Thank your for participating in the ASL Summer Reading Challenge. For reading recommendations for high school students and adults, visit the ASL Mellon Library summer resource site. Pick up a print copy of the leaflets from an ASL library.
English classes: Please read a complete overview of the summer reading expectations and instructions for students in grades 9 through 12 for English coursework to aid in planning your book choices and prepare for class activities in the fall.
Our Summer Reading Program exists to promote the joy of reading, foster community, and extend the high school curriculum (which includes many classic and contemporary texts). Please find English grade-level specific information below.
Grade 9: Welcome to high school! We hope that you’ll feel welcomed and inspired by our community of readers, writers, and thinkers. Over the summer, you’ll select TWO books to read:
- One should be from the list of recommendations from current ninth graders or high school faculty/staff. We hope that in choosing a text from a member of our community, you’ll start the year feeling connected to others and empowered to share your thoughts.
- The other book should be of your choice. Choose a book you’re excited about, but also one that might help you grow as a reader.
When selecting books to read, be sure to choose fiction or narrative nonfiction*. Since you’ll be encountering nonfiction texts in your other classes, we want you to dive into literature and find value in the stories of others. We hope you can take advantage of this opportunity to use literature as a window into the world and a mirror to yourself.
Please read a complete overview of the summer reading expectations and instructions to plan your book choices and prepare for the class activities in the fall.
Grade 10: Over the summer, you'll select TWO books to read.
- Incoming Grade 10 students should seek out a trusted teacher or faculty/staff member they know well*, and then ask that adult for a personalized book recommendation. It can be a teacher in any subject, or even in any division at the school. It might also be an advisor, dean, or coach. It should be someone with whom you keep in contact, someone who will be able to recommend a good book for you. Students should ask for this recommendation before the end of the 2024-2025 school year, and the book should be something the student has not previously read. It can be fiction or nonfiction; what matters most is that it’s a good fit. New ASL students are welcome to ask a teacher or faculty member from their current school for a book recommendation. Please feel free to email mellonlibrary@asl.org with any questions. Over the summer, students should procure the book and read it thoughtfully.
- When classes resume in the fall, students will write about their reading experience to the adult who recommended the book.
- In addition, students are asked to read at least one other book of their own choice over the summer. Please consult this list of suggested titles and faculty and student recommendations, compiled by ASL’s Mellon Library.
Please read a complete overview of the summer reading expectations and instructions to plan your book choices and prepare for the class activities in the fall.
Grades 11 and 12: We encourage all students to read extensively throughout the summer. We hope you will enjoy a few of the suggested titles on the ASL Mellon Library’s list of books recommended by faculty and students. Or, come up with selections of your own.
