Bacon Academy

2017 Summer Reading

Ms. Troup

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Wilson

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. (National Book Foundation, 2014)

Mrs. Johnston Deacon Locke Went to Prom by Brian Katcher

The love life of an awkward teen takes an unforgettable turn after he brings his grandmother to prom. But when Deacon meets Soraya—a girl unlike any other he’s ever met—he fears he has totally squandered his chances of having a prom he’ll never forget. Deacon couldn’t be more wrong. About everything. A funny, offbeat, and smile-inducing contemporary romance that is pitch perfect. (Adapted from Harper Collins, 2017)

Mrs. Hopkins

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

A lyrical, witty, and heart-wrenching novel about how difficult it is to play the part that people expect, and how new beginnings can stem from abrupt and tragic endings. (Harper Collins, 2017)

Ms. Furlong

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

An illuminating debut memoir of a woman in science; a moving portrait of a longtime friendship; and a stunningly fresh look at plants that will forever change how you see the natural world. Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she’s studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book is a revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also so much more.

(Penguin Random House, 2017)

Ms. Simison

Pretty Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton

The book is written in the female second-person, with "you" initially choosing between travel or college; each succeeding section offers two options for proceeding, leading to an impressive array of possible developments.

Mrs. Kollwitz The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

A circus arrives without warning and is only open at night. A fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance. (Penguin Random House, 2017)

Mrs. Dimock Speed of Life by Carol Weston

A slice of life story echoing the author’s own experience as a teen magazine advice columnist. In this heartwarming story, Sophia loses her mother and can’t move on. She opens up to an advice columnist and spills all, including a few worries that are totally embarrassing. Turns out even advice columnists don't have all the answers, and one day Sofia learns a secret that flips her world upside down.

(Adapted from Sourcebooks, 2017)

Mr. Juhl The Wild Trees by Richard Preston

A work of cutting-edge science and heart-pounding adventure, Preston’s spellbinding story of Steve Sillett, Marie Antoine and a tiny group of daring naturalists who have found a dangerous, majestic, hauntingly beautiful and largely unexplored habitat by climbing into the tops of giant California coastal redwood trees - the largest organisms the world has ever sustained.

Ms. Vint A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

If you love dogs or even if you don’t, this is a great read. Surprised to find himself reborn as a rambunctious golden haired puppy after a tragically short life as a stray mutt, Bailey’s search for his new life’s meaning leads him into the loving arms of 8 year old Ethan. But life as a beloved family pet is not the end of Bailey’s journey. Reborn as a puppy yet again, Bailey wonders, will he ever find his purpose? (Tom Dougherty Associates, 2010)

Mr. Norman Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? (University of Stellenbosch, 2010)

Mr. Mclellan

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Rites of passage and the unexpected turns in the road. Follow the fates of five interrelated families-American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh-as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage. (Macmilliam, 2010)

Mr. & Mrs. Manning

The Living by Matt De La Pena

It’s like “Titanic” with sharks, tsunamis, and a plague-infested island. Also, guns! Will anyone survive?

Mrs. Hahn

Where Men Win Glory

by Jon Krakauer

The true story of Pat Tillman who walked away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract post 9/11 to join the Army. He was killed two years later and a legend was born. (Random House, 2009)

Ms. Smigel Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter is an adult working for the Ministry of Magic. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places. (Scholastic, 2016)

Ms. Blain

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and global phenomenon The Girl on the Train returns with Into the Water, her addictive new novel of psychological suspense. (Penguin Publishing Group, 2017)

Ms. Christianson

Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos

An aspiring young writer looking for adventure, cash for college tuition, and a way out of a dead-end job agrees to help crew a boat loaded with drugs from the Virgin Islands to New York City. This ill-fated expedition eventually landed him in federal prison. The NY Times Book Review says, “this is a tale of courage and redemption, proving that a bad start in life does not have to lead to a bad life story.” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002)

Ms. Johnson

The Shack by William P. Young

His daughter was abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack. Four years later Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. (Adapted from Windblown Media, 2007)

Ms. Kehoegreen and Mrs. St. George

The Circle by Dave Eggers

A recent college graduate lands her dream job at The Circle, a powerful technology company run by the so-called "Three Wise Men." What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge. (Adapted from Penguin Random House, 2013)

Ms. Levasseur First Ladies of Running

by Amby Burfoot

The inspiring stories of pioneer runners from 1958 until the moment when Joan Benoit hits the finish line to win the 1984 first Olympic Marathon for women. These fiercely independent women refused to give up despite the cultural and sports barriers they faced. (Adapted from Rodale, 2016)

Ms. Cook

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

The story of one man’s life, Macon “Milkman” Dead III, as he searches for identity and meaning. Winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature. (Alfred Knopf, 1977)

Ms. Gillette My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry

by Fredrik Backman

When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other. (Simon and Shuster, 2016)

Mr. Withey

Sea of Glory by Nathaniel Philbrick

America’s voyage of discovery, (1838-1842), is detailed in this book by one of the best writers of historical narrative alive today. The United States South Seas Exploration Expedition, known as the US Ex, was created to reveal America’s rise as a world naval and scientific power. This book tells the tale of this epic voyage of discovery that collected the original Smithsonian museum collection, named Antarctica and explored the watery wilderness that was the Pacific in the early nineteenth century. (Penguin, 2001)

Mr. Pagnozzi The Radioactive Boy Scout

by Ken Silverstein

In the summer of 1995, a teenager in a Detroit suburb, a mediocre student with a relentless scientific curiosity, managed to build a rudimentary nuclear breeder reactor in a shed behind his mother's house, using radioactive elements obtained from items as ordinary as smoke detectors. (Adapted from Random House, 2004)

Ms. Sposato

The Curious Incident of the Dog

in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon

A murder mystery of sorts, as told by the main character, a 15 year old boy with autism. He is a mathematical genius, yet socially hopeless, while being raised by working class parents who can barely cope with his quirkiness. Christopher takes all that he sees, or is told, at face value, leading to misunderstanding of peers and his elders. (Adapted from Doubleday, 2005)

Mr. Williams

Grunt by Mary Roach

Bestselling author Mary Roach explores the science of keeping human beings intact, awake, sane, uninfected, and uninfested in the bizarre and extreme circumstances of war. (W. W. Norton & company, 2016)

Mrs. Frantzen The Vanishing American Adult by Ben Sasse

Sasse diagnoses the causes of a generation that can't grow up and offers a path for raising children to become active and engaged citizens. He identifies core formative experiences that all young people should pursue: hard work to appreciate the benefits of labor, travel to understand deprivation and want, the power of reading, the importance of nurturing your body--and explains how parents can encourage them. (St. Martin’s Press, 2017)

Ms. Murphy

Light on Life:

The Yoga Journey to Inner Peace

by B.S.K. Iyengar

Yoga's popularity is soaring, but its widespread acceptance as an exercise for physical fitness and the recognition of its health benefits have not been matched by an understanding of the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual development that the yogic tradition can also offer. In Light on Life, B.K.S. Iyengar brings readers this new and more complete understanding of the yogic journey. (Rodale Press, 2006)

Mrs. Russell The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

Gritty, outspoken Taylor Greer, leaves her native Kentucky to head west. She becomes mother to an abandoned baby and, when her jalopy dies in Tucson, is forced to work in a tire garage and to room with a young, battered divorcee who also has a little girl. With sisterly counsel and personal honesty, the two face their painful lot. Despite the hurt and rage, themes of love and nurturing emerge, a refreshingly upbeat novel. (Harper Collins, 1988)

Mrs. Cyr Fiona by Meredith Moore / Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

You can read one title or both books if you dare; Fiona is a modern retelling of Jane Eyre.

Fiona moves from her unstable home in Texas to take an au pair job in a castle in the Scottish Highlands, her deceased mother’s homeland and the place she has always dreamed of visiting. In this riveting, character-driven second novel, the fairy tale life Fiona imagined turns into a nightmare when a decades-old family feud resurfaces and forces her to confront the ghosts of her past—and question her own sanity. (Adapted from Penguin Books, 2016)