Regardless of whether you are a freshman who is just starting high school or a junior who is looking to begin your college apps when we return in January, one of the best things you can do now to prepare is to READ! There is no better preparation for SATs and college essays than to read. Reading is not a skill that you can master in an SAT boot camp; unlike math, reading is a muscle that is developed over time. Similarly, it is impossible to become a great writer if you are not a strong reader. Reading will introduce you to a larger vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar rules.
Holiday Challenge
My challenge is for each of you to pick up one non-school book during each holiday:
- Winter break
- Spring break
- Summer break
- Thanksgiving break
It’s not important that you read sophisticated texts, like Chaucer or Shakespeare (although if you want to, great). The important thing is to pick something up that you will find interesting, and, therefore, will be more likely to do it.
Here are some of my favorite suggestions across a variety of genres (please don’t be mad that I am suggesting Amazon. If you have a local bookstore, I fully support shopping there. But, since you are all in different places, this is an easy way to learn about the books below):
Adventure:
- Sigma Series by James Rollins (one of my personal favorites and one that I will be reading this holiday):
- Book 1: Sandstorm
- Jack Ryan Series by Tom Clancy
Amazing Kids:
- I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
- Electric Dreams by Caroline Kettlewell
Biographies
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Personal History by Katherine Graham
- My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs
Business
- The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary by Joseph Michelli
- Dangerous Company: The Consulting Powerhouses and the Businesses They Save and Ruin by James O’Shea
Civil Rights/Social Justice:
- The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
- A Dry White Season by Andre Brink
Dystopian:
- Unwound Series by Neal Shusterman
- Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
Fun Beach Read:
- One of Us Is Lying Set by Karen M. McManus
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Historical Fiction
- The Time Travelers by Linda Buckley-Archer
- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Human Behavior:
- Freakanomics by Steven Levitt
- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Law:
- Small Great Things by Jodi Piccoult
- The Stranger Beside Me by Anne Rule (true crime):
Medicine:
- The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Space Race:
- Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
- American Moonshot by Douglas Brinkley
Happy reading!
