Camren Ray
eSomethin’ Staff
Every year, students at Perrysburg High School read a multitude of books for their English classes. Some books stick with students while some books are very forgettable.
Every grade level has prescribed books that they read for that year.
Freshmen
Freshman year divides students into one of three English classes: English 110, 111, and 112.
Novels and plays students read include
- “All American Boys” By Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (read by English 110, 112)
- “Romeo and Juliet” By William Shakespeare (read by English 110, 111, 112)
- “The Miracle Worker” By William Gibson (read by English 110)
- “To Kill a Mockingbird” By Harper Lee (read by English 111, 112)
- “A Raisin in the Sun” By Lorraine Hansberry (read by English 111)
- “Fahrenheit 451” By Ray Bradbury (read by English 112)
Survey responses from the freshman class show that 10% said their favorite title is “Romeo and Juliet”; 20% liked “A Raisin in the Sun”, and 70% said “To Kill a Mockingbird” was their favorite title.
English 112 student Yomna Elmalhoud said “To Kill a Mockingbird” was her favorite because “It was a really interesting story especially because it was told from the perspective of a 6-year-old and it covered many themes like racism, loss of childhood innocence, and empathy. Also, it was hard to put down and it helps readers understand the mindset and way of living of the people back in the 1930s.”
Sophomores
Like the freshman, the sophomore English classes are divided into three classes with English 210, 211, and 212.
The sophomore set list of titles include
- “Persepolis” By Marjane Satrapi (Read by English 210, 211, 212)
- “Of Mice and Men” By John Steinbeck (read by English 210, 211, 212)
- “Julius Caesar” By William Shakespeare (read by English 210, 212)
- “Othello” By William Shakespeare (read by English 211)
- “Ethan Frome” By Edith Wharton (read by English 212)
Sophomores also choose to read a single additional title of the options below:
- “Between Shades of Gray” By Ruta Sepetys (Read by English 210, 211, 212)
- “The Cellist of Sarajevo” By Steven Galloway (Read by English 210, 211, 212)
- “The Invention of Wings” By Sue Monk Kidd (Read by English 210, 211, 212)
- “Salt to the Sea” By Ruta Sepetys (Read by English 210)
- “In the Time of Butterflies” By Julia Alvarez (Read by English 211, 212)
- “The Kite Runner” By Khaled Hosseini (Read by English 212)
Sophomores overwhelmingly enjoyed “Of Mice and Men” with 75% saying it is their favorite title. Another quarter of respondents said “Persepolis” was their favorite book so far this year.
Juniors
Juniors are split into two classes, English 311 and 312. Like sophomore year, there is a set list of books selected by teachers for students to read, but students also get a choice book from list of options.
The curriculum list Includes:
- “The Great Gatsby” By F. Scott Fitzgerald (read by English 311, 312)
- “The Crucible” By Arthur Miller (read by English 311)
- “The Scarlett Letter” By Nathaniel Hawthorne (English 312)
- “The Awakening” By Kate Chopin (read by English 312)
- “Fences” By August Wilson (read by English 312)
Students in English 311 select a choice book among the list of options:
- “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” By Maya Angelou
- “Educated” By Tara Westover
- “Born a Crime” By Trevor Noah
- “Unbroken” By Laura Hillenbrand
- “Into The Wild” By Jon Karkauner
- “The Things They Carried” By Tim O’Brien
- “Becoming Kareem” By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld
- “A Most Beautiful Thing” By Arshay Cooper
Nearly half of juniors who responded to the survey said their favorite is “The Awakening,” while a third of survey respondents said their favorite is “The Great Gatsby” and 20% said “The Scarlet Letter” is best.
English 311 student Johnny Demecs is an avid reader. “The Great Gatsby” is his favorite from what the school has given him because “It’s a great book. It is really poetic and fun.” Johnny in his free time has read books like, “Last Night at The Telegraph Club” By Malinda Lo and “A Kind of Spark” By Elle McNicoll.
Seniors
The senior class is split into three English classes: 410, 411, and 413 (AP). Senior year is unique in that students enrolled in English 411 choose all but one book they read. English 410 and 413 (AP) have a set list of books they are required to read.
Set books include:
- “The Strange of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” By Andrzej Klimowski and Robert Louis Stevenson (Read by English 410)
- “Macbeth” By William Shakespeare (Read by English 410)
- “Beowulf” By Unknown (Read by English 411)
- “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” By Gawain Poet (Read by English 410)
- “Lord of the Flies” By William Goulding (Read by English 411)
- “Death of a Salesman” By Arthur Miller (Read by English 413)
- “Hamlet” By William Shakespeare (Read by English 413)
- “1984” By George Orwell (Read by English 413)
- “The Metamorphosis” By Franz Kafka (Read by English 413)
- “Frankenstein” By Mary Shelly (Read by English 413)
- “Heart of Darkness” By Joseph Conrad (Read by English 413)
Seniors who responded to the survey overwhelmingly chose “Lord of the Flies” at the best book of senior year with 54.5% of votes. The second most popular title was “1984,” with 18.2% of respondents saying it was their favorite. There was a three-way split in votes between remaining nominations: “Hamlet,” “Death of a Salesman,” and “The Metamorphosis” each eared 9.1% of the vote.
Reading is an important part of education. According to Merrimack College, there are five benefits to reading. Reading can be more confident in the way they speak and write and they are introduced to a more diverse universe when they are exposed to different characters and stories. They also claim that reading can help improve focus in students as it makes the reader put together pieces of the story together and follow diverse story lines. Critical thinking comes along as well.
Finally, they claim that readers are exposed to a wide vocabulary and reader are able to utilize those words in their own vocabulary.
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