Summer Reading Guide 2023

Summers were made for reading! In this Summer Reading Guide, you will find:

  1. REQUIRED READING (for some courses and an all-school reading assignment). Please check the required reading list to the right to see if you have been assigned summer work, especially if you are taking honors or AP courses next year.
  2. RECOMMENDED (optional) books you can read (or listen to) just for fun or to learn something new. 

All-School Summer Reading (required)


The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

We are excited to announce this year’s All-School Read, a uniquely chosen text to engage the full community. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is set in Nazi Germany, at the start of World War Two. On the journey to her new home, Liesel's younger brother dies and she steals her first book: The Gravedigger's Handbook. When she arrives at her new home, she suddenly has a new mama and papa. Haunted every night by nightmares of her brother's death, Liesel and her Papa set themselves the challenge of reading the book, Liesel's last link to her brother.
 
For the first time in recent school history, the selection of our summer All-School Read was placed in the hands of students. Moira Conlan, Director of Library and Archives, identified a small group of eager students who are interested in promoting a culture of reading on The Frederick Gunn School campus and were tasked with considering a text for their peers to read. Equipped with some suggestions from Steve Gritti, Speaker Series Coordinator, the group overwhelmingly voted in favor of The Book Thief. Their discussions extended beyond this text as a summer read, and this group is preparing to engage the community in dialogue to begin the new school year. With the support and hard work of these adults and students, we will be welcoming a Holocaust survivor to campus this fall as the first installment of our Speaker Series for 2023-24.
 
This book may be purchased by students wherever books are sold (ISBN# 9780375842207).

 

 

Looking for more to read this summer? Check out these titles, recommended by Gunn faculty and students.
 
Student Recommendations:
  • Oskar Umeh '24:
    Flight by Sherman Alexie
  • Matthew Neu '24
    Essentialism     by Greg McKeown
Faculty Recommendations:

  • Moira Conlan:
    Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

  • Ian Rathkey:
    The Which Way Tree by Elizabeth Croo

  • Leah Peluchiwski: Educated by Tara Westover

Online Textbook Ordering

The Frederick Gunn School has partnered with the Higher Learning Supply Company again this year to streamline the purchase of all textbooks and required reading for the 2023-24 academic year. All students will be able to view and order textbooks through The Frederick Gunn School Bookstore once you receive your class schedule. The online bookstore opens August 1, 2023. Please note that if you order through Higher Learning, you will pick up your books on campus. Stay tuned for more details.