Summer Reading

Dear Rising 10th Graders,

We’re delighted to put this copy of Klara and the Sun into your hands for summer reading. We’ve selected this novel because we think it’s relevant, lyrical, and bound up in the big-picture questions we’ll explore together throughout The Workshop. We also happen to find it fun to read and to discuss—we hope you agree! 

The novel doesn’t require much context beyond what you can find on the back cover. Here’s what we ask of you as you read:

• Continue the practice—or begin the practice—of reading with a pen in hand. You might use the margins of the text to make notes about your reactions to the plot, the language, the narrative structure…etc! Or, you might annotate in a nearby notebook. Either way, please actively engage with the text, allowing your noticings and wonderings to unspool alongside Ishiguro’s words. A heads up: we will take a look at your annotations when you get to Deerfield in the fall.
• Try to limit distractions, especially technology, as you read. Put devices away so you can fully enter the world of the text. 
• Resist the urge to go to the Internet or AI with your questions about the text. Instead, attend to your uncertainties by reading the novel itself more closely.
• If you choose to listen to an audio-book of Klara and the Sun, great! Please also read the text on paper, either simultaneously or as a re-read. Again, please annotate.
• Bring your annotated copy of Klara and the Sun to school with you and to our first classes. Be ready to write about the novel and to talk about it (so, if you finish it in June, maybe give it another glance in August).
• Most importantly, enjoy the opportunity to engage with this story. We can’t wait to talk to you about it!

In addition to your work with Klara and the Sun, you should also select and read three additional texts from the larger list. 

Have a wonderful summer,
Your 10th Grade English Teachers