Academics

Grade Read: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Welcome incoming 9th Graders! My name is Alex Perkins, and I will be your English teacher this year. During the summer, you will be required to read Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. Please read the book, complete the assignment, and submit your written response to my email (aperkins@crms.org) by the first day of classes. You will also need to bring the book with you on the first day of class; this will be a book that will remain part of our conversations during the beginning of the school year.

Brief Description of Born a Crime:

“Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.” (from Bookshop.org)

Click here for the summer assignment.

Grade Reads: (two books): Signs Preceding the End of the World, Yuri Herrera and Warriors Don't Cry, Melba Patillo Beals

The incoming 10th-grade summer readings for English and History, respectively, are Signs Preceding the End of the World, by Yuri Herrera, and Warriors Don't Cry, by Melba Patillo Beals. As you read these books, you will be expected to annotate the text. Since we won't all be reading at the same time, it will be beneficial for you to highlight, underline, and record your thoughts within the pages of your physical book; this will serve to further thoughtful and efficient class discussion when we convene in September. You must bring your annotated book to the first day of class.

For English, Signs Preceding the End of the World is the story of a young protagonist crossing an international border in search of her brother. This short novella is also a symbolic journey of the individual from one life to another; it is a tale that mirrors the progression of a soul through the Aztec underworld, Mictlán, but uses contemporary settings in order to investigate the experience of migration, borders, and the collision of cultures. It is an interesting, short, and challenging book!

For students in Honors History: In addition to the books above, please choose either Between the World and Me or How to be an Anti-Racist. Read whichever book you choose carefully and be ready to discuss it in the fall.

10th Grade Summer Reading and Writing Assignment

Grade Reads for AP: Walden by Henry David Thoreau and Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Please note: Students in AP Language and Composition must also read one non-fiction book from the grab list. See the summer assignment below for choices.

AP English Language and Composition, as a year-long course, is unlike many high school English classes in terms of the texts and content assigned to students. Whereas most secondary school English curricula revolves around literature, the AP English Language and Composition will focus on non-fiction, and the arguments and rhetoric employed within the genre. 

During the course of this summer, students planning to enroll in AP English Language and Composition will encounter one of the United States’ most canonical works of non-fiction. Before the school year begins, students will be asked to read and annotate Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. The link to purchase the book can be found here, or pasted below as well. 

To quote the College Board’s website: “The AP English Language and Composition course focuses on the development and revision of evidence-based analytic and argumentative writing, the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts, and the decisions writers make as they compose and revise.”  In our first unit of the year, students will examine “the rhetorical situation” of a text - and learn and discuss all of the factors that allow that text to enact and enforce an argument.

Click here for the AP Language and Composition summer assignment.

Grade Read for American Literature only: Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro

Over the summer, please read Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. When we gather for class in September, the first unit of the year will cover the genre of the American short story. We will read a variety of diverse authors who - through their works of fiction - make wildly different statements about the United States. Kazuo Ishiguro is seen as one of the contemporary greats in this category, and his work Klara and the Sun acts as a beautifully structured, impossibly creative and inventive collection that recently earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Click here for the 11th-grade American Literature summer assignment.