Sulam English

Dear Families,

This summer, all rising 9th-12th grade students will be required to read at least one book in preparation for next year’s Sulam English class. We strongly encourage parents to read along with students as a way to model lifelong learning and to help students engage meaningfully. Please select one book from the following list. In addition to reading your selected book, please bring it with you to class during the first week of school. Students will be expected to complete a written assignment related to their summer book during the first week of school. Texts that are bolded are not required reading for our students, but we wanted to include them as options as some of their peers will be reading those books as a Berman required text. 

Alternatively, students may choose a different book, but it must be approved by either Mrs. Scherr Scherra@mjbha.org  and cc Mrs. Houben at houbenl@mjbha.org. 

Graphic Novel or Sports-Related

  • American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang (*required for incoming 9th  graders enrolled in Berman English)
  • Dragon Hoops, Gene Luen Yang (graphic novel)
  • March, John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell (graphic novel)
  • Displacement, Kiku Hughes
  • The Running Dream, Wendelin Van Draanen
  • Tumbling, Caela Carter
  • QB1, Mike Lupica
  • Game Seven, Paul Volponi
  • Golden Arm, Carl Deuker
  • A Map to the Sun, Sloane Leong

Nonfiction

  • The Young Champion’s Mind: How to Think, Train, and Thrive Like an Elite Athlete, by Jim Afremow, PhD (nonfiction)
  • Mental Toughness for Young Athletes, Moses and Troy Horne (nonfiction)
  • What If? (Book 1 and/or 2),  Randall Munroe
  • Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World, Matt Parker
  • Economic Facts and Fallacies, Thomas Sowell
  • The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon, Schyffert, Bea Uusma
  • Alive! Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary People Who Survived Deadly Tornadoes, Avalanches,Shipwrecks, and More, Editors of Readers’ Digest Association 

Memoir or based on true story:

  • Refugee, Alan Gratz 
  • The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
  • I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai
  • Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom
  • The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
  • Kent State, Deborah Wiles
  • The Color of Water, James McBride
  • Into the Wild, Jack Krakauer
  • A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah
  • A Long Way Home, Saroo Brierly
  • Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek, Maya Van Wagenen

Fantasy or Sci-Fi:

  • The House of the Scorpion, Nancy Farmer
  • The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
  • The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
  • Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
  • The Martian,  Andy Weir
  • Dragonfruit, Makiia Lucier
  • Divine Rivals, Rebecca Ross
  • Vampires, Hearts, and Other Dead Things, Margie Fuston
  • The Word for World is Forest, Ursula K. Le Guin 
  • Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro
  • The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (*required for incoming 11th/12th graders enrolled in Berman Dystopian class)
  • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe  (*required for incoming 11th/12th graders enrolled in Berman World Literature class)

Realistic Fiction:

  • We Are Not Free, Traci Chee (*required for incoming 10th graders enrolled in Berman English)
  • The Chosen, Chaim Potok
  • Sunrise Over Fallujah, Walter Dean Myers
  • Frontera, Julio Anta and Jacoby Salcedo
  • Windfall, Jennifer E. Smith
  • Destination Anywhere, Sara Barnard
  • Chloe and the Kaisho Boys, Mae Coyiuto
  • A Heart in a Body in the World, Deb Caletti
  • Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
  • Thieves Gambit, Kavion Lewis
  • The Catcher in the Rye
  • Code of Honor, Alan Gratz
  • Squirm, Carl Hiaasan
  • It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Ned Vizzini
  • The Call of the Wild, Jack London
  • Peak, Roland Smith