Brooklyn Technical High School David Newman, Principal Jess Rhoades Bonilla, AP English
29 Fort Greene Place Brooklyn, New York ∙11217 ∙Telephone: (718) 804 - 6400 Fax: (718) 804 - 6535 www.bths.edu
SUMMER READING 2025
Summer is here! We hope you find time for rest, relaxation, and a great summer read. There’s nothing more
important to summer than finding the perfect book to fit with wherever you are, whomever you’re with, and
your desired vibe. You can see our suggestions on the next page, but the choice is up to you.
WHAT DO I DO OVER THE SUMMER?
● Select a book that you haven’t read before from our suggested list or find one on
your own. You can check many of these books out digitally from our school library using
the Sora app or from a public library. Be thoughtful about your selection. Choose
something of personal interest and something that will push you as a reader and thinker.
You are free to read from any grade level or even something that isn’t on our list.
● Choose one of the options below:
Option 1: Write a personal Option 2: Create a piece of Option 3: Compose a letter to
response to your chosen book. visual art that explores an the author of your chosen book
What did you find relatable / important idea from the book OR a letter to a character in it.
compelling / infuriating / you read. The piece should delve In your letter, bring up the ideas
thought provoking / problematic into your response to the book, and questions that the book
and why? How do the issues and not just provide an illustration. It raised for you. Consider
themes this book raises relate to may be any size or medium, but offering your personal reactions
your life? Dig into some specific it must be your original artwork. to specific moments in the
ideas and moments that got you Include a caption that explains book. Write like it’s a
thinking. (350-500 words) your intentions and choices. conversation, not an essay.
(~150 words) (350-500 words)
● Two additional guidelines to consider:
○ The spirit of this assignment is to encourage curiosity and thoughtfulness about books and the world. Be
original, be creative, have fun! Please, please, please don’t be boring. We are interested in your opinions,
reactions, and responses to the book. No summaries please; we can read those online too.
○ Save your work digitally so that you can easily upload your writing/artwork to Google Classroom in the
fall by Friday, September 12th, 2025.
WHAT WILL WE DO IN THE FALL?
Come to class in the fall ready to talk to your new classmates and teacher about your book and share your
writing/artwork. Your English teacher will provide more details in the first week of school, but plan to submit
your work on Google Classroom by Friday, September 12th, 2025. EVERY SINGLE TECH STUDENT IS
EXPECTED TO COMPLETE A SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT!
FOR RISING SENIORS, CLASS OF 2026: In addition to the summer reading, all seniors are expected to have a
complete draft of an essay that responds to one of the Common Application essay prompts. You may revisit the
work you did with your 11 grade English teacher this past spring or start over with a new idea based on what
th
you learned. This essay is also due Friday, September 12th, 2025. You will spend some time in the early fall
revising this piece.
ALTERNATE ASSIGNMENTS: Please note that students who are taking the following classes next year have a
different summer assignment that they should complete instead of this one: AP Capstone Seminar, AP
Capstone Research, AP English Literature and AP English Language. Those assignments are posted in
the English Department’s section of the BTHS website.
WHAT’S THAT YOU SAY? YOU WANT TO READ MORE!?
Please join us for the BTHS Summer Reading Challenge Bingo—read three books in different categories and
win Tech merch! Students, staff, and parents are all invited to participate.
Brooklyn Technical High School David Newman, Principal Jess Rhoades Bonilla, AP English
29 Fort Greene Place Brooklyn, New York ∙11217 ∙Telephone: (718) 804 - 6400 Fax: (718) 804 - 6535 www.bths.edu
BOOK SUGGESTIONS
THESE ARE RECOMMENDATIONS! YOU MAY CHOOSE A BOOK OUTSIDE THIS LIST.
Suggested Fiction Options Suggested Nonfiction Options
9th Grade Reading List
▪The Book Thief by Markus Zusak ▪ All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
▪Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo ▪ Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil Degrasse Tyson
▪Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender ▪ Bomb by Steve Sheinkin
▪Fledgling by S. K. Ali ▪ Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults by Robin Wall
▪The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Kimmerer
Doyle ▪ From Here by Luma Mufleh
▪I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys ▪ How to Survive History by Cody Cassidy
▪Long Division (copyright 2021) by Kiese Laymon ▪ Nuts and Bolts by Roma Agrawal
▪A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza ▪ Of Time and Turtles by Sy Montgomery
▪The Prince & the Coyote by David Bowles ▪ Solito by Javier Zamora
▪We Are Not Free by Traci Chee ▪ Stamped by Ibram X. Kendi, Jason Reynolds
10th Grade Reading List
▪Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley ▪Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
▪Frankly in Love by David Yoon ▪Biased by Jennifer L. Eberhardt
▪The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré ▪BirdGirl by Mya-Rose Craig
▪Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo ▪Future Tense by Martha Brockenbrough
▪A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines ▪The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya
▪Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki ▪A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage
▪The Making of Yolanda la Bruja by Lorraine Avila ▪Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
▪Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro ▪The Loneliest Americans by Jay Caspian Kang
▪Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian ▪ Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran
▪We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo ▪The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
11th Grade Reading List
▪The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton ▪Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang
▪Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver ▪Biting the Hand by Julia Lee
▪Exhalation by Ted Chiang ▪Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
▪The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin ▪Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
▪Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead ▪Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
▪Jubilee by Margaret Walker ▪Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
▪The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler ▪Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
▪The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich ▪Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
▪The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen ▪Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride
▪Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha ▪Unmasking AI by Joy Buolamwini
12th Grade Reading List
▪Cannery Row by John Steinbeck ▪I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
▪The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by ▪An Immense World by Ed Yong
James McBride ▪Know My Name by Chanel Miller
▪The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu ▪Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T. Kira Madden
▪Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
▪Mott Street by Ava Chin
▪Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
▪My Broken Language by Quiara Algería Hudes
▪One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia
Marquez ▪Quantum Supremacy by Kaku, Michio
▪Real Americans by Rachel Kong ▪The Song of the Cell by Siddharta Mukherjee
▪Severance by Ling Ma ▪There's Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib
▪She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan ▪What if We Get it Right by Anaya Elizabeth Johnson
▪Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by
Gabrielle Zevin
Digital copies of many of our recommended books and audiobook versions are available from our school library via
Sora, a reading app, and at public libraries. See this tutorial on Sora (bit.ly/bthssora), which includes information on
getting public library ecards and using Sora and Libby apps to increase ebook availability. Once you have logged in at
http://soraapp.com/library/nycschools with your DOE username and password, you will be able to see the lists of
book recommendations for each grade under the Explore Tab (look for the binoculars). You can read the blurbs by
clicking on the images of the book covers.
You can also check out these booklists:
• NYPL’s best books by year (see teen, adult tabs) and Schomberg Center’s Black Liberation Reading List
• NPR’s Book Concierge has recently published books that you can filter by topic.
