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Entering 9th Grade Recommended Summer Reading List
Classics
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee (American)
A girl’s eyes are opened to racism and justice in the Deep South when her father defends an innocent Black man.
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare (British)
Two star-crossed teens defy their feuding families in this timeless tale of love and tragedy.
"The Odyssey" by Homer (Ancient Greek)
A warrior’s epic 10-year journey home, battling monsters and gods, to reunite with his family.
"The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros (Mexican American)
A young Latina girl dreams beyond her cramped Chicago neighborhood in lyrical vignettes.
"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe (Nigerian)
A proud Igbo leader’s life unravels as colonialism crashes into his Nigerian village.
"Animal Farm" by George Orwell (British)
A barnyard revolution turns tyrannical in this razor-sharp allegory about power corrupting.
"The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway (American)
An aging fisherman battles a giant marlin—and his own mortality—in this sparse, profound novella.
"The Pearl" by John Steinbeck (American)
A poor diver’s discovery of a priceless pearl brings greed and violence to his family.
Contemporary
"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie (Native American)
A rez kid navigates identity and belonging when he transfers to an all-white school.
"Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson (American)
A memoir in verse about growing up Black in the 1960s, torn between North and South.
"The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas (American)
A Black teen witnesses her friend’s police shooting and must find her activist voice.
"Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah (South African)
The Daily Show host’s hilarious and heartbreaking memoir of growing up mixed-race under apartheid.
"Jasper Jones" by Craig Silvey (Australian)
Two boys uncover a small town’s dark secrets during a scorching 1960s Australian summer.
"Felix Ever After" by Kacen Callender (St. Thomas)
A Black trans boy navigates love, art, and self-acceptance after being publicly outed.
"Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi (Iranian)
A rebellious girl comes of age during Iran’s Islamic Revolution, in a groundbreaking graphic memoir.
"The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani (Indian American)
A Hindu-Muslim girl flees Partition-era India in 1947 through poignant letters to her dead mother.
"Cemetery Boys" by Aiden Thomas (Mexican American)
A trans brujo accidentally summons a ghost—who won’t leave until they solve his murder.
"Legend" by Marie Lu (Chinese American)
In a dystopian LA, a prodigy cop and a wanted criminal uncover a government conspiracy.
"Patron Saints of Nothing" by Randy Ribay (Filipino American)
A Filipino-American teen investigates his cousin’s murder under Duterte’s drug war.
"The Murderer’s Ape" by Jakob Wegelius (Swedish)
A talking gorilla and a sailor solve a mystery across 1920s Europe in this whimsical adventure.
"Tomorrow, When the War Began" by John Marsden (Australian)
Teens return from a camping trip to find their country invaded—and become guerrilla fighters.
"Children of Blood and Bone" by Tomi Adeyemi (Nigerian American)
A magic-wielding girl leads a rebellion against a ruthless monarchy in this West African fantasy.
"All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely (American)
Two teens—one Black, one white—grapple with police brutality from opposite perspectives.
"I Am Malala" by Malala Yousafzai (Pakistani)
The Nobel winner’s memoir of surviving a Taliban attack for advocating girls’ education.
"The Whale Rider" by Witi Ihimaera (New Zealander)
A Māori girl defies tradition to claim her destiny as her tribe’s spiritual leader.
"Never Fall Down" by Patricia McCormick (American, about Cambodian experience)
A boy survives the Khmer Rouge by playing music—while witnessing unspeakable horrors.
"A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park (Korean American)
Two Sudanese children—one in 1985, one in 2008—fight for survival amid war and drought.
"At the End of Everything" by Marieke Nijkamp (Dutch)
Teens at a juvenile detention center must survive alone when a pandemic wipes out the staff.
"The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander (American)
A basketball prodigy navigates family and first love in this electrifying novel in verse.
"The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill (American)
A witch raises a magic-infused child in this enchanting fairy tale about love and sacrifice.
"Furia" by Yamile Saied Méndez (Argentinian American)
A soccer phenom in Argentina battles sexism and family expectations to chase her dreams.
"Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez (Dominican American)
A girl’s family flees Trujillo’s dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, leaving her behind.
"Akata Witch" by Nnedi Okorafor (Nigerian American)
A Nigerian-American girl discovers her latent magic in this “African Harry Potter.”
"Refugee" by Alan Gratz (American)
Three child refugees—from Nazi Germany, 1990s Cuba, and modern Syria—face perilous journeys.
"A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness (British)
A grieving boy befriends a monstrous tree that helps him face his mother’s terminal illness.
"Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi (Nigerian American/Tamil)
In a utopian future, a trans girl and a monstrous being hunt hidden injustice.
"The Weight of Our Sky" by Hanna Alkaf (Malaysian)
A teen with OCD races through 1969 Kuala Lumpur’s race riots to find her mother.
Entering 10th Grade Recommended Summer Reading List
Classics
"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding (British)
Stranded boys descend into savagery in this chilling allegory of human nature.
"Macbeth" by William Shakespeare (British)
A Scottish warlord’s bloody rise to power—and downfall—fueled by prophecy and guilt.
"A Separate Peace" by John Knowles (American)
A boarding school friendship turns toxic in this meditation on jealousy and identity.
"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger (American)
A disaffected teen wanders New York, railing against the “phoniness” of adulthood.
"Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigerian)
A Nigerian girl’s oppressive home life collides with political unrest in her country.
"The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende (Chilean)
A magical realist saga following a Chilean family through love, revolution, and dictatorship.
"The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy (Indian)
Twin siblings in India confront caste and forbidden love in this lush, tragic novel.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque (German)
A German soldier’s harrowing account of World War I’s futility and trauma.
Contemporary
"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak (Australian)
Death narrates the story of a girl who steals books in Nazi Germany.
"The Poet X" by Elizabeth Acevedo (Dominican American)
A Harlem teen finds her voice through slam poetry, defying her strict religious mother.
"Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (Mexican American)
Two Mexican-American boys in 1980s Texas forge a bond that blossoms into love.
"We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart (American)
A privileged teen’s idyllic summers hide a dark secret—and a shocking twist.
"Looking for Alibrandi" by Melina Marchetta (Australian)
An Italian-Australian girl grapples with family, identity, and first love in Sydney.
"Long Way Down" by Jason Reynolds (American)
A boy rides an elevator downward, deciding whether to avenge his brother’s murder—in verse.
"Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys (Lithuanian American)
Four refugees flee WWII, converging on the doomed ship Wilhelm Gustloff.
"Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram (Iranian American)
A depressed Iranian-American teen finds friendship—and himself—during a trip to Iran.
"On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas (American)
A young rapper’s viral freestyle about police brutality sparks backlash and self-discovery.
"I Wish You All the Best" by Mason Deaver (American)
A nonbinary teen thrown out by their parents finds solace in a new friendship—and love.
"The End of Eddy" by Édouard Louis (French)
A gay boy endures poverty and homophobia in a working-class French town.
"With the Fire on High" by Elizabeth Acevedo (Dominican American)
A teen mom pursues her dream of becoming a chef despite life’s obstacles.
"Dear Martin" by Nic Stone (American)
A Black Ivy League student writes letters to MLK after being racially profiled by police.
"The Dry" by Jane Harper (Australian)
A federal agent returns to his drought-stricken hometown to solve a murder-suicide.
"Clap When You Land" by Elizabeth Acevedo (Dominican American)
Two sisters—one in NYC, one in DR—discover each other after their father’s plane crashes.
"They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera (Puerto Rican American)
Two boys meet on their last day after receiving calls that they’ll die within 24 hours.
"Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez (American)
A Mexican-American girl and a Black boy’s forbidden love in 1930s Texas ends in tragedy.
"Beartown" by Fredrik Backman (Swedish)
A hockey-obsessed town fractures when a star player is accused of rape.
"We Are Not Free" by Traci Chee (Japanese American)
Fourteen Japanese-American teens narrate their internment during WWII.
"Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys (Lithuanian American)
A Lithuanian girl survives Stalin’s Siberian labor camps in this historical tearjerker.
"The Astonishing Color of After" by Emily X.R. Pan (Taiwanese American)
A girl processes her mother’s suicide through magic, art, and a trip to Taiwan.
"Internment" by Samira Ahmed (Indian American)
A dystopian near-future where Muslim Americans are forced into internment camps.
"Parachutes" by Kelly Yang (Chinese American)
A wealthy Chinese “parachute” student and a Filipino-American scholarship kid clash—then unite.
"The Elephant Vanishes" by Haruki Murakami (Japanese)
Surreal short stories where cats vanish, elephants shrink, and reality bends.
"Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys (Dominican)
The backstory of Jane Eyre’s “madwoman in the attic,” set in colonial Jamaica.
"The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga (Indian)
A chauffeur murders his employer in this scathing satire of India’s class system.
"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho (Brazilian)
A shepherd boy journeys to Egypt in search of treasure—and his destiny.
Entering 11th Grade Recommended Summer Reading List
Classics
"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (American)
A woman branded for adultery in Puritan Boston fights for dignity and love in a judgmental society.
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (American)
A mysterious millionaire’s glittering parties hide his obsession with a lost love—and the dark side of the American Dream.
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston (American)
A Black woman’s journey through love and self-discovery in the Jim Crow South, told in lyrical dialect.
"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley (British)
A dystopian future where happiness is mandatory, and one man dares to ask: What does it mean to be human?
"The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan (Chinese American)
Four Chinese immigrant mothers and their American daughters clash over culture, sacrifice, and unspoken truths.
"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini (Afghan American)
A wealthy boy’s betrayal of his servant friend haunts him across decades and continents.
"Beloved" by Toni Morrison (American)
A formerly enslaved woman is haunted by the ghost of her baby—and the trauma of her past.
"Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigerian)
A Nigerian woman navigates race, love, and identity in America—then returns home to confront what changed.
"The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov (Russian)
The Devil visits Stalin’s Moscow, wreaking havoc alongside a giant talking cat and a doomed love story.
"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera (Czech)
Four lovers in Communist Prague grapple with freedom, fidelity, and the weight of existence.
"Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel García Márquez (Colombian)
A man waits 50 years for his true love in this magical realist tale of passion and patience.
"Perfume" by Patrick Süskind (German)
An olfactory genius in 18th-century France becomes obsessed with capturing the scent of a young woman—at any cost.
Contemporary
"The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead (American)
A literal railroad carries an enslaved woman north, but freedom proves elusive in this reimagined history.
"On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong (Vietnamese American)
A son’s letter to his illiterate mother reveals their fractured love and shared immigrant trauma.
"The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri (Indian American)
An Indian-American boy named after a Russian writer struggles to reconcile his identity across two cultures.
"Exit West" by Mohsin Hamid (Pakistani)
Magical doors transport refugees from war-torn countries to uncertain futures in this global fable.
"Girl, Woman, Other" by Bernardine Evaristo (British)
Twelve interconnected stories of Black British women—queer, straight, young, old—fighting to be seen.
"Boy Swallows Universe" by Trent Dalton (Australian)
A boy in 1980s Brisbane navigates crime, poverty, and a missing mother with wit and resilience.
"Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi (Ghanaian American)
Two half-sisters’ descendants span 300 years, from Ghanaian slavery to modern America.
"An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir (Pakistani American)
A slave and a soldier unite to overthrow a tyrannical empire in this Roman-inspired fantasy.
"Far From the Tree" by Robin Benway (American)
Three adopted siblings separated at birth reunite to uncover their shared past.
"Human Acts" by Han Kang (Korean)
A brutalized boy’s death during South Korea’s 1980 uprising ripples through six interconnected lives.
"Atonement" by Ian McEwan (British)
A girl’s lie about a crime destroys lives—and her attempt to atone spans decades.
"Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo (Israeli American)
A gang of misfits pulls off an impossible heist in this gritty, magic-filled fantasy.
"The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater (American)
A true story of a genderqueer teen set on fire by a stranger—and the justice system’s response.
"The Secret River" by Kate Grenville (Australian)
An English convict’s settlement in Australia sparks violence with Indigenous people.
"The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon (Jamaican American)
A Jamaican girl facing deportation and a Korean-American boy fall in love over one fateful day.
"Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman (American)
A teen’s descent into mental illness mirrors a surreal ocean voyage in this award-winning novel.
"Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish)
An eccentric woman in rural Poland investigates murders—and rails against humanity’s cruelty.
"The Bite of the Mango" by Mariatu Kamara (Sierra Leonean)
A girl survives civil war but loses her hands—then rebuilds her life with unshakable courage.
"Girl in Translation" by Jean Kwok (Chinese American)
A prodigy hides her sweatshop poverty from her elite schoolmates in this immigrant story.
"A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi (Iranian American)
A Muslim girl in post-9/11 America finds love—and confronts Islamophobia—through breakdancing.
"Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Native American)
A botanist blends Indigenous wisdom and science to reimagine humanity’s relationship with nature.
"Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami (Japanese)
A young man’s love triangle in 1960s Tokyo spirals into grief and nostalgia.
"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro (British Japanese)
Boarding school students discover they’re clones bred for organ harvesting—but still yearn for love.
"Convenience Store Woman" by Sayaka Murata (Japanese)
A neurodivergent woman finds purpose in her dead-end job—until society pressures her to “change.”
"White Teeth" by Zadie Smith (British)
Two immigrant families in London collide across race, religion, and generational divides.
Entering 12th Grade Recommended Summer Reading List
Classics
"Hamlet" by William Shakespeare (British)
A prince’s quest for vengeance spirals into madness, betrayal, and existential dread.
"Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley (British)
A scientist’s monstrous creation demands answers: Who is the real monster—the creature or his maker?
"1984" by George Orwell (British)
A man rebels against a totalitarian regime that controls truth, love, and even thought.
"Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison (American)
A Black man’s search for identity in a society that refuses to see him.
"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russian)
A student’s murder of a pawnbroker leads to psychological torment and redemption.
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez (Colombian)
A family’s rise and fall in a magical town mirrors Latin America’s turbulent history.
"The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka (Czech)
A man wakes up as a giant insect—and his family’s disgust reveals the cruelty of “normalcy.”
"The Stranger" by Albert Camus (French Algerian)
A man’s indifference to his mother’s death leads to a murder trial exploring existential absurdity.
"The Handmaid’s Tale" by Margaret Atwood (Canadian)
A woman fights to survive in a theocratic regime where fertile women are enslaved for reproduction.
"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Díaz (Dominican American)
A nerdy Dominican-American boy battles family curses and dictatorship legacies.
Contemporary
"All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr (American)
A blind French girl and a German boy’s paths collide in WWII-occupied France.
"The Narrow Road to the Deep North" by Richard Flanagan (Australian)
A POW surgeon’s haunting memories of building the Thai-Burma Death Railway.
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (American)
Two Black boys survive a racist reform school—but only one makes it out alive.
"Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel (Canadian)
A traveling Shakespeare troupe survives a pandemic—and asks: What’s worth saving in civilization?
"The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller (American)
A reimagining of the Iliad through the passionate love between Achilles and Patroclus.
"The Years" by Annie Ernaux (French)
A collective memoir of France from WWII to the 2000s, blending personal and political.
"An American Marriage" by Tayari Jones (American)
A newlywed Black man’s wrongful conviction tests his marriage—and his wife’s loyalty.
"The Sympathizer" by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Vietnamese American)
A communist spy in America grapples with divided loyalties after the Vietnam War.
"The Girl with the Louding Voice" by Abi Daré (Nigerian)
A Nigerian girl sold into servitude fights for education and a voice of her own.
"The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates (American)
A enslaved man with magical powers joins the Underground Railroad in this fantastical history.
"Cloudstreet" by Tim Winton (Australian)
Two working-class families share a haunted house in postwar Perth, Australia.
"Haroun and the Sea of Stories" by Salman Rushdie (Indian British)
A boy rescues his father’s storytelling magic from a villain who wants to silence imagination.
"Interior Chinatown" by Charles Yu (Taiwanese American)
A screenplay-style satire about an Asian actor typecast as “Generic Asian Man” in Hollywood.
"The Luminaries" by Eleanor Catton (New Zealander)
A gold rush mystery in 1860s New Zealand, woven through astrological signs and fate.
"The Memory Police" by Yoko Ogawa (Japanese)
On an island where objects vanish—and memories with them—a woman hides her editor from the authorities.
"Pachinko" by Min Jin Lee (Korean American)
Four generations of a Korean family endure discrimination in Japan across the 20th century.
"The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spanish)
A boy’s obsession with a forgotten book leads to a decades-old mystery in post-war Barcelona.
"The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin (Chinese)
A secret message to aliens sparks a sci-fi saga spanning China’s Cultural Revolution to the cosmos.
"A Long Petal of the Sea" by Isabel Allende (Chilean)
Two Spanish Civil War refugees rebuild their lives in Chile under Pinochet’s dictatorship.
"The Vegetarian" by Han Kang (Korean)
A woman’s decision to stop eating meat spirals into violence and surreal transformation.
"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri (Indian American)
Nine stories of Indian immigrants navigating love, loss, and cultural displacement.
"Spring Snow" by Yukio Mishima (Japanese)
A forbidden love between aristocrats in 1912 Tokyo clashes with tradition and destiny.
"Death in the Andes" by Mario Vargas Llosa (Peruvian)
A corporal investigates disappearances in a remote mining town haunted by Shining Path rebels.
"My Sister, the Serial Killer" by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Nigerian)
A nurse cleans up her beautiful sister’s murders—until she starts dating her crush.
