Teen Reading Lists
The Solomon Schechter School of Westchester
Local Middle/High School Summer Reading Lists
Solomon Schechter School Grade 7
- The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (Required)—Edition with ISBN #0-440-967694
Choose one additional book from the following list:
- A Lion to Guard Us, by Clyde Robert Bulla — Left on their own in seventeenth-century London, three impoverished children draw upon all their resources to stay together and make their way to the Virginia colony in search of their father.
- Witches' Children: A Story of Salem, by Patricia Clapp (Librarian's note: out of print) — During the winter of 1692, when the young girls of Salem suddenly find themselves subject to fits of screaming and strange visions, some believe that they have seen the devil and are the victims of witchcraft.
- The Beaded Moccasins: The Story of Mary Campbell, by Lynda Durrant — Based on a real incident, this fictionalized account details the story of 12-year-old Mary Campbell's capture and first year of captivity among the Delaware Indians. Mary's observant narrative reveals a young girl coming of age, discovering her inner strength, and gaining sensitivity to the needs and hopes of others.
- Out of Many Waters, by Jacqueline Dembar Green — Kidnapped from their parents during the Portuguese Inquisition and sent to work as slaves at a monastery in Brazil, two Jewish sisters attempt to make their way back to Europe to find their parents, but instead one becomes part of a group founding the first Jewish settlement in the United States.
- My Brother, My Enemy, by Madge Harrah (Librarian's note: out of print) — Robert Bradford, 14, spends the night before his execution in a colonial Virginia jail cell writing this story. Circumstantial evidence indicates that his beloved friend Naokan took part in the massacre of his parents and siblings, and Robert vows to kill him. After Robert helps capture the Native Americans, Robert learns that they had nothing to do with his family's deaths. He must now work secretly to free his friends.
- The Primrose Way, by Jackie French Koller — The clash of cultures between the Pawtucket Indians and the new settlers in Agawam, Massachusetts in 1633 is the focus for this novel. Rebekah, the daughter of a missionary, befriends a young Native American girl and is accused of siding against her own family.
- Mary Jemison: The Story of an Indian Captive, by Lois Lenski — A fictional retelling of the experiences of twelve-year-old Mary Jemison, who after being captured by a Shawnee war party during the French and Indian War, is rescued and subsequently adopted by two Seneca sisters.
- Roanoke: A Novel of the Lost Colony, by Sonia Levitin (Librarian's note: out of print) — In 1587, runaway apprentice William Wythers joins a group of emigrants bound for Virginia, where he finds hardship, danger, treachery, and love. An English youth and an Indian girl are caught up in the events leading to the mysterious disappearance of the colony at Roanoke Island.
- Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burying Ground by Joyce and Gary McGowan Hansen — This non-fiction book describes the discovery and study of the African burial site found in Manhattan in 1991, while excavating for a new building, and what it reveals about the lives of black people in Colonial times.
- A Break with Charity, by Ann Rinaldi — The book deals with the Salem witchcraft trials through Susanna English who knew from the beginning that the young women who "cried out" against witches were coldly aware of what they were doing. Unable to reveal the secret because of the very real fear that they might cry out against her or her family, Susanna struggles with overwhelming guilt as one by one the nonconformists in that Puritan community were led to the gallows.
- The Secret of Sarah Revere, by Ann Rinaldi —Paul Revere's daughter describes her father's “rides” and the intelligence network of the patriot community prior to the American Revolution.
- Amos Fortune: Free Man, by Elizabeth Yates — Amos Fortune was born an African prince but enslaved, then sold in Boston in 1725. He learned a trade and was sold to several new masters. All the while he saved what money he could, so that forty years later, when he was 60, he had enough to buy his freedom. He devoted the rest of his life to education and to buying the freedom of other slaves.
Solomon Schechter School Grade 8
- The Chosen by Chaim Potok (Required)—Edition with ISBN #0-449-20334-4
Choose one additional book from the following list:
- Clapp, Patricia. The Tamarack Tree. — A thirteen year old girl is orphaned in London and moves to Vicksburg, Mississippi to live with her older brother. She has to learn the ropes of southern society, which is difficult given her hatred of slavery. She is also witnesses the siege of Vicksburg.
- James Collier and Christopher Collier. With Every Drop of Blood. — A fifteen year old boy has to take care of his family after his father is mortally wounded at war for the Confederates. He decides to avenge his father's death but is captured by the Union army and must learn to befriend a former slave.
- **Crane, Stephen. Red Badge of Courage. — The classic Civil War novel. Henry Flemming learns how horrible war really is and has to decide whether to stay and fight with his regiment or desert his friends and save his own life.
- Denenberg, Barry. When will this Cruel War be Over?: — the Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson. The fictional Civil War diary of a fourteen year old girl living in Virginia, in which she describes the hardships endured by her family and friends during one year of the Civil War.
- Fleishmann, Paul. Bull Run. — This book tells the story of the battle of Bull Run from sixteen different perspectives, including people from all walks of life.
- **Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl. — A personal narrative about the author's own experience as a slave.
- Myers, Walter Dean. The Glory Field. — This story follows a family's 241 year history, from the capture of an African boy in the 1750's through the lives of his descendents, as their dreams and circumstances lead them away from and back to the small plot of land in South Carolina they call the Glory Field.
- Murphy, Jim. The Boys' War: — Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War. Underage soldiers tell of their experiences during the civil war through letters, narratives and diary entries.
- Peck, Richard. The River Between Us —During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.
- Rinaldi, Ann. Girl in BlueSixteen year old Sarah, to escape home, disguises herself as a man in order to join the Union army. Eventually she is found out and becomes a spy for the North.
- **Twain, Mark. The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson —A mulatto slave switches her infant son with that of her master's at birth in this social criticism of slavery.
** denotes a more challenging reading level.
 Solomon Schechter School Grade 9
- The Color of Water, by James McBride (Required)
Also, choose one additional book from the following list:
- Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll
- Girl with the Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier
- Snow in August, by Pete Hamill
- Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse
- Black Boy, by Richard Wright
Solomon Schechter School Grade 10
- West with the Night, by Beryl Markham (Required)
Also, choose one additional book from the following list:
- Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
- Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
- Silas Marner, by George Eliot
- The Quiet American, by Graham Greene
- The Third Man, by Graham Greene
- 1984, by George Orwell
- The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Solomon Schechter School Grade 11 Honors
Choose two books from the following list:
- Typical American, by Gish Jen
- Native Speaker, by Chang-Rae Lee
- Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
- Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
- The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
- The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton
Solomon Schechter School Grade 11 Regular
Choose two books from the following list:
- Mona in the Promised Land, by Gish Jen
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
- The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
- Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer
- The Worst Hard Time, by Timothy Egan
- Manchild in the Promised Land, by Claude Brown
Solomon Schechter School Grade 12
Choose one book from the following list:
- A Tale of Love and Darkness, by Amos Oz
- The March: A Novel, by E.L. Docotorow
- Crime and Punishment, by Fyodr Dostoevsky
- Tess of the D'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy
- The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai
- The Yellow Wind, by David Grossman
- When I Lived in Modern Times, by Linda Grant
- Bliss, by Ronit Matalon
- No Ordinary Time or Team of Rivals, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright
- The Known World, by Edward Jones
- Beloved, by Toni Morrison
- Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
- The World to Come, by Dara Horn
- Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Terrorist, by John Updike
- The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
- Eat the Document, by Dana Spiotta
- Sophie's Choice, by William Styron
- The Places In Between, by Rory Stewart
- Black Swan Green, by David Mitchel
- This Boy's Life, by Tobias Wolff
- A Year in the Life of Shakespeare: 1599, by James Shapiro
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