Reading
The Hanal School Reading Class
Importance of Reading
“Ninety eight, Ninety nine, One hundred !”
Hanal underscores the importance of reading in every aspect of our curriculum, but especially in the designation of a reading class the first period of every day. Ours is an interactive approach with students reading classic novels, essays and thought-provoking research. They end each session engaging in thematic discussions with peers and teachers. Over four years, students are required to read a total of one-hundred works, many of which recommended by the College Board.
9th Grade
- Animal Farm, Orwell, George
A devastating, satirical attack on the avaricious rulers in an imaginary totalitarian state. 128pp.
- Brave New World, Huxley.
Classic fantasy of the future that sheds a blazing, critical light on the shortcomings of the present. 176pp
- Black Like Me, Griffin.
A medically darkened white man’s record of his month traveling as a black in the South. 157pp.
- A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway.
One of Ernest Hemingway’s most enduring works, a tale of love set on the Italian front during World War 1. 332pp
- Frankenstein, Shelley.
A genius rejected by society exacts his revenge through the monster he brings to life. 206pp.
- To kill a mocking bird, Lee, Harper.
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it
- Lord of flies, Golding, William
Lord of the Flies is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author William Golding about a group of British boys stuck on an uninhabited island who try to govern themselves, with disastrous results.
- Frankenstein, Shelley.
A genius rejected by society exacts his revenge through the monster he brings to life. 206pp.
10th Grade
- The Time Machine, Wells.
The Time Traveler is transported into the distant future and learns a devastating truth about humanity. 115pp.
- The Perfect Storm, Junger.
In 1991 the forces of nature converged to create a 100-year storm that caught the North Atlantic fishing fleet at sea and unprotected. Readers follow a Gloucester, assachusetts, fishing boat as the fishermen battle for survival against high seas and overwhelming odds. 301pp.
- The Odyssey, Rouse, trans.
Excellent natural translation of the magnificent saga of Ulysses. 304pp.
- Heart of Darkness and the Secret Sharer, Conrad.
Two brilliant short novels that explore the human soul, its capacity for good, and its inclination for evil. 158pp.
- The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck.
Powerful chronicle of dispossessed landowners who leave Oklahoma during the Great
Depression and head for the “promised land” of California. 502pp.
- The Chosen, Potok .
The odyssey of two young men journeying from boyhood to manhood, set against the background of the conflicts and traditions of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews. 272 pp.
11th Grade
- The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer.
Group portrait capturing the full spectrum of medieval society. 423pp.
- 1984, Orwell.
A chilling, prophetic vision of a totalitarian “future” which, in many respects, has come to pass. 267pp.
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Solzhenitsyn.
A day in the life of a prisoner in a Soviet work camp and his heroic struggle to survive. 203pp.
- Pride and Prejudice, Austen.
A superb comedy of manners, detailing the romantic clash between an opinionated woman and her proud beau. 324pp.
- A tale of two cities, Dickens, Charles,
Civil unrest and dramatic upheavals in the French Revolutionary era set the stage for Charles Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities.
- A mice and men, Steinbeck, John
it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two isplaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in search of new job opportunities during the Gread Depression in U.S.A