7 Great Summer Reads for High School Students

From relevant to hilarious, this reading list contains a wealth of interesting books for high school students.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

This book, written in 1932, looks at Huxley’s vision of the future. Thanks to psychological engineering, people have been genetically bred to be passive and therefore useful to the ruling class. This book presents not only a wonderful world of imaginative genius, it also sheds a poignant light on the present. This is considered to be Huxley’s masterpiece and a great read for the curious mind.

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

Dr. Wilbur Larch is the director at St. Cloud’s orphanage in Maine. When his protégé, Homer Wells, takes the reins from the physician, the harsh realities of life in the 1920s and 30s takes its toll on the young doctor. This is a very touching novel and a story about love and loss that examines the grander themes of life.

Swords for Hire, Two of the Most Unlikely Heroes you’ll ever Meet by Will Allen

16 year old Sam Hatcher and his friend, en eccentric royal guard, aren’t exactly what you would call conventional heroes. But when the king is captured by his evil brother and imprisoned in a dungeon, they are the only ones who can rescue him.

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

When she is just sixteen, Mattie Gokey has to take a job at the Glenmore Hotel where a guest, Grace Brown, asks her to burn a stack of secret letters. But when Grace’s body is pulled from the lake, Mattie discovers that the letters hold the clues that could reveal who committed the murder.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Government agencies are genetically engineering a race of child geniuses in order to develop ways to protect the earth from invasion by a hostile alien race. Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggin is one of these children who is taken from his parents and drafted into military training at a very young age. Beset with sibling rivalry, isolation and pressure from adult teachers, Ender must overcome his fears to help save the world.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Arthur Dent is having a very bad day. When he wakes up to discover that his house is about to be demolished to make way for a new highway he thinks his world is coming to an end. He couldn’t be more right as his friend, Ford Prefect explains that Earth is about to be blown to smithereens by a battle cruiser. Ford manages to hitch a ride moments before earth is destroyed and he and Arthur begin an epic hitchhiking adventure to the end of the universe.

The Exploding Toilet by David Holt and Bill Mooney

This interesting book explores the best modern day urban legends. These juicy tales aren’t only scintillating, they also teach an important lesson on how to think critically about the stories people tell. A great book for the reluctant reader.