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For more information about summer reading assignments visit the South Plainfield High School Summer Reading List 2021
**Once you click on "Check Catalog" for an item below, be sure to limit to items owned by South Plainfield (on the left hand side of the screen). Titles owned by South Plainfield will be shaded in a green background.**
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English 102--Grade 9
Read one of the following books and one age-appropriate book of your choosing
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The Chocolate War
Robert Cormier
Format: Paperback
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One of the most controversial YA novels of all time, The Chocolate War is a modern masterpiece that speaks to fans of S. E. Hintons The Outsiders and John Knowless A Separate Peace. After suffering rejection from seven major publishers, The Chocolate War made its debut in 1974, and quickly... |
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Elsewhere: A Novel
Gabrielle Zevin - Square Fish
Format: Paperback
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A TIME MAGAZINE BEST YA BOOK OF ALL TIME. Beloved by generations of readers, Elsewhere is an original, moving novel about love, loss, and the meaning of it all from the New York Times-bestselling author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry.. Is it possible... |
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The Old Man and The Sea
Ernest Hemingway - Scribner
Format: Paperback
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The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal -- a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Here Hemingway... |
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Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson - Square Fish
Format: Paperback
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Freshman year at Merryweather High is not going well for Melinda Sordino. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, and now her friends - and even strangers - all hate her. So she stops trying, stops talking. She retreats into her head, and all the lies and hypocrisies of high... |
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The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
Wes Moore - Spiegel & Grau Trade Paperbacks
Format: Paperback
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Two kids with the same name lived in the same decaying city. One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation. In December... |
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Where the Heart Is
Billie Letts - Warner Books
Format: Paperback
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Talk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with just $7.77 in change. But Novalee is about to discover hidden treasures... |
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English 122-- Grade 10
Read one of the following books and one age-appropriate book of your choosing
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Before I Fall
Lauren Oliver - Harper
Format: Print book
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The Before I Fall movie - based on Lauren Oliver's beloved first novel and starring Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, and Kian Lawley - is opening in theaters in spring 2017.With this stunning debut novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver emerged as one of today's foremost authors... |
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Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Bryan Stevenson - Spiegel & Grau
Format: Paperback
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A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice - from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice... |
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The Pact
George Jenkins - Riverhead Hardcover
Format: Hardcover
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All too often we hear about the dangers of male friendships, where peer pressure prevails over common sense. But rarely do we hear about another kind of male bonding, which, in the case of George Jenkins, Sampson Davis, and Rameck Hunt, led three boys to succeed beyond their wildest dreams.... |
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Unwind
Neal Shusterman - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Print book
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In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding... |
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English 142-- Grade 11
Read one of the following books and one age-appropriate book of your choosing
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About a Boy
Nick Hornby - Riverhead Books
Format: Paperback
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Will Freeman may have discovered the key to dating success: If the simple fact that they were single mothers meant that gorgeous women - women who would not ordinarily look twice a Will - might not only be willing, but enthusiastic about dating him, then he was really onto something. Single... |
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Animal Farm
George Orwell - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: Hardcover
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George Orwell’s famous satire of the Soviet Union, in which “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” |
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Brave New World
Aldous Huxley - Harper Perennial
Format: Paperback
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Now more than ever: Aldous Huxley's enduring "masterpiece ... one of the most prophetic dystopian works of the 20th century" (Wall Street Journal) must be read and understood by anyone concerned with preserving the human spirit in the face of our "brave new world"Aldous... |
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Dracula
Stoker, Bram
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Irish author Bram Stoker introduced the character of Count Dracula and provided the basis of modern vampire fiction in his 1897 novel entitled Dracula. Written as a series of letters, newspaper clippings, diary entries, and ships' logs, the story begins with lawyer Jonathan |
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Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift - Oxford University Press
Format: Hardcover
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Gulliver's Travels (1726) is one of the most compelling satires ever written, rated by George Orwell among the six most indispensable books in world literature. Lemuel Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and in the country of the Houyhnhnms exposes the absurdity and hypocrisy... |
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams - Random House Audio
Format: Audiobook
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"Extremely funny . . . inspired lunacy . . . [and] over much too soon." - The Washington Post Book WorldSeconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised... |
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English 162-- Grade 12
Read one of the following books and one age-appropriate book of your choosing
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The Good Earth
Pearl S. Buck - Washington Square Press
Format: Paperback
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Nobel Laureate Pearl S. Buck's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and Oprah Book Club selection about a vanished China and one family's shifting fortunes.Though more than seventy years have passed since this remarkable novel won the Pulitzer Prize, it has retained its popularity and become... |
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Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer -
Into the Wild
Format: Paperback
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In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash... |
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The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini - Riverhead Books
Format: Paperback
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The New York Times bestseller and international classic loved by millions of readers. The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country... |
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Letters to a Young Poet
Rainer Maria Rilke - Merchant Books
Format: Paperback
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An Unabridged, Unaltered Edition with All Ten Letters, to include three poems from The Book of Pictures: Kings In Legends, The Knight & The Woman Who Loves - |
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The Stranger
Albert Camus
Format: Hardcover
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Since it was first published in English, in 1946, Albert Camuss extraordinary first novel, The Stranger LEtranger, has had a profound impact on millions of American readers. Through this story of an ordinary man who unwittingly gets drawn into a senseless murder on a sun-drenched Algerian... |
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston - Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Format: Paperback
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Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person -- no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots. |
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Zen in the Art of Archery
Eugen Herrigel - Vintage Books; Later Printing edition
Format: Paperback
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Finally on Audio--a Classic of Zen Buddhist LiteratureIt is almost impossible to understand Zen by studying it as you would other intellectual pursuits. The best way to understand Zen is, simply, to Zen. This is what author Eugen Herrigel allows us to do by sharing his own fascinating journey... |
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English 101-- Grade 9 Honors
Read all of the following books:
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Anthem: 50th Anniversary Edition
Ayn Rand - Signet
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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In a dark future where love, science, and civilization have become a thing of the past, a daring man resists acclimation into an individual-free society and pursues knowledge and a special woman, acts that mark him for death. Reprint. |
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Positive: A Memoir
Paige Rawl - Harper
Format: Book
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An astonishing memoir for the untold number of children whose lives have been touched by bullying. Positive is a must-read for teens, their parents, educators, and administrators - a brave, visceral work that will save lives and resonate deeply.Paige Rawl has been HIV positive since birth,... |
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English 121-- Grade 10 Honors
Everyone must read:
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The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne - Bantam Books
Format: Paperback
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Hailed by Henry James as "the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country," Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter reaches to our nation's historical and moral roots for the material of great tragedy. Set in an early New England colony, the novel... |
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Choose one of the following to read:
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Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Bryan Stevenson - Spiegel & Grau
Format: Paperback
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A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice - from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice... |
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Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
Jason Reynolds - Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
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A timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism--and antiracism--in AmericaThis is NOT a history book.This is a book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.A book about race. The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep... |
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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
ERIKA L SÁNCHEZ - Knopf Books for Young Readers
Format: Book
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National Book Award Finalist!
Instant New York Times Bestseller!
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian meets Jane the Virgin in this poignant but often laugh-out-loud funny contemporary YA about losing a sister and finding yourself... |
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie - Little
Format: Hardcover
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Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other... |
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The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives
DASHKA SLATER - Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Format: Hardcover
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One teenager in a skirt. One teenager with a lighter.One moment that changes both of their lives forever. If it weren't for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they... |
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All American Boys
Jason Reynolds - Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Format: Hardcover
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A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature. In this Coretta Scott King Honor Award-winning novel, two teens - one black, one white - grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their... |
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English 141-- Grade 11 Honors
Read all of the following books:
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About a Boy
Nick Hornby - Riverhead Books
Format: Paperback
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Will Freeman may have discovered the key to dating success: If the simple fact that they were single mothers meant that gorgeous women - women who would not ordinarily look twice a Will - might not only be willing, but enthusiastic about dating him, then he was really onto something. Single... |
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Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift - Oxford University Press
Format: Hardcover
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Gulliver's Travels (1726) is one of the most compelling satires ever written, rated by George Orwell among the six most indispensable books in world literature. Lemuel Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and in the country of the Houyhnhnms exposes the absurdity and hypocrisy... |
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams - Random House Audio
Format: Audiobook
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"Extremely funny . . . inspired lunacy . . . [and] over much too soon." - The Washington Post Book WorldSeconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised... |
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English 161-- Grade 12 Honors
Read all of the following books:
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The Good Earth
Pearl S. Buck - Washington Square Press
Format: Paperback
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Nobel Laureate Pearl S. Buck's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and Oprah Book Club selection about a vanished China and one family's shifting fortunes.Though more than seventy years have passed since this remarkable novel won the Pulitzer Prize, it has retained its popularity and become... |
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Please note you only need to read Oedipus Rex from the Oedipus Cycle. Some copies at the South Plainfield Public Library feature all books of the Oedipus Cycle in one book.
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1984
George Orwell - Signet Classic
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever...* Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The... |
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English 140-- AP English-- Language And Composition-- Grade 11
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Please note this only includes the reading portion of your assignment. There is a written portion you need to complete as well. See South Plainfield Summer Reading List 2021 for full assignment.
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Read:
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Read two books from the SPHS Junior Honors Summer Reading List
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Read two works of nonfiction from the following list:
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Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other
Sherry Turkle - Basic Books; First Trade Paper Edition edition
Format: Book
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Technology has become the architect of our intimacies. Online, we fall prey to the illusion of companionship, gathering thousands of Twitter and Facebook friends and confusing tweets and wall posts with authentic communication. But, as MIT technology and society specialist Sherry Turkle... |
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Assassination Vacation
Sarah Vowell - Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover
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New York Times bestselling author of The Wordy Shipmates and contributor to NPR's "This American Life" Sarah Vowell embarks on a road trip to sites of political violence, from Washington DC to Alaska, to better understand our nation's ever-evolving political system... |
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The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
Naomi Wolf - Harper Perennial; Reprint edition
Format: Paperback
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The bestselling classic that redefined our view od the relationship between beauty and female identity. In today's world, women have more power, legal recognition, and professional success than ever before. Alongside the evident progress of the women's movement, however, writer... |
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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Steven D. Levitt - Harper Perennial; 1 Original edition
Format: Paperback
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More Than 4 Million Copies Sold WorldwidePublished in 35 LanguagesWhich is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?How much do parents really matter?These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt... |
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The Grand Design
Hawking, Stephen
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When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? What is the nature of reality? Is the apparent "grand design" of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion - or does science offer another explanation? In this startling and lav |
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This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
Daniel J. Levitin - Plume/Penguin
Format: Paperback
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In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music - its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it - and the human brain. . Taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing... |
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AP English Literature and Composition--Grade 12
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Please note this only includes the reading portion of your assignment. There is a written portion you need to complete as well. See South Plainfield Summer Reading List 2021 for full assignment.
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Read all of the following books:
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Beloved
Toni Morrison - Alfred A. Knopf; 1st edition
Format: Hardcover
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Toni Morrison--author of Song of Solomon and Tar Baby--is a writer of remarkable powers: her novels, brilliantly acclaimed for their passion, their dazzling language and their lyric and emotional force, combine the unassailable truths of experience and emotion with the vision of legend... |
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1984
George Orwell - Signet Classic
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever...* Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The... |
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Please note you only need to read Oedipus Rex from the Oedipus Cycle. Some copies at the South Plainfield Public Library feature all books of the Oedipus Cycle in one book.
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The Joy Luck Club: A Novel
Amy Tan - Penguin Books
Format: Paperback
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Amy Tan's beloved, New York Times bestselling tale of mothers and daughters. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying"... |
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