Here are the first books we’ll all be reading as a class. I will let you know in advance about the next ones we'll be reading this semester! I've also included the supplies I recommend.
Books
Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States
We will be reading this all year. It provides a thorough, and unusually readable, account of America’s history. Zinn is also very open about his personal take on history, which provides excellent fodder for discussion of perspective and bias.
- If you tend to find reading difficult, you may want to consider reading A Young People’s History of the United States as a substitute for this. It has most of the same content, but is written in easier-to-understand language.
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
This is the first novel that we’ll be reading together as a class.
John Green, The Fault in our Stars
We will be reading this as part of our interdisciplinary project, “In Sickness & in Health”
I recommend either getting books from your local library or bookstore, or ordering them from either the American Book Exchange or Amazon (American Book Exchange is often cheaper, so check both!). I will also have a limited number available to borrow in exchange for a $10 deposit. These will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis.
If getting a book will be a problem for any reason, please get in touch with me and I will make sure there is a copy available for you to borrow.
Materials
The Constitution of the State of California requires that we provide a public education to you free of charge. Subject to certain exceptions, your right to a free public education means that we cannot require you or your family to purchase materials, supplies, equipment or uniforms for any school activity. What follows is a list of recommended supplies that your child may bring to school. Please note that if your child does not bring the recommended supplies, the school will provide the supplies for him/her. If you have any questions/comments about this, please contact me, or Isaac Jones, the school director.
The supplies I recommend you get are, for the most part, the supplies that you’d expect to get for humanities. There is just one surprise - I will provide you with your first notebook, so don’t bring one. This is a gift from one writer to another.
Recommended Materials
- A pen that you enjoy writing with
- Figuring out what pens you like writing with is a matter of trial and error - try out a pen and see what you think. Just make sure it writes in black ink
- At least one spare pen that you enjoy writing with
- As someone who often loses pens, I strongly recommend you carry a spare.
- Pencils
- Pencils are useful for notes and annotations in your own books (don’t annotate books that don’t belong to you)
- Three colors of highlighters
- These will be useful for annotating our readings
- Post-it notes (2”x2”)
- These will also be useful for annotations, as well as for critique
- Post-it flags
- These are those tiny post-its that you can stick into books to mark useful pages