Academics

Summer Reading

The works of literature presented to you on the summer reading lists have been carefully selected to help prepare students for subject matter they will encounter in their history and literature courses in the fall. Summer reading encourages independent reading outside of school, provides students with a shared experience that can serve as a reference point for discussion and writing in the coming school year, and reinforces Pacifica's mission to instruct students in the Western tradition.

You can purchase summer reading books through the eFollett virtual bookstore beginning

May 23, 2011 at www.pacificachristian.bkstr.com or through the Pacifica website: www.pacificachristian.org (Click on:  Current families/Pacifica Vendors/Textbooks).  Fall books will be available through eFollett beginning July 8, 2011.

GRADE 9

English 9: Ancient Literature and Composition (One text)

TEXT:              Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard, ISBN: 0061233323

ASSIGNMENT:  Please read and enjoy this text.  Be prepared for an oral examination on the first day of school and a two-day, in-class essay later that week.

Contact Mrs. Kelsey if you have any questions:  ckelsey@pacificachristian.org

 

English 9 H: Honors Ancient Literature and Composition (Two texts)

 

TEXTS:            Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard, ISBN: 0061233323
                        Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters, Mark Dunn, ISBN: 0385722435

ASSIGNMENT:  Please read and enjoy these two texts.  Be prepared for an oral examination on the first day of school and a two-day, in-class essay later that week.  After reading this lipogrammatic epistolary fable (A Novel in Letters), craft your own attempt at a pangram (one sentence that incorporates each of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet while keeping the letter count as low as possible) a la Nevin Nollop.  Write this pangram on a note card and memorize it; you will be required to recite it on the first day of class. 

Contact Mrs. Kelsey if you have any questions:  ckelsey@pacificachristian.org


GRADE 10

English 10: World Literature and Composition (Two texts)

 

TEXTS:            The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis, ISBN: 0006280609
                        Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Anonymous, ISBN: 0393334155

ASSIGNMENT:  Please read and enjoy these two texts.  Be prepared for an oral examination on the first day of school and a two-day, in-class close reading essay later that week.

Contact Mrs. Kelsey if you have any questions:  ckelsey@pacificachristian.org

English 10 H: Honors World Literature and Composition (Three texts)


TEXTS:            The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis, ISBN: 0006280609
                        Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Anonymous, ISBN: 0393334155
                        The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson, ISBN: 9780380715435

ASSIGNMENT: Please read and enjoy these three texts.  Be prepared for an oral examination on the first day of school and a two-day, in-class close reading essay later that week.  Memorize the stanza of your choice from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and be prepared to recite it or write it out on the first day of school.  For each chapter in The Mother Tongue, write one follow-up question about something in the chapter that you could research during the school year. In addition to the question itself, write one to two sentences (per question) with specific reasons why the issue interests you.

Contact Mr. Bailey if you have any questions:  jbailey@pacificachristian.org

GRADE 11 

English 11: American Literature (Two texts)

 

Student's choice of two of the following:
TEXTS:            Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, ISBN: 0316769487

                        A Separate Peace, John Knowles, ISBN: 0743253973

                        I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou, ISBN: 0553279378

                        To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, ISBN: 0446310786

ASSIGNMENT:  Please read and enjoy these two texts.  Be prepared for an oral examination on the first day of school and a two-day, in-class literary analysis essay later that week.  Select an excerpt from one of your two summer reading novels that is significant and at least ten lines long.  Memorize this selection, and come to class the first day ready to recite it and explain its significance. 

Contact Ms. Kemble if you have any questions:  fkemble@pacificachristian.org

 

English 11AP: Advanced Placement Language and Composition (Three texts)

 

TEXTS:            Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, ISBN: 0316769487
                        Letters to a Young Poet, Ranier Maria Rilke, ISBN: 0486422453
                        Selected Poems of Langston Hughes, Langston Hughes, ISBN: 067972818X                                                                   

ASSIGNMENT:  Please read and enjoy these three texts.  Be prepared for an oral examination on the first day of school and a two-day, in-class AP style essay later that week.  Select one to two poems by Langston Hughes that are significant to you and add up to at least twenty lines.  Memorize this poem/these poems, and come to class the first day ready to recite it/them and explain its/their significance.

Contact Ms. Kemble if you have any questions:  fkemble@pacificachristian.org

 

GRADE 12

English 12: Great Books  (Three texts)

 

TEXTS:  Choose one book from each genre to read during the summer.

 

Sci-Fi:              Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman, ISBN: 0060557818

                        Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K. Dick, ISBN: 0345404475

                        Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, ISBN: 0060850523

 

Detective:        Farewell, My Lovely, Raymond Chandler, ISBN: 0394758277

                        The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett, ISBN: 0752847643

                        An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, P.D. James, ISBN: 0743219554

 

Memoir:           Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen, ISBN: 0679746048

                        Fat Girl, Judith Moore, ISBN: 0452285852

                        Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi, ISBN: 0684826801

ASSIGNMENT:  Please read and enjoy these three texts.  Be prepared for an oral examination on the first day of school and a two-day, in-class literary analysis essay later that week.  In addition, write two college essays based either off prompts directly taken from specific colleges to which you will apply or from the Common Application.  Also, select an excerpt from one of your three summer reading novels that is significant and at least ten lines long.  Memorize this selection, and come to class the first day ready to recite it and explain its significance. 

Contact Ms. Kemble if you have any questions:  fkemble@pacificachristian.org

English 12 AP: Advanced Placement Literature and Composition (Three texts)

 

TEXTS:            The Sound of Water: Haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and other Poets, Sam Hamill,                              ISBN: 1570620199
                        The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand, ISBN: 0451158237
                        Conquering the College Admissions Essay in 10 Steps, Alan Gelb,                                                     ISBN: 9781580089104

 

ASSIGNMENT: Please read and enjoy these three texts.  Be prepared for an oral examination on the first day of school and an in-class AP style essay later that week.   In addition, write three consecutive drafts of your personal statement for college as directed by Gelb's instructions.  You are required to have each draft edited by a trustworthy peer or adult in order to receive full credit.  Finally, you must select and memorize three haiku to be recited on the first day of class.  You will be asked to defend your selections.

Contact Mrs. Kelsey if you have any questions:  ckelsey@pacificachristian.org