The summer reading program for this coming summer will look just like last summer's. We are asking students to choose one book from the list below ( Summer Reading I ), a list put together by the faculty members of Sandy Spring Friends School. Then - read that book! On the first day of school in September, 9/2, after lunch, we will break into book discussion groups where students and teachers will together discuss the book they read chosen from the list below. No tests, no quizzes, just, we hope, an enjoyable time talking about the reading we did over the summer. While it probably does not need to be said we will say it anyway - some of these were offered as options previously; please choose a new book, one you have not yet read.

Then...

There is a second list of titles (titled, surprisingly enough,( Summer Reading II ). Please choose a book from that list, too, as a part of your summer reading. Again, there will be no tests, no quizzes, nobody checking that you did the reading. But each book on the list is a guaranteed "good read." Pick a book and enjoy. Note that rising 9th graders and rising 10th graders have been assigned a book; your selection has been made for you. Both are books that will play a part in your classes next year. Sorry, but we can't make any promises about tests or quizzes on those. Feel free, however, to choose another book from the list to read on your own - we do promise no quizzes on that one.

Please fill out your Summer Reading Book Choice Form with your discussion group selection and return it to your advisor.

If you are reading this after school has let out, after June 7, please send or e-mail your choice to David Hickson, Head of Upper School (David.Hickson@ssfs.org).

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
A short adventure story full of dreams, magic, and wisdom.

Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
Crammed with Vatican intrigue and hi-tech drama, Brown's tale is laced with twists and shocks that keep the reader wired right up until the final revelation. Packing the novel with sinister figures worthy of a Medici, Brown sets an explosive pace through a Michelin-perfect Rome.

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
One of the most lauded, and most vilified, books of the 20th century. A work of futuristic science fiction, but most known for making a case for Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. A quick Google reveals the controversy of this oft-referred-to book. For mature, dedicated readers.

A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in history, wrote the modern classic A Brief History of Time to help nonscientists understand the questions being asked by scientists today: Where did the universe come from? How and why did it begin? Will it come to an end, and if so, how? Among the topics gracefully covered are gravity, black holes, the Big Bang, the nature of time, and physicists' search for a grand unifying theory.

Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
A true story of self discovery of a woman who spends four months each in Italy, India, and Indonesia.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe, Elizabeth Kolbert
The book is about climate change; each chapter discusses the research of individual scientists and how their work relates to the topic of climate change.

Flatland, Edwin Abbott
A novel about a Square, an inhabitant of Flatland, who is visited briefly by a Sphere and introduced to the idea that there may be other dimensions of which he and his kind are unaware. A classic satire of how we see our own world(s). A sci-fi classic.

Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
This memoir, written by a successful journalist who grew up in a homeless family, highlights her odd and creative relatives---an eclectic bunch of outsiders who found unusual ways to survive in the world. Through nomadic escapism and wild dreaming, they created a family bond unlike any other.

A Long Way Gone: Memories of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah
Ishmael Beah, born in Sierra Leone in 1980, tells a powerfully gripping story: At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. This is an extraordinary and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

Nine Coaches Waiting, Mary Stewart
A young English woman is hired as the governess to the nine year old Philippe de Valmy who is the heir to a large estate in the French countryside. While there, she discovers adventure, intrigue and romance. A great read for the beach or a rainy summer day.

No Country For Old Men, Cormac McCarthy
The novel reads like a breathlessly paced crime thriller, but it is also a profound meditation on the corrosive effects of greed and the nature of honor in an increasingly mercenary civilization.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Michael Pollan
Named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times, this fascinating look at what we eat may change the way you look at your dinner and how you buy your food. Reviewer Pamela Kauffman says: "You'll certainly never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again. Pollan approaches his mission not as an activist but as a naturalist: The way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world."

The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay
A South African coming of age story that begins when a five-year-old boy, Peekay, is sent off to boarding school. He's small for his age, white and of English descent.. Now, he's forced to take care of himself and survive under the most brutal of circumstances. The time is World War II and Peekay spends years in a boarding school and then as a visitor in a prisoner of war camp, where he's the only English student among Afrikaners who are sympathetic to the Nazi cause. Eventually, he uses his immense boxing talent to escape persecution, attend college, and to help the anti-Apartheid movement.

Rabbit Hole, David Lindsay-Abaire
Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Rabbit Hole explores, with honesty and humor, a rich journey that searches for hope, comfort, and forgiveness in the darkest moments of our lives. Attending the production is not a requirement; however, once the group is known for this Summer Reading offering we will try and organize seeing the show together at The Olney Theatre, August 6 - August 31.

The Revolution, Ron Paul
The Libertarian presidential candidate lays out his ideas and solutions to create a modern American government that the Founding Fathers would be proud of. Paul sees less government as the answer and has attracted a loyal following as the modern "Radical Republican".

The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina - a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna.

The Soloist: ...the Redemptive Power of Music, Steve Lopez
The Soloist is a story of the bond between a journalist, Steve Lopez, in search of a story and a homeless, classically trained musician, Nathaniel Ayers. Thirty years previously, Ayers was a promising classical bass student at Juilliard-ambitious, charming, and also one of the few African-Americans-until he gradually lost his ability to function, overcome by schizophrenia. When Lopez finds him, Ayers is homeless, paranoid, and deeply troubled, but glimmers of that brilliance are still there.

Stolen Harvest: Hijacking of the Global Food Supply, Vandana Shiva
Renowned environmental activist Vandana Shiva charts the impacts of globalized, corporate agriculture on small farmers, the environment, and the quality of the food we eat. Shiva writes about genetically engineered seeds, patents on life, mad cows (and sacred cows), shrimp farming, and more.

Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson
Lost, on a decent from a failed attempt to climb the worlds second highest peak, K2, climber, Greg Mortenson, is rescued by the Pashtun tribesmen from a village in the high Karokoram Mountains of Pakistan. His experience leads him to embark on a quest to build schools in some of the poorest and most isolated villages in the world. This true story is both a great adventure and a wonderful lesson in how to make development assistance work in fundamentalist-Islamic and tribal areas.

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
Afghan-American novelist Hosseini follows up his bestselling The Kite Runner with another searing epic of Afghanistan in turmoil. The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war, and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women: Mariam, the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, and 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or starvation.

Water for Elephants, Sara Green
A compelling novel about a veterinarian traveling with a small time circus during the Depression. The book also deals with the abuse of people and animals by the unscrupulous owner of the circus.

Listed below are a number of books, each one a gem. We are asking all high school students who will be in grades 11 or 12 next year to choose one and read it. You need not write anything about it; you will not be quizzed on it when you return in fall. Just read and - we hope - enjoy. You might ask a parent or friend to read the same book and maybe talk about it over the summer; you decide. All you have to do is choose a book and read it.

Rising ninth graders should read The Life of Pi, by Yann Martell. This book will be a part of the ninth grade curriculum in the fall. Click here for the reading guide...

Rising tenth graders should read The King Must Die, by Mary Renault. This book will be a part of the Western Civilization course required of all 10th graders.

Enjoy!

A Farewell to Arms, Earnest Hemingway

All Quiet on the Western Front, Erik Marie Remarque

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

An American Childhood, Anne Dillard

The Color Purple, Alice Walker

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontė

Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde

On the Road, Jack Kerouac

The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde

Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings, Jorge Luis Borges

A Lesson Before Dying, Earnest J. Gaines