|
Required Readings: |
Knowles
--
A
Separate Peace
Covey --The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
Teens
Based on his father's bestselling The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People, Sean Covey applies the
same principles to teens, using a vivacious, entertaining
style. Covey makes his point with cartoons, clever ideas,
great quotes, and incredible stories about real teens
from all over the world. This book provides a step-by-step
guide for helping teens to overcome obstacles, build
equity in "relationship bank accounts," resist
peer pressure, create action plans to reach their goals,
and much more. Covey's humorous and up-front style is
just light enough to be acceptable to wary teenagers,
and down-and-dirty enough to really make a difference.
(Excerpts from Amazon.com.) |
| Literature
Selections: |
| |
Alvarez -- How the Garcia
Girls Lost Their Accents
This sensitive story of four sisters who must adjust to
life in America after having to flee from the Dominican
Republic is told through a series of episodes beginning
in adulthood, when their lives have been shaped by U.
S. mores, and moving backwards to their wealthy childhood
on the island. This unique coming-of-age tale is a feast
of stories that will enchant and captivate readers. |
| Angelou -- I Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings
Poet Maya Angelou recounts a youth filled with disappointment,
frustration, tragedy, and finally hard-won independence.
Sent at a young age to live with her grandmother in
Arkansas, Angelou learned a great deal from this exceptional
woman and the tightly knit African-American community
there. |
| Dickens --
Great Expectations
An absorbing mystery as well as a morality tale,
the story of Pip, a poor village lad, and his expectations
of wealth is Dickens at his most deliciously readable.
The cast of characters includes kindly Joe Gargery,
the loyal convict Abel Magwitch and the haunting Miss
Havisham. If you have heartstrings, count on them being
tugged. |
Dickens -- Oliver
Twist
The popular story of an orphan’s experiences
with the underworld of London. |
| Graham --
Dove
Get ready for an adventure, because in DOVE, Robin
Lee Graham will take you into the life of a young man
who in his little boat sails around the world. |
Haddon -- The Curious Incident
of the Dog in the Night-Time
Fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone is
mathematically gifted and socially hopeless, raised in
a working-class home by parents who can barely cope with
their child's quirks. He takes everything that he sees
(or is told) at face value, and is unable to sort out
the strange behavior of his elders and peers. |
| Heinlein -- Stranger in
a Strange Land
Winner of the 1962 Hugo Award, this book is the
story of Valentine Michael Smith, born during, and the
only survivor of, the first manned mission to mars.
Michael is raised by Martians, and he arrives on Earth
as a true innocent individual: he has never seen a woman
and has no knowledge of Earth’s cultures or religions.
But he brings turmoil with him, as he is the legal heir
to an enormous financial empire, not to mention de fact
owner of the planet Mars. |
Kidd -- The Secret Life of
Bees
A young white girl who is lost finds herself through
her relationship with three remarkable black women and
a hive of bees. |
| Kingsolver -- Animal Dreams
"Animals dream about the things they do in
the day time just like people do. If you want sweet
dreams, you've got to live a sweet life." So says
Loyd Peregrina, a handsome Apache trainman and latter-day
philosopher. But when Codi Noline returns to her hometown,
Loyd's advice is painfully out of her reach. Dreamless
and at the end of her rope, Codi comes back to Grace,
Arizona to confront her past and face her ailing, distant
father. |
Kingsolver --
The Bean Trees
An unforgettable story of love and friendship, abandonment
and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources
in apparently empty places, "The Bean Trees"
tells the story of Taylor Green, a spirited woman who
grew up in rural Kentucky with two goals: to avoid pregnancy
and to get away. |
| Mason -- In Country
In the summer of 1984, the war in Vietnam comes home
to Sam Hughes, whose father was killed there before
she was born. |
Petry -- The Street
Ann Petry puts forth a painfully honest treatise on black/white
relations in The Street. Lutie Johnson, an intelligent,
strong, and beautiful black woman, is separated from her
husband and doing her best to raise an eight-year-old
son, achieve independence from her father, advance in
her job, and work her way out of the Harlem streets, which
she calls "The North's lynch mobs ... the method
the big cities use to keep Negroes in their place."
Her goals and values are her strength, enabling her to
make decisions when there is no apparent choice and to
face a justice system fraught with injustice. She ultimately
escapes, but not without a sacrifice that rips apart any
woman's heart. |
| Shaw -- Pygmaliona
The story upon which "My Fair Lady" is based.
A young girl who sells flowers is educated in the ways
of British society. |
| Tolkien -- Any of
the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Adventures of the underdog hobbits in the wider and
more fantastic world of elves, dwarves, wizards and
the evil ring wraiths. |
