Rivera

"Peace"

-Luba Lukova

"Guernica"

-Pablo Picasso

Anti-Bullying Dance Performance:

"Reading" the World

Social Justice Issues are everywhere...your job is, for the next few days, to observe the world around while considering: What is fair? Unfair? Where and what and who do I see trying to make the world a better place? Where do I see things happening that make me angry? Inspired? You will probably see a combination of positive and negative things out there in the world...they serve as inspiration AND motivation.

They might be...

1. On the news...Malala Yousafzai with Diane Sawyer

2. In a commericial...#LikeAGirl by always

3. From an internet search...Trash Orchestra

4. From a walk around the neighborhood...trash on the turf after lunch, too many plastic bags

5. From a book...

6. From people you know...

   Do you know people who volunteer? This is my great-aunt who dedicated her life--right up until she died--to helping war veterans in her Washington Heights neighborhood. After she died, they named a street after her! 

Do you know people who try to make the world a better place in small ways that often go unnoticed by most people? These are my parents.  They both have lived lives where they volunteer, donate, and will be there for someone at the drop of a hat.  They recently sent a donation of money for me to buy books for our library and most of the markers in this classroom have been sent from my mom in Kentucky! They also go out of their way to visit friends who are sick, to make food for neighbors to brighten their day, and they even painted my brother's whole apartment! 

You can also ask your family and friends who and what inspires them to make the world a better place! 

7. From organizations in your neighborhood or city that inspire you...

What organizations have you participated in? Do you know people who have started any? This is my friend Faith who was so troubled by the fact that human trafficking still exists that she started a non-profit company called Restore to help those who have been rescued here in New York City.

So! Your job is to spend the next few days closely "reading" the world.  By Monday, you need to have a list of what you notice and be ready to share with your table and the class.  Include at least five items and explain each one with at least two sentences.  Check out these older blog posts to find more internet sources related to social justice.  

Sarah McLachlan's "World on Fire"

Check out this link to view the "World on Fire" video we watched in class.  Here are the lyrics and below are the charities she donated to:

World On Fire by Sarah McLachlan

Hearts are worn in these dark ages

You’re not alone in these stories’ pages

The light has fallen amongst the living and the dying

And I'll try to hold it in

Yeah I'll try to hold it in

The world's on fire, it's more then I can handle

I'll tap into the water try and bring my share

Try to bring more, more then I can handle

Bring it to the table

Bring what I am able

I watch the heavens but I find no calling

Something I can do to change what’s coming

Stay close to me while the sky’s falling

I don’t wanna be left alone don’t wanna be alone

The world's on fire, it's more then I can handle

I'll tap into the water try and bring my share

Try to bring more, more then I can handle

Bring it to the table

Bring what I am able

Hearts break hearts mend love still hurts

Visions clash planes crash still there's talk of

saving souls still the cold's closing in on us

We part the veil on our killer sun

Stray from the straight line on this short run

The more we take the less we become

The fortune of one man means less for some

The world's on fire, it's more then I can handle

I'll tap into the water try and bring my share

Try to bring more, more then I can handle

Bring it to the table

Bring what I am able

World On Fire Donation List

Charity	For	Amount	Total Donation
Caroline for Kibera www.cfk.unc.edu	12 room clinic and land deeds Medicine for 5000 people for 6 months in Nairobi Kenya	• $22,500 • $7,500	$30,000
Comic Relief	Running street children’s hospital in India for a year Feeding 10 street children in Calcutta 3 meals daily for 1 year Schooling for 100 street children in Tanzania Education for 200 students in Ethiopia	• $11,050 • $3,000 • $2,500 • $400	$16,950
CARE USA www.care.org	Building of 6 wells in S.E Asia, Latin America & Africa Helping 100 widows to develop income generating activities in Afghanistan Sending 145 girls to school for one year in Afghanistan Equipping 10 classrooms in Afghanistan Training 10 teachers in Afghanistan	• $10,200 • $5,400 • $5,000 • $480 • $400	$21,480
DORCAS www.dorcas.net	Total running costs of orphanage in South Africa Improving the lives of 10 elderly people in Eastern Europe	• $16,500 • $3,500	$20,000
Engineers Without Borders - Canada www.ewb.ca/en/index.html	To purchase and implement a Multi-Function Platform in Ghana Christy Yaa: scholarships Nana Yaa: scholarships	• $15,000 • $1,000 • $1,000	$17,000
Help the Aged www.helptheaged.org.uk/en-gb	Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) vehicle providing medical treatments	• $15,000	$15,000
Film Aid www.filmaid.org	Entertainment & escapism for refugees	• $9,500	$9,500
War Child www.warchild.ca/	70 former child soldiers to receive schooling & psychosocial support 7 young people in Sierra Leone to receive job training Education, shelter & food for orphans in Ethiopia	• $3,500 • $1,500 • $500	$5,500
Heifer International www.heifer.org/	1 heifer, 2 goats, 1 buffalo 2 sheep, 4 goats, 2 llamas and 1 heifer A pig Chicks Ducks	• $1,000 • $1,500 • $120 • $20 • $20 • $20	$2680
ITDG www.itdg.org	Scheme which would allow 300 families to remove smoke from their homes 10 smoke hoods 5 bicycle ambulances Nuts & bolts to secure houses of monsoon victims Sudanese irrigation	• $1,925 • $250 • $1,300 • $500 • $1025	$5000
Action Aid www.actionaid.org.uk	To aid and implement programs in Khlaipathar village, Orissa, India to encourage families to be able to stay together 5000lbs potato seeds for planting vegetable gardens	• $5000 • $160	$5160

 TOTAL  $148,270