FortifyFL
THEME: Persisting Through Adversity
This year’s summer reading theme for Archimedean Upper Conservatory focuses on the power of persistence in overcoming adversity. In literature and real life, it is often a person’s refusal to give up and the sustained effort to try again after failing that leads to the most satisfying outcome.
For our students specifically, cultivating an attitude of resilience can be the most important element they need to turn past struggles into future success. That being said, persistence can look different depending on surrounding circumstances, personalities involved, and the type of adversity faced.
History and literature provide us with a wealth of both positive and negative examples of persistence in the face of adversity.
Toward that end, we as teachers have carefully selected novel readings from a variety of genres in each grade level to provide strong examples for students to learn from and reflect upon.
Through these summer readings and corresponding assignments, students will have the opportunity to start the new school year in the right frame of mind for future success and ready to develop persistence in the face of adversity.
Grade 9
The topic for this year’s summer reading is perseverance in the face of adversity.
Unfortunately, facing some kind of adversity is one of life’s guarantees. However, the ways in which people persevere are incredibly diverse.
Not everyone confronts problems head-on with bold confidence. Many persevere in quiet, complex ways, achieving resolutions that are often imperfect in an imperfect world.
These summer reading choices invite us to reflect on the various struggles people must face — and the different ways in which they learn to cope.
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
ISBN: 978-0316769488
The quintessential coming-of-age novel.
Holden Caulfield lives in a world of phonies and must come to terms with both loss and the end of innocence. Expelled from yet another prep school, he spends a weekend wandering through New York City, struggling to confront the reality of growing up.
Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
ISBN: 978-0374105211
A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel.
Set in colonized Antigua, Annie John follows a young girl as she faces the loss of childhood and the complexities of a changing relationship with her mother, all within a society itself undergoing transformation.
In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd by Ana Menedez
ISBN: 978-0802138873
A powerful collection of short stories.
Ana Menéndez explores the realities of exile and the immigrant experience, capturing what it means to leave one’s home country. These stories reflect on memory, identity, and the deep longing for the past that shapes family life across generations.
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
ISBN: 978-0811214049
A memory play with autobiographical elements.
The story centers on Tom, his sister Laura, and their mother Amanda, as they struggle with abandonment, economic hardship, and shifting societal expectations. It raises timeless questions: How does a family cope with loss and change? How does the past shape the present — and are cycles of struggle truly unbreakable?
Grade 10
Adversity is never one-size-fits-all. It is personal, varied, and often layered. A character’s response to hardship reveals their values, motivations, and growth. Sometimes, it even single-handedly defines certain characters’ identity.
Adversity might appear in the form of a single disruptive moment, like a minor injury that keeps a star athlete from playing in a championship game. But it can also manifest as simmering tensions within relationships, or even as sweeping societal forces—like racial injustice, war, or authoritarian rule—that shape the lives of individuals and communities. What matters most is not just that adversity occurs, but how it transforms those caught in its path.
Throughout the upcoming academic year, you’ll be expected to analyze how authors use adversity to develop characters, reveal themes, and create meaning. Whether you’re writing essays, interpreting subtext, or preparing for standardized exams, your ability to identify and interpret conflict—whether it affects individuals, settings, or entire cultures—will be central to your success. After all, adversity is the engine that drives many of American literature’s most enduring works, and is thus the lens through which you’ll practice the kind of close, purposeful reading required at the AP level.
You will read two books this summer. One is required (Slaughterhouse-Five), and the second will be your choice from a list of three additional titles. As you read, keep in mind the overarching theme of persevering through adversity. It will be the lens through which you’ll examine characters, conflict, and meaning.
Not every character will succeed in overcoming adversity, and some may not persevere at all, but their struggles still offer insight into larger ideas about identity, society, or resilience. Your interpretation of the theme may differ depending on the book, and that variation is both expected and encouraged. Choose your second text thoughtfully, considering how each story presents different forms of adversity and different ways of confronting it.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
ISBN: 978-0440180296
(Sci-Fi, Anti-War Satire, Social/Political Commentary)
Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. A WWII soldier turned optometrist, he moves between moments in his life: from his capture by the Germans and survival of the Dresden firebombings, to his quiet suburban existence and an imagined alien abduction. Traumatized by war and unable to make sense of human cruelty, Billy retreats into fatalism, convinced that free will is an illusion. His emotional detachment serves both as a coping mechanism and a reflection of deeper psychological scars.
Vonnegut exposes the absurdity of war, the randomness of suffering, and the difficulty of processing trauma, exploring how adversity—especially the kind that defies reason—leaves lasting marks on the human mind.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
ISBN: 978-0486277868
(Finding Oneself, Social/Political Commentary, Feminism)
Edna Pontellier appears to lead a comfortable life as a wife and mother in 19th-century New Orleans, but she quietly begins to question the roles she is expected to fulfill. During a summer on Grand Isle, she experiences a personal awakening that stirs desires she can no longer ignore.
Back in the city, Edna’s growing need for independence places her in direct conflict with the expectations of marriage, motherhood, and polite society. As she pushes against the limits imposed on women, she discovers that freedom comes at a cost.
Her rebellion is emotional, psychological, and deeply personal, yet it reflects broader tensions between individuality and conformity. Through Edna’s journey, Chopin explores the quiet but powerful adversity faced by women seeking identity beyond social convention.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
ISBN: 978-0385474542
(Tragedy, Patriarchy, War and Colonization)
Okonkwo is a respected warrior in the Igbo village of Umuofia, determined to escape the shame of his father’s weakness and build a legacy of strength and honor. Fiercely devoted to tradition and masculinity, he rises in status but struggles to suppress fear, emotion, and doubt.
When British missionaries and colonial forces begin to infiltrate the region, the customs and values upon which Okonkwo has built his life start to erode. As his community changes around him, he becomes increasingly isolated, unable to adapt to a world he no longer recognizes. His refusal to compromise leads to both personal and cultural devastation.
Achebe’s novel explores layered conflict, revealing how a character shaped by one adversity can still be overwhelmed by the weight of another.
Beowulf (translation) by Seamus Heaney
ISBN: 978-0393320978
(Traditional Folklore, Northern European Mythology)
This translation of the Old English epic tells the story of Beowulf, a legendary warrior who rises to fame by confronting monstrous threats no other man dares face. He defeats the savage Grendel, then Grendel’s vengeful mother, and later, in old age, battles a dragon threatening his kingdom.
Beowulf’s life is marked by physical bravery and unwavering loyalty, as he meets each new danger with courage and resolve. Beneath the heroic action lies a deeper reflection on mortality, legacy, and the limits of human strength. This timeless epic explores the tension between honor and hubris and the shifting nature of adversity—from external beasts to the internal struggle with fate and decline.
(NOTE: Read only the modern English version.)
Grade 11
For your summer assignment, you will have one required novel AND a second novel of your choice from the provided list.
Required (everyone must read)
Sociopath: A Memoire by: Patric Gagne PhD
ISBN: 978-1668003183
Patric Gagne knew something was off before she even started kindergarten. While other kids felt fear, guilt, and empathy, she felt… nothing. Desperate to feel something—anything—she lied, stole, and broke into houses. In college, she finally got an answer: she was a sociopath. But instead of help, she was told there was no treatment, no hope, and no future.
Haunted by the idea that she might be a monster, Patric nearly gave up—until a chance reconnection with an old flame sparked a question she couldn’t ignore: if she could love, was she really beyond saving?
This is the true story of how she set out to change her fate—and challenge everything we think we know about sociopathy. With the help of her sweetheart (and some curious characters she meets along the way), she embarks on a mission to prove that the millions of Americans who share her diagnosis aren’t all monsters either.
Optional (everyone MUST read 1 of the titles below)
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
ISBN: 978-0399588198
Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Born to a white father and a Black mother—an illegal union under apartheid law—his very existence was a crime. Hidden indoors for much of his early life, he emerged after the fall of apartheid into a world still scarred by racism and violence.
Born a Crime follows Noah’s journey from a mischievous child to a sharp-witted young man, navigating poverty, identity, and survival with humor and resilience. At the heart of it all is his fierce, fearless mother, whose love and faith kept them both going in the face of incredible odds.
Hilarious, heartbreaking, and unforgettable, this is the story of a boy who was never meant to exist—and the woman who refused to let him disappear.
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman
ISBN: 978-1250397676
Meditations for Mortals is a refreshing guide to living well in an overwhelming world. Drawing from philosophy, literature, psychology, and more, Oliver Burkeman offers a practical, honest approach to life he calls “imperfectionism”—the idea that we can stop chasing perfection and start embracing our limitations.
Through short, thoughtful reflections, he tackles big questions about time, distraction, decision-making, and the myth of finally “getting it all together.” Whether read over four weeks or in a single burst, this book offers clarity, comfort, and a much-needed shift in perspective for anyone craving a more grounded, meaningful life.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
ISBN: 979-8308648314
A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus begins one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned—a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that charts the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.
When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today, it remains devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked—under whatever banner—the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece remain ferociously fresh.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
ISBN: 978-0060850524
In a world where happiness is mandatory and individuality is dangerous, Brave New World imagines a future society built on control, conditioning, and consumerism. Humans are no longer born—they’re engineered—and from the moment they exist, they are shaped to fit perfectly into a rigid social order.
There is no war, no poverty, no pain… but there is also no freedom, art, or true connection. When an outsider enters this so-called utopia, he forces its citizens to confront what they have sacrificed for comfort and stability.
Provocative, chilling, and eerily relevant, Aldous Huxley’s classic novel challenges us to ask: what is the cost of a perfectly ordered world?
Grade 12
For your summer assignment, you will have one required novel AND a second novel of your choice from the provided list.
Required (everyone must read)
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
ISBN: 978-0060838676
Their Eyes Were Watching God follows Janie Crawford, a fiercely independent Black woman in the early 20th-century South, as she sets out to find her own voice in a world determined to silence her.
Through three marriages and a journey marked by love, loss, and resilience, Janie refuses to settle for anything less than a life of meaning and self-discovery. With rich, lyrical language and unforgettable characters, Zora Neale Hurston’s groundbreaking novel is both a powerful love story and a timeless exploration of identity, freedom, and what it means to truly live for yourself.
Optional (everyone MUST read 1 of the titles below)
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
ISBN: 978-0063251984
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead tells the story of a boy born to a teenage single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks, copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival.
Told in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, failing schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and devastating losses. Through it all, he confronts his own invisibility in a popular culture where even superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of the cities.
Circe by Madeline Miller
ISBN: 978-0316556323
Born to Helios, god of the sun, Circe is an oddity—neither powerful like her father nor enchanting like her mother. Shunned by the gods, she discovers a hidden power: witchcraft.
Banished to a remote island, Circe hones her magic, crosses paths with legends such as Odysseus and the Minotaur, and learns what it means to stand alone. But as threats from gods and men close in, she must decide where she truly belongs: with the divine world that rejected her, or the mortal one she has come to love.
Circe is a spellbinding tale of power, transformation, and fierce female strength.
Educated A Memoire by Tara Westover
ISBN: 978-0399590528
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that no one ensured the children received an education—and no one intervened when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent.
When another brother managed to get himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her pursuit of knowledge transformed her, taking her across oceans and continents, to Harvard and Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she had traveled too far—and whether there was still a way home.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
ISBN: 978-0345514400
Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and must live with the consequences for a lifetime.
Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.