Dear Students and Parents,
As preparation for next year’s Social Studies classes, we have supplied a summer reading list. Please pick one of the following choices for your class, and complete the assigned task for your book. The task will be collected and evaluated by your Social Studies teacher in September.
Historical context: Throughout history conflicts and change have often led to many changes to the lives, values and the way people view their world.
Theme: change/conflict
Task:
- Describe a conflict/change from any novel.
- Examine how the main characters are affected by the conflict.
- Evaluate the extent to which the change/conflict had a more positive or negative impact on the life or values of the main characters.
- Be sure to use proper essay format. Use details and examples to support your points as evidence of the conflict experienced by a character in the novel.
H3, H3X and HEX1 – (Pick one book) Global History, A.P. European History and A.P. World History
o The Prince, Machiavelli. A Florentine diplomat writes a “how to book” on gaining power and keeping it. The book was the base for the movie “Bronx Tale.” This is required reading for the A.P. European students.
o All Quiet on the Western Front. Erich Remarque. This classic novel was written during the Weimar Period in Germany, 1919-1933. It is story a Paul Baumer, a young soldier who enlisted in the German army with youthful enthusiasm just before World War I, only to find himself destroyed by the brutality of trench warfare. His poignant tale is a story of one ordinary young man’s life changing experience.
o Kite Runner. Khaled Hossieni. Amir, haunted by a shocking betrayal of Hassan, the son of his father’s servant a childhood friend, returns to Kabul as an adult after hearing Hassan has been killed and attempts to redeem himself by rescuing Hassan’s son from a Taliban official.
H5 – American History (pick one book)
o The Color of Water. James McBride. A black man pays tribute to his eccentric, determined white mother.
o Killer Angels. Michael Sharra. This novel reveals more about the Battle of Gettysburg than any piece of learned nonfiction on the same subject. This is an account of the three most important days of the Civil War.
H5 Honors (both Books are required.
o His Excellency. Joseph Ellis. George Washington is assessed as a military and political leader and a man whose “statue-like solidity” concealed volcanic and emotions. Here is the young officer whose miraculous survival in combat half-convinced him that he could not be killed. We see the general who lost more battles than he won and the reluctant president who tried to float above the feuding of his cabinet.
o Killer Angels. Michael Sharra. This novel reveals more about the Battle of Gettysburg than any piece of learned nonfiction on the same subject. This is an account of the three most important days of the Civil War.
H5X – A.P. American History (Both books required)
o The Revolution: A Manifesto. Ron Paul. This reflects the “core truths” behind everything threatening America, from the reasons behind the collapse of the dollar and the looming financial crisis, to terrorism and the loss of civil liberties as seen by Ron Paul a Texan congressman and presidential candidate.
o The Myth of the Robber Barons. Burton W. Folsom. This short book examines the robber barons of the Industrial Age from a different perspective: more angel than devil.
H7 and H8 – Participation in Government and Economics - All Houses (Both books are required). Each book has a separate task
o Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach their Kids about Money- What the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! Richard Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter. The author using personal observation of his own highly educated but fiscally unstable father and the multimillionaire eighth grade dropout father of his closest friend develops a theory on making money.
Task:
1. Create a top 10 do’s and top 10 don’ts of Kiyosaki’s road to wealth.
2. Discuss the role of assets and liabilities in “getting rich.”
o Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity, John Stossel. ABC News correspondent Stossel mines his 20/20 segments for often engaging, frequently tendentious challenges to conventional wisdom, presenting a series of “myths” and then deploying an investigative journalism shovel to unearth “truth.” This results in snappy debunking of alarmism, witch-hunts, satanic ritual abuse prosecutions and marketing hokum like the irradiated-foods panic, homeopathic medicine and the notion that bottled water beats tap.
Task:
1. Pick four topics discussed in the book
2. Discuss the positive and negative impact of government intervention.
3. Evaluate the author’s opinion about the government’s role on the topic you picked.