2023-2024 Summer Reading List

MGM Shield
The Summer Reading Program at Mary G. Montgomery High School is designed to engage students while giving them opportunities to expand their reading skills. This summer we are recommending a school-wide read for all grade levels in regular courses and then there are additional books for honors, advanced placement, and dual enrollment.

MGM Summer Reading List 2023-2024

School-Wide Recommended Read

The Shallows
 

Every student in grades 9-12 is recommended to read The Shallows by Nicolas Carr.

 
 
 

In addition to the school-wide read honors, advanced placement, and dual enrollment students will need to read the honors, advanced placement, and dual enrollment books coordinated to their grade level.

9th Grade Selections

Honors

The Face on the Milk Carton
 
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney

10th Grade Selections

Honors

Matched
 

Matched by Ally Conde

11th Grade Selections

Honors And Dual Enrollment

Of Mice and Men
 

 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

AP Language And Composition

Lion Called Christian
  • The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper
  • A Lion Called Christian by Anthony Burke and John Rendall
  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  • Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  • They Cage the Animals at Night by James Michael Burch
Directions: In addition to The Shallows, choose ONE novel from the list above. Read and take notes based on the note-taking guide for your course level. You can find the guide below. The test will cover aspects addressed in the guide. Your test will be given within the month of August.

12th Grade Selections

Honors

How to Read Literature Like a Professor
 
 

How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster (nonfiction)

Dual Enrollment

Black Boy
 
 

Black Boy by Richard Wright

AND 

How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster (nonfiction)

AP Literature And Composition

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

                                       Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

AND 

How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster (nonfiction)

AND

The Awakening by Kate Chopin


Summer Reading Disclaimer

Please be aware that these novels and books are choices. If there is a problem with a novel or book on the list, please follow the Mobile County Public School System’s appeal process. See the English department chair for further details. Before your son or daughter chooses a novel, be sure to research them to learn more about the novel’s content.

Students will be expected to have all notes on their selected books once they begin their grade level English course. Teachers will provide specific guidelines on how those notes will factor into their Summer Reading assessment and into their grade for the course. If a student takes an English course the second semester of the school year, they still must be prepared with notes and to take an assessment within the first few weeks of the course. Lastly, all summer reading assessments will be counted as a quiz grade. If you find that your son or daughter's assessment is counted as a test grade, be sure to contact the grade level teacher.

Standards Addressed

CRITICAL LITERACY

Process and employ information for a variety of academic, occupational, and personal purposes.

3. Analyze how an author’s cultural perspective influences style, language, and themes.
4. Analyze how authors use characterization, connotation, denotation, figurative language, literary elements, and point of view to create            and convey meaning in a variety of texts.
5. Analyze the impact of context and organizational structures on theme, tone, and the meaning of the work as a whole.