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Roland Park Country School: Upper School Summer Reading 2025

RPCS Libraries

Assigned Summer Reading

Welcome to Roland Park Country School's Summer Reading LibGuide for Upper School students!

  • Upper School students will read one or two designated titles for their RPCS English classes, plus one free choice book from this LibGuide. Scroll down below the English titles to see covers, titles and descriptions for choice book options. 
  • Find the titles required for English classes at RPCS in the table below. Reading guides are linked below many titles.
  • Respond to your choice book with one of the options listed in this reading response assignment. Your choice reading assignment is due on Tuesday, September 2nd in your advisory. 
  • Many of the choice titles on this LibGuide were recommended by RPCS Upper School students and are available through our SORA eBook and digital audio collection. Look for "available on SORA" in the details below each book. 
  • The AP Course Summer Assignments LibGuide provides information for the required summer work for RPCS's AP courses in English, history, mathematics, science, visual arts, and world languages. 
  • Students taking courses at Bryn Mawr and Gilman should check the following links for additional requirements: Bryn Mawr School's Upper School Summer Reading and Gilman School's Upper School Summer Reading
  • The Ivy Bookshop is offering a 10% discount on all summer reading. Families can visit the shop, which is open every day from 10am-7pm, or the Ivy Bookshop's website, where they can use the coupon code RPCSUM25 to take advantage of the discount.

Required Titles for English Classes at RPCS

English 9: 

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok (Available in SORA)

Click here for the reading guide for Girl in Translation

 

The Belles by Healy Visiting Author Dhonielle Clayton.

Click here for a reading guide for The Belles (coming soon!)

 

 

Plus one free choice book from this LibGuide

English 9 Honors: 

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok (Available in SORA)

Click here for the reading guide for Girl in Translation

 

Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Click here for the reading guide for Poet X

 

The Belles by Healy Visiting Author Dhonielle Clayton (OPTIONAL)

Honors students are encouraged to read The Belles as we will discuss this book with Dhonielle Clayton during the Healy Author Visit in the fall.

 

Plus one free choice book from this LibGuide

English 10: 

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (Available in SORA)

Click here for the reading guide for Everything I Never Told You

 

Plus one free choice book from this LibGuide

English 10 Honors: 

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Available in SORA)

Click here for the reading guide for Purple Hibiscus


Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino  (Available in SORA)  Please only read these six selected essays: Introduction, The I in the Internet, Reality TV Me, Always Be Optimizing, Pure Heroines, The Cult of the Difficult Woman

Click here for the reading guide for Trick Mirror

Plus one free choice book from this LibGuide

English 11 at RPCS: 

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (Available in SORA)

Click here for the reading guide for The Last Lecture

 

Plus one free choice book from this LibGuide

English 11 at Gilman: 

Please check this link for 11th grade English requirements from Gilman.

Plus one free choice book from this LibGuide

AP English Courses at RPCS:

 

 

 

 

AP English Literature and Composition:   

Students will choose one title from the New York Times’s interactive “100 Best Books of the 21st Century” feature.

Click here for the summer reading guide.

Plus one free choice contemporary NOVEL from this LibGuide

 

AP English Language:

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner

Click here for the reading guide for Crying in H Mart.

 

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Click here for the reading guide for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Plus one free choice book from this LibGuide

Young Adult Fiction

Adult Fiction

Poetry & Novels in Verse

Titles by 2025 Healy Author Dhonielle Clayton (October 2025)

Learn more about our 2025 Healy Visiting Author, Dhonielle Clayton.

Nonfiction

Graphic Novels