Summer Reading

Dear Blue Ridge Students and Families, 

Below you will find the summer reading selections by grade level. Our English teachers thought carefully about which novels to select, and considered many options. Ultimately, they settled on these four works, believing that they will entertain, engage, and lead to thoughtful conversation and reflection. The first unit of each English class in the 2021/22 school year will cover the summer reading novel. 

Just as important as reading the novel assigned to your grade level is participating in the summer reading discussions that will take place on Google Classroom. Each teacher has created a Google Classroom page on which students will post questions, reflections, and reactions to the book they are reading. After activating your email login credentials for Gmail, students should join their grade level’s summer reading Google classroom by using the following code: freshmen, qkd6qoq; sophomores, 5w3zjbi; juniors, qtaf4u5; seniors, dlevgnw.

This is a great way for students to get to know their teacher and also their classmates, and to be well prepared for the first day of English class in September. 

Pete Bonds
Dean of Faculty and Academics

Incoming Freshmen

S. E.  Hinton’s 1967 The Outsiders
Greasers vs.Socs; boys vs. girls; east side vs. west side; rich vs. poor. Ponyboy Curtis struggles to define his own identity and the true meaning of family in this classic novel.
Focus: What makes up your identity? How are identities self-made? How are identities shaped by society?

Rising and Incoming Sophomores

Brian F. Walker’s 2012 Black Boy White School
Anthony “Ant” tries to make something of himself but feels he doesn’t fit in where he is and has changed too much to fit in where he came from. 
Focus: How do conflicts move a story forward?

Rising and Incoming Juniors

Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 The Kite Runner
Amir, the protagonist and narrator, must come to terms with his past wrongs and adjust to a new culture after leaving Afghanistan for the United States.
Focus: How are the themes of friendship and redemption displayed in the novel? 

Rising and Incoming Seniors

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s 2015 Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Four coffee shop regulars try to find happiness despite the pasts they desperately want to revisit.
Focus: Deep reading and finding relevancy. Apply what happens in a story to your life.