Summer Reading

All titles for The Ellis School's summer reading assignments can be found below. Lower and Middle School students should read what is listed for the grade they are entering in Fall 2020. Upper School students should complete the required reading for the classes they will be taking in the 2020–2021 school year only.

For required writing assignments and recommended reading lists, please log into MyEllis and visit the Summer Reading resource board.

Lower School Summer Reading

List of 4 items.

Pre-kindergarten–Grade 1

There is no required reading, but parents are encouraged to read regularly and often with their daughters over the summer months. Please refer to Ellis' pre-kindergarten–grade 1 recommended summer reading list for suggested titles.
Grade 2

Pa Lia's First Day by Michelle Edwards
Grade 3

Donavan's Word Jar by Monalisa DeGross
Grade 4
- The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
- Please choose one (or more) of the following to read as well:

Middle School Summer Reading

List of 4 items.

Grade 5
Please read this message from Ms. Sidari, then choose one of the following books to read:
- The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcárcel
- Amina's Voice by Hena Khan
- Just Like Jackie by Lindsey Stoddard
- Blended by Sharon M. Draper
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Grade 6

The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz
Grade 7

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
Grade 8

This Side of Home by Renée Watson

Upper School Summer Reading

List of 12 items.

Grade 9 | World Literature I

Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Grade 10 | World Literature II

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Grade 10 | History

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
ISBN-13: 978-0374527075
Grade 11 | American Literature
Please choose one of the following summer reading options:
- She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
- The Leavers by Lisa Ko
- No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts
Grade 11 | Survey of American History

Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists by Jean Baker
ISBN-13: 978-0809087037
Grade 11 | AP United States History

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
ISBN-13: 978-0679744726
Grade 11 and 12 | Gender and Power

Orlando (Annotated): A Biography by Virginia Woolf
Paperback. Mariner Books, 1 edition (July 3, 2006). ISBN-13: 978-0156031516
Grade 12 | Origin Story: Identity and Culture
Please choose one of the following:
- Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
Grade 12 | AP English Literature and Composition
Please read:
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare (the Folger edition; available to download here)
AND one of the following:
- Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
Grade 12 | Poetics of Social Justice
Please read one of the following:
- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (nonfiction)
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (nonfiction)
- The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (fiction)
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (fiction)
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (fiction)
Grade 12 | AP Biology

Survival of the Sickest: The Surprising Connections Between Disease and Longevity by Sharon Moalem
ISBN-13: 978-0060889661
Grade 12 | AP Comparative Government and Politics

Factfulness: Ten Reasons Why We're Wrong About the World by Hans Rosling
ISBN-13: 978-1250123824