High School Summer Reading List

Books on the High School Summer Reading List for Trumbull students.

Updated June 13, 2024
T
Trumbull Library System
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Half of a yellow sun
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Paper Book
With her award-winning debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was heralded by the Washington Post Book World as the "21st century daughter" of Chinua Achebe. Now, in her masterly, haunting new novel, she recreates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra's...
Purple hibiscus : a novel
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Paper Book
Fifteen-year-old Kambili's world is circumscribed by the high walls and frangipani trees of her family compound. Her wealthy Catholic father, under whose shadow Kambili lives, while generous and politically active in the community, is repressive and fanatically religious at home. ...
The house of the spirits /
Allende, Isabel,
Paper Book
This "spectacular... absorbing and distinguished work...is a unique achievement, both personal witness and possible allegory of the past, present, and future of Latin America" (The New York Times Book Review). The House of the Spirits, which introduced Isabel...
Beartown : a novel
Backman, Fredrik
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with a dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream--and the price required to make it come true. People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly...
A long way gone : memoirs of a boy soldier
Beah, Ishmael
Paper Book
Unforgettable testimony that Africa's children . . . have eyes to see and voices to tell what has happened. And what voices! . . . No outsider could have written this book, and it's hard to imagine that many insiders could do so with such acute vision, stark language, and tenderness. It is a heart...
Circle of friends
Binchy, Maeve.
Paper Book
Set mainly against the background of a small community, this novel is the story of three girls whose lives, over a period of ten years, become entwined in a bizarre triangle. The author's previous books include Light a Penny Candle, Echoes and Silver Wedding.
The Da Vinci code /
Brown, Dan,
Paper Book
#1 WORLDWIDE BESTSELLER * While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. "Blockbuster perfection.... A...
The boys in the boat :
Brown, Daniel,
Paper Book
For readers of Laura Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit" and "Unbroken," the dramatic story of the American rowing team that stunned the world at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics " "Daniel James Brown's robust book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest...
The trigger :
Butcher, Tim,
Paper Book
On a summer morning in Sarajevo almost a hundred years ago, a teenager took a pistol out of his pocket and fired not just the opening rounds of the First World War but the starting gun for modern history. By killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Gavrilo...
The luminaries
Catton, Eleanor
Paper Book
Winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize and Governor General's Award for Fiction, and set during the heady days of New Zealand's Gold Rush, The Luminaries is a magnificent novel of love, lust, murder, and greed, in which three unsolved crimes link the fates and fortunes of twelve men...
The red tent
Diamant, Anita
Paper Book
In this modern classic interpretation of the biblical story of Dinah, Anita Diamant imagines the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of The Red Tent, a New York Times bestseller and the basis of the A&E/Lifetime mini-series. Twentieth Anniversary...
Dead Mountain :
Eichar, Donnie,
Paper Book
A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller - What happened that night on Dead Mountain? The mystery of Dead Mountain: In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects...
Killers of the Flower Moon : The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
Grann, David
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, "one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."--New...
Homegoing : a novel
Gyasi, Yaa
Paper Book
A PENGUIN BOOK CLUB PICK "Homegoing is an inspiration." --Ta-Nehisi Coates  An unforgettable New York Times bestseller of exceptional scope and sweeping vision that traces the descendants of two sisters across three hundred years in Ghana and...
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Haddon, Mark
Paper Book
A bestselling modern classic--both poignant and funny--narrated by a fifteen year old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing...
An astronaut's guide to life on Earth
Hadfield, Chris
Paper Book
As Commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield captivated the world with stunning photos and commentary from space. Now, in his first book, Chris offers readers extraordinary stories from his life as an astronaut, and shows how to make the impossible a reality.  ...
Unbroken [a World War II airman's story of survival, resilience, and redemption]
Hillenbrand, Laura
CD
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The incredible true story of survival and salvation that is the basis for two major motion pictures: 2014's Unbroken and the upcoming Unbroken: Path to Redemption. On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed...
A thousand splendid suns
Hosseini, Khaled.
Paper Book
After more than two years on the bestseller lists and over four million copies in print, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel of enormous contemporary relevance. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of...
Klara and the sun
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 BOOKER PRIZE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, THE GUARDIAN, ESQUIRE, VOGUE, TIME, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE TIMES (UK),...

The National English Honor Society has chosen Sing, Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward and Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro as the common reader texts for 2024-2025.

Then she was gone : a novel
Jewell, Lisa.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Nominated for a 2018 Goodreads Choice Award "An acutely observed family drama with bone-chilling suspense." --People "Jewell teases out her twisty plot at just the right pace, leaving...
The henna artist : a novel
Joshi, Alka
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK "Captivated me from the first chapter to the final page."--Reese Witherspoon Vivid and compelling in its portrait of one woman's struggle...
The secret life of bees
Kidd, Sue Monk
CD
Fourteen-year-old Lily Owens lost her beloved mother when she was only foura'under tragic circumstances clouded by time and secrecy. She later found a fiercely protective "stand-in," her abusive father's outspoken housekeeper, Rosaleen. Ignoring differences in age and colora'and the fact that racial...

From the St. Joseph High School Summer Reading List.

Shoe dog : a memoir by the creator of Nike
Knight, Philip H.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game...
Dead wake : the last crossing of the Lusitania
Larson, Erik
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania "Both terrifying and enthralling."--Entertainment Weekly"Thrilling, dramatic and powerful."...
Hidden figures : the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race
Shetterly, Margot Lee.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space--a powerful, revelatory history essential to our understanding of race, discrimination, and achievement in...
The beekeeper of Aleppo /
Lefteri, Christy,
Paper Book
This unforgettable novel puts human faces on the Syrian war with the immigrant story of a beekeeper, his wife, and the triumph of spirit when the world becomes unrecognizable. "A beautifully crafted novel of international significance that has the capacity to have us open our...
The high mountains of Portugal : a novel
Martel, Yann.
Paper Book
With this highly anticipated new novel, the author of the bestselling Life of Pi returns to the storytelling power and luminous wisdom of his master novel. The High Mountains of Portugal is a suspenseful, mesmerizing story of a great quest for meaning, told in three intersecting...
The color of water : a Black man's tribute to his white mother
McBride, James
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird: The modern classic that spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list and that Oprah.com calls one of the best memoirs of a generation....

From the St. Joseph High School Summer Reading List.

A train in winter : an extraordinary story of women, friendship, and resistance in occupied France
Moorehead, Caroline
Paper Book
On an icy morning in Paris in January 1943, 230 French women resisters were rounded up from the Gestapo detention camps and sent on a train to Auschwitz--the only train, in the four years of German occupation, to take women of the Resistance to a death camp. The youngest was a schoolgirl of 15,...
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Nafisi, Azar.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * We all have dreams--things we fantasize about doing and generally never get around to. This is the story of Azar Nafisi's dream and of the nightmare that made it come true. For two years before she left Iran in 1997, Nafisi gathered seven...
Code talker /
Nez, Chester.
Paper Book
The first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII. His name wasn't Chester Nez. That was the English name he was assigned in kindergarten. And in boarding school at Fort Defiance, he was punished for speaking his native language, as the teachers sought...
The things they carried : a work of fiction
O'Brien, Tim
Paper Book
"O'Brien has written a vital, important book--a book that matters not only to the reader interested in Vietnam, but to anyone interested in the craft of writing as well."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing...

From the St. Joseph High School Summer Reading List.

The tiger's wife /
Obreht, TOea.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Spectacular . . . [Téa Obreht] spins a tale of such marvel and magic in a literary voice so enchanting that the mesmerized reader wants her never to stop."--Entertainment Weekly  Look...
Sarah's key
Rosnay, Tatiana de
Paper Book
Now a major motion picture! From beloved international sensation and #1 New York Times bestselling author Tatiana de Rosnay come's her celebrated novel Sarah's Key. Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by...

From the St. Joseph High School Summer Reading List.

The god of small things
Roy, Arundhati
Paper Book
A beautiful reissue of the Booker Prize-winning, New York Times bestselling novel about an Indian family in tragic decline. Likened to the works of Faulkner and Dickens, this extraordinarily accomplished debut novel is a brilliantly plotted story of forbidden love and...
The shadow of the wind
Ruiz Zafn̤, Carlos
Paper Book
"Anyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic and thrilling should rush right out to the nearest bookstore and pick up The Shadow of the Wind. Really, you should." --Michael Dirda, The Washington Post "Wondrous...masterful...The ...
Snow flower and the secret fan /
See, Lisa.
Paper Book
Lily is haunted by memories-of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness. In nineteenth-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound...
The bookseller of Kabul /
Seierstad, UAsne,
Paper Book
This phenomenal international bestseller is "an admirable, revealing portrait of daily life in a country that Washington claims to have liberated but does not begin to understand" (Washington Post). This mesmerizing portrait of a proud man...
Between shades of gray
Sepetys, Ruta.
Paper Book
An international bestseller, a #1 New York Times bestseller, and now a major motion picture! Ruta Sepetys's Between Shades of Gray is now the film Ashes in the Snow! "Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this...
The Rosie project
Simsion, Graeme C.
Paper Book
A Globe & Mail 100 Selection The feel-good hit of 2013, The Rosie Project is a classic screwball romance about a handsome but awkward genetics professor and the woman who is totally wrong for him A first-date dud, socially awkward and overly fond of quick-dry clothes, genetics...
The art of warfare : the first English translation incorporating the recently discovered Yin-ch eh-shan texts
Sunzi
Paper Book
The most widely read military classic in human history, newly translated and revised in accordance with newly discovered materials of unprecedented historical significance. Fluid, crisp and rigorously faithful to the original, this new text is destined to stand as the definitive...
Drive your plow over the bones of the dead /
Tokarczuk, Olga,
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century "A brilliant literary murder mystery." --Chicago Tribune "Extraordinary. Tokarczuk's novel is funny, vivid, dangerous, and disturbing...
First they killed my father : a daughter of Cambodia remembers
Ung, Loung
Paper Book
"A riveting memoir. . . an important, moving work that those who have suffered cannot afford to forget and those who have been spared cannot afford to ignore." -- San Francisco Chronicle From a childhood survivor of the Cambodian genocide under the regime of Pol Pot, this is a...
Sing, unburied, sing a novel
Ward, Jesmyn.
Paper Book
A New York Times BestsellerAn Indie Next PickA National Book Award-winning AuthorA Finalist for the National Book Award for FictionA Finalist for the Kirkus PrizeA Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie MedalA Publishers Weekly Top 10 of 2017Jesmyn Ward brings the archetypal road novel into rural 21st...

The National English Honor Society has chosen Sing, Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward and Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro as the common reader texts for 2024-2025.

Educated : a memoir
Westover, Tara
Paper Book
For readers of The Glass Castle and Wild, a stunning new memoir about family, loss and the struggle for a better future #1 International Bestseller Tara Westover was seventeen when she first set foot in a classroom. Instead of traditional lessons, she grew up learning...
I am Malala :
Yousafzai, Malala,
Paper Book
A MEMOIR BY THE YOUNGEST RECIPIENT OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE As seen on Netflix with David Letterman "I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday." When the Taliban took control of the Swat...
Don't give up, don't give in :
Zamperini, Louis,
Paper Book
New York Times bestseller More than 100,000 copies in print Completed just two days before Louis Zamperini's death at age ninety-seven, Don't Give Up, Don't Give In shares a lifetime of wisdom, insight, and humor from "one of the most incredible American lives of the past century"...

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