2019-2020 Pillow Academy Summer Reading Book of Choice List for Grades 10-12
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PILLOW ACADEMY 2019 SUMMER READING
2019-2020 Pillow Academy Summer Reading
Book of Choice List for Grades 10-12
Pillow Academy is excited to introduce a variation on our traditional summer reading
assignments. In addition to reading the book(s) assigned by English teachers for each grade
level, students in grades 10 through 12 will also choose one book from the list below to read
before school starts in August. Members of the Pillow Academy faculty and staff compiled
this list of books and are excited to share them with the students.
We have found that choice is a powerful motivator for our students and hope that
everyone enjoys making the selection as well as reading the book. Parents should involve
themselves in this choice to whatever degree enables them to be comfortable with it. We
have included a wide variety of books on this list. Not all books are appropriate for all
children or all families. Parents and students are encouraged to look up the book on
Amazon.com or elsewhere on the web to find more information. Reviews may be found on
the following website:
www.commonsensemedia.org
2019-2020 Pillow Academy Summer Reading
Book of Choice List for Grades 10-12
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in
search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever
imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing
opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.
All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg
This haunting, harrowing, gloriously moving recollection of a life on the American margin is the story of Rick
Bragg, who grew up dirt-poor in northeastern Alabama, seemingly destined for either the cotton mills or the
penitentiary, and instead became a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. It is the story of Bragg's
father, a hard-drinking man with a murderous temper and the habit of running out on the people who needed him
most. But at the center of this soaring memoir is Bragg's mother, who went eighteen years without a new dress so
that her sons could have school clothes and picked other people's cotton so that her children wouldn't have to live on
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welfare alone. Evoking these lives--and the country that shaped and nourished them--with artistry, honesty, and
compassion, Rick Bragg brings home the love and suffering that lie at the heart of every family. The result is
unforgettable.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book, National Book Award finalist, more
than two and a half years on the New York Times bestseller list. This stunningly beautiful novel is about a blind
French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of
World War II. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all
odds, people try to be good to one another.
American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella
A hunt for the American buffalo—an adventurous, fascinating examination of an animal that has haunted the
American imagination. Rinella’s erudition and exuberance, combined with his gift for storytelling, make him the
perfect guide for a book that combines outdoor adventure with a quirky blend of facts and observations about
history, biology, and the natural world. Both a captivating narrative and a book of environmental and historical
significance, American Buffalo tells us as much about ourselves as Americans as it does about the creature who
perhaps best of all embodies the American ethos.
The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers
A classic work that has charmed generations of readers, this collection assembles Carson McCullers’s best stories,
including her beloved novella “The Ballad of the Sad Café.” A haunting tale of a human triangle that culminates in
an astonishing brawl, the novella introduces readers to Miss Amelia, a formidable southern woman whose café
serves as the town’s gathering place. Among other fine works, the collection also includes “Wunderkind,”
McCullers’s first published story written when she was only seventeen about a musical prodigy who suddenly
realizes she will not go on to become a great pianist. Newly reset and available for the first time in a handsome trade
paperback edition, The Ballad of the Sad Café is a brilliant study of love and longing from one of the South’s finest
writers.
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
A fascinating novel based on historical documentation of “not-so-honest” child-adoption programs during the early
1900s. The author creates a wonderful tapestry of current and previous experiences of the main characters that kept
me engrossed in the story while traveling to and from New Zealand earlier this year.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett’s award winning, New York Times bestselling Bel Canto balances themes of love and crisis as
disparate characters learn that music is their only common language. Somewhere in South America, at the home of
the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr.
Hosokawa. Roxane Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It
is a perfect evening—until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a
panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as
terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds, and people from different continents become compatriots.
Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set
in motion . . . and cannot be stopped.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
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A cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest—and most celebrated—books of all time, Catch-22
has been named to “best novels” lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer.
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero
who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the
enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their
service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in
violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to
fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and
therefore ineligible to be relieved.
Cinderella Man: James J. Braddock, Max Baer, and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History by Jeremy Schaap
James J. Braddock was a once promising light heavyweight. But a string of losses in the ring and a broken right
hand happened to coincide with the Great Crash of 1929- and Braddock was forced to labor on the docks of
Hoboken. Only his manager, Joe Gould, still believed in him. Against the gritty backdrop of the 1930’s, Cinderella
Man brings this dramatic all-American story to life, telling a classic David and Goliath tale that transcends the sport.
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Edgar Award-winning author, Tom Franklin, returns with his most accomplished and resonant novel so far; an
atmospheric drama set in rural Mississippi. In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood pals.
Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry, the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the
son of a poor, single black mother. Yet for a few months the boys stepped outside of their circumstances and shared
a special bond. But then tragedy struck.
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that
characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s
brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron
Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor
who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds—a torture
palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. The Devil in the White City
draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life
characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis
Ferdinand, and others. Erik Larson’s gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the
master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.
Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex Harris
Do Hard Things is the Harris twins' revolutionary message in its purest and most compelling form, giving readers a
tangible glimpse of what is possible for teens who actively resist cultural lies that limit their potential. Combating
the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility, the authors weave together biblical insights, history, and
modern examples to redefine the teen years as the launching pad of life. Then they map out five powerful ways
teens can respond for personal and social change. Written by teens for teens, Do Hard Things is packed with
humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of real-life revolutionaries in action. This rallying cry
from the heart of an already-happening teen revolution challenges a generation to lay claim to a brighter future,
starting today.
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful
Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne
This novel provides a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and
white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all. S. C.
Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the
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Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable
narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-
blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.
Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II by Darlene Deibler Rose
This is the true story of a young American missionary woman courage and triumph of faith in the jungles of New
Guinea and her four years in a notorious Japanese prison camp. Never to see her husband again, she was forced to
sign a confession to a crime she did not commit and face the executioner's sword, only to be miraculously spared.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen
start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along
with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce,
returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family." But then he
meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear, and to a
present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When
Mildred attempts suicide, and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever
known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.
Fall from Grace: The Truth and Tragedy of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson by Tim Hornbaker
Considered by Ty Cobb as “the finest natural hitter in the history of the game,” “Shoeless Joe” Jackson is ranked
with the greatest players to ever step onto a baseball diamond. With a career batting average of .356—which is still
ranked third best all time—the man from Pickens County, South Carolina, was on his way to becoming one of the
greatest players in the sport’s history. That is, until the “Black Sox” scandal of 1919, which shook baseball to its
core. Fall from Grace tells the story of the incredible life of Joseph Jefferson Jackson. From a mill boy to a baseball
icon, author Tim Hornbaker breaks down the rise and fall of “Shoeless Joe,” giving an inside look during baseball’s
Deadball Era, including Jackson’s personal point of view of the “Black Sox” scandal, which has never been covered
before in this.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
The story is about a POW from the Vietnam War, plagued with PTSD and paranoia, moving his family to Alaska to
homestead and live a life free of government and societal norms. There are so many themes to this novel, but one
profoundly obvious one, which is really felt in the last third of the book, is that what makes a family isn’t necessarily
bloodlines and DNA. Also, everyone has a past, and everyone has a story.
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
This is a thought-provoking book about the nature of joy. It poses the question: if you had the choice, would you
actually choose joy? This book would most be enjoyed by students interested in philosophy, theology, or the nature
of man.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy
suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the
fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a
gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate
Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive
who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also
endanger her life.
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The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film—a timeless and universal
story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by
PBS’s The Great American Read. Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders
quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now
must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated
college. She’s full of ambition, but without a husband, she’s considered a failure. Together, these seemingly
different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South that could forever alter
their destinies and the life of a small town...
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The bestselling coming-of-age classic, acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught in schools and
universities alike, and translated around the world from the winner of the 2018 PEN/Nabokov Award for
Achievement in International Literature. The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero,
a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Told in a series of
vignettes-sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous-Sandra Cisneros' masterpiece is a classic story of
childhood and self-discovery. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—
taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the
polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she
remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance. This phenomenal New York Times
bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith
healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely
murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime,
and there were almost no clues. As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the
capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In
Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.
Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer
During the summer of 1990, following his graduation from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, Chris McCandless
unloaded most of his personal possessions, gave away $25,000 which had been set aside for law school to charity,
climbed into his beloved ’82 Datson and headed west without informing his family or friends. What led this young
man from a loving, supportive family, who possessed such a promising future, to suddenly and unexpectedly “drop
out” and disappear? What was it about the remote wilderness areas of the West that attracted him? How did he elude
law enforcement authorities – along with a private detective hired by his parents -for over two years? Krakauer
addressed these and other questions in this immensely interesting and wonderfully written book.
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing
on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was
wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray,
would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster.
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Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot by Bill O’Reilly, Martin Dugard
Killing Kennedy recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy- and how a sequence of
gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic
division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath.
Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
In the spring of 1865, the bloody saga of America's Civil War finally comes to an end after a series of increasingly
harrowing battles. In the midst of the patriotic celebrations in Washington D.C., John Wilkes Booth—charismatic
ladies' man and impenitent racist—murders Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. A furious manhunt ensues and
Booth immediately becomes the country's most wanted fugitive. Lafayette C. Baker, a smart but shifty New York
detective and former Union spy, unravels the string of clues leading to Booth. Featuring some of history's most
remarkable figures, vivid detail, and page-turning action, Killing Lincoln is history that reads like a thriller.
Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan by Bill O’Reilly, Martin Dugard
Killing the Rising Sun takes readers to the bloody tropical-island battlefields of Peleliu and Iwo Jima and to the
embattled Philippines, where General Douglas MacArthur has made a triumphant return and is plotting a full-scale
invasion of Japan. Told in the same page-turning style of Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, Killing
Patton, and Killing Reagan, this epic saga details the final moments of World War II like never before.
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It has been cited as one of the seminal works of
fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world. The story begins
with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed (metamorphosed) into a large,
monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Samsa's transformation is never revealed, and Kafka himself never gave
an explanation. The rest of Kafka's novella deals with Gregor's attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals
with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repulsed by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has
become.
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa
back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the
author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World
War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen; the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of
two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own
dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France- a heartbreakingly
beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women.
No One Is Coming to Save Us: A Novel by Stephanie Powell Watts
No One Is Coming to Save Us is a revelatory debut from an insightful voice: with echoes of The Great Gatsby it is
an arresting and powerful novel about an extended African American family and their colliding visions of the
American Dream. In evocative prose, Stephanie Powell Watts has crafted a full and stunning portrait that combines
a universally resonant story with an intimate glimpse into the hearts of one family.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the
best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers
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different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to
where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their
upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player,
why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist
who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they
will need from home, but soon find that all of it- from garden seeds to Scripture- is calamitously transformed on
African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over
the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
Set during the California gold rush of the 1850s, this Christian romance is a powerful retelling of the book of Hosea
of the Bible. Redeeming Love is a life--changing story of God's unconditional, redemptive, all-consuming love.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped
around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in
mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to
Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black
beekeeping sister, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is
a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for
years to come.
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Jesmyn Ward’s historic second National Book Award–winner is “perfectly poised for the moment” (The New York
Times), an intimate portrait of three generations of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle. “Ward’s writing
throbs with life, grief, and love… this book is the kind that makes you ache to return to it” (Buzzfeed). Rich with
Ward’s distinctive, lyrical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing is a majestic and unforgettable family story and “an
odyssey through rural Mississippi’s past and present.”
Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton by Jeff Pearlman
In the twelve years since his death from cancer, Walter Payton’s legend has only grown in magnitude. The Hall of
Fame running back, who broke Jim Brown’s all-time NFL rushing mark, appeared in nine Pro Bowls, won a Super
Bowl ring with the 1985 Chicago Bears, and is still revered throughout the sporting landscape. Sweetness delivers an
unforgettable portrait of a man who lived his life just like he played the game: at full speed. From his childhood in
segregated Mississippi, to Chicago, where Payton emerged from athlete to icon as he broke the NFL’s all-time
rushing record and led the Bears to Super Bowl glory; to his darker moments battling depression and adjusting to
life after football, Sweetness is an eloquently written, revelatory saga of a complex, guarded superstar who died far
too young.
Teammates Matter Fighting for Something Greater than Self by Alan Williams
Teammates Matter is a book about the life of Alan Williams during his career as a walk on basketball player at
Wake Forest University. The book will be appealing to any student who has an interest in sports.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades
penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her
extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a
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young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is
mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness—featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins
Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida
confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, Walden is part personal declaration of independence,
social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self-reliance. Published in 1854, it details
Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned
by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau went to Walden to escape
what he considered, "over-civilization", and in search of the "raw" and "savage delight" of the wilderness. He hoped
to isolate himself from society to gain a more objective understanding of it. Simple living and self-sufficiency were
Thoreau's other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the
American Romantic Period. As Thoreau made clear in his book, his cabin was not in wilderness but at the edge of
town, about two miles (3 km) from his family home. Thoreau's intention during his time at Walden Pond was "to
conduct an experiment: Could he survive, possibly even thrive, by stripping away all superfluous luxuries, living a
plain, simple life in radically reduced conditions?"
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Jacob Janowski’s luck had run out- orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on a rickety train,
that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. A veterinary student just shy of a degree,
he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was the Great Depression and for Jacob the circus was
both his salvation and a living hell. There he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the
charismatic but brutal animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great hope for this
third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this group of misfits was one of love and trust, and ultimately,
it was their only hope for survival.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi
was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient
struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air
chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of
what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in
the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own
mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder
toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new
life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving,
exquisitely observed memoir.
*Please Note: Summer reading selections are chosen based on literary merit and with high
academic standards in mind. The books assigned by the English department at Pillow Academy
represent a mix of classic and contemporary literature. Many books address complex situations and
may contain adult themes and language. The attempt to expose students to challenging topics and
issues is intended to serve as opportunities for students to think, theorize, question, and explore.
Parents are strongly encouraged to involve themselves in the selection process.
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