All upper school students will have to read a minimum of three books and write in response to the books. Some students will have more than three books to read. A response of two pages for the selection assigned for the whole upper school and for those assigned for English courses should take the form of journal entries. In the entries, students should comment on the books’ themes, characters, and challenges; they should also demonstrate that they have read the selections. Students should avoid plot summaries.

For History courses, for works of historical fiction, students should discuss the way the author makes use of historical events in the narrative.  Does the author have a particular perspective or bias?  What insight can a work of fiction give to historical events?  For nonfiction works assigned for History courses, students should discuss the author's thesis as well as the major topics and evidence the author examines in advancing the thesis. Responses to the Science selections for all ninth graders should focus on the information provided by the writer on the contribution of science to the understanding of the world in which we live.

In September, advisors will discuss the A Slave No More by David Blight with their advisees; advisors will check the journal entries. If advisees do not do the entries, advisors will report this to English teachers and students' summer reading grades in English will drop. Most of the titles listed below will be available for purchase from local bookstores and on-line from various suppliers. Textbooks will be supplied through the Connecticut College Book Store. Information on the availability of textbooks for purchase (when and where) will be posted later this summer on the School’s website.

All upper school students should read A Slave No More by David Blight.

For Ninth Grade, the English Department and the Science Department assign a book. Even if a ninth grade student does not take Biology, one of the Science selections is required reading.

9^th Grade English - Goddess of Yesterday, by Caroline B. Cooney, Laurel Leaf, ISBN: 0440229308

9^th Grade Science – Students may choose one from among the following books and should submit a two-page written response to their Biology teacher if they are taking Biology, or to the advisor, if not:

• The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
• The Botany of Desire - Michael Pollan
• Second Nature: A Gardener's Education - Michael Pollan
• In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto - Michael Pollan
• Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
• Chew on This - Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson
• Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman - Richard Feynman
• What Do You Care What Other People Think? - Richard Feynman
• Seven Daughters of Eve - Bryan Sykes
• Adam's Curse - Bryan Sykes
• Longitude - Dava Sobel
• Mendeleev's Dream - Paul Strathern
• The Panda's Thumb - Stephen Jay Gould
• Lonesome George: The Lives and Loves of a Conservation Icon by Henry Nicholls
• The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner
• Genome - Matt Ridley
• The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters - Rose George
• The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA - James Watson 

For Tenth Grade, The English and the History Departments assign the required books.

English II - Animal Farm and "Shooting an Elephant," an essay, both by George Orwell (The essay can be read on the internet at http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/shoot.htm)

Modern World History One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Signet Classics) (ISBN 10: 0451531043, ISBN 13: 978-0451531049).

Eleventh and Twelfth Graders, the English Department and the History Department each assigns one book. (If a Twelfth Grader is not taking a history course, she or he should choose one of the books assigned for senior courses.) Seniors sometimes find that course conflicts exclude them from an elective. They should await notification in July of their programs before they buy and read books for history elective courses.

For Eleventh Grade, The English and the History Departments assign the required books.

English III -The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

U.S. History  - Students will complete an online ABC-CLIO research assignment instead of summer reading.  Directions are available at http://www.williamsschool.org/academics/ushistorysummerreading.html

AP U.S. History - 1776, by David McCullough Simon & Schuster 2006 (ISBN 0743226720).

                         - American History by Alan Brinkley, McGraw-Hill, (ISBN 0073255041) course textbook, Chapters 1 and 2. Read and take notes to prepare for a quiz within the first week of school. (Book notes will not be allowed for quiz, so please make notes on a separate sheet.)

For Twelfth Grade English:

Writing as Readers - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

Other Gods and Other Monsters - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

Folk & Faerie Tales - Billy Budd, Sailor and Selected Tales by Herman Melville, Oxford University Press (ISBN 10: 0199538913, ISBN 13: 978-0199538911)

Strange Plays - A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, Samuel French (ISBN 10: 0573608148, ISBN 13: 978-0573608148) 

12th grade: (History Electives)

Economics - The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich are Rich, Why the Poor are Poor -- And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!, by Tim Harford (ISBN: 0345494016)

Modern German History - The Search for Major Plagge by Michael Good (expanded edition ISBN 10: 0823224414, ISBN 13: 978-0823224418)

Pursuit of Freedom – Fences by August Wilson  (ISBN 0452264014)

The Sixties – Ella Baker, Freedom Bound by Joanne Grant  (ISBN 0471327174)

Modern Languages Department:

AP Spanish V - Students enrolled will receive reading assignments.

Classics Department

AP Latin V - The Aeneid of Virgil, Allen Mandelbaum translator, Bantam Classics

(ISBN 0553210416) recommended; any current translation is also acceptable.

Mathematics Department

AP Calculus (AB) Calculus: Graphic, Numerical, and Algebraic (AP Edition), 3^rd ed., Prentice Hall Group, (ISBN 0132014084). Students should read and study Chapter 1 (“Prerequisites of Calculus”) and do the following problems: page 56 #1-18 all, 21-36 by 3, 39-43 all, 45b, 48b, 53a, 58-70. They should show some work or steps along the way. This assignment is to be handed in on the first day of class. There will be a test on this material during the first week. Students should also review and provide the values of various trig functions for the special angles learned in Pre-Calculus.

Science Department:

AP Biology - Biology, 8th ed., Campbell/Reece; Publ. Pearson Higher Ed/ (ISBN 0321543254)

Study Guide for Biology, 7th edition, Campbell/Reece; Publ. Pearson (ISBN 0805371559). Recommended, not required.

AP Biology Lab Manual, Publ. The College Board, 2001 ed. (ISBN 9992857633)

AP Chemistry - Chemistry, the Central Science (10th edition) by Brown, LeMay, and Burnstein, Prentice Hall School Group, (ISBN 0131937197)

AP-B Physics – College Physics, 7^th edition, Cengage Learning, (ISBN 0534997236);

Student Solutions Manual & Study Guides, Chapters 1-14 (ISBN 0534999204) and Chapters 15-30 (ISBN 0534999301) [THE MANUALS ARE OPTIONAL]

A final note: students should read the works assigned for English as close to the beginning of the school year as possible and take a copy of the book to their first class. Teachers in the other departments who assign reading will be using the works as part of their courses. Advisors will discuss A Slave No More by David Blight with their advisees. The reading and writing done in the summer anticipate the work for the up-coming year and give teachers and advisors a chance to get to know their students through the journal entries.