Sunday, November 22, 2015

English Teachers Share their Favorites.

Come to the Library to see the display of books suggested by our wonderful Middle and Upper School English teachers. You can't go wrong in choosing one of these to check out!
The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton  (Mr. Metsopoulos)
Wharton paints New York high society as a Game of Thrones - romantic and (at least metaphorically) deadly.
Atonement, Ian McKewan (Ms. Summers)
This is a WWII love story that also contemplates the nature of truth, fiction, storytelling, and regret.
Bel Canto, Ann Patchett  (Ms. Jansen)
I thought about this book before the Paris bombings and then almost didn’t recommend it because its main plot focuses on a hostage situation.  But I decided to recommend it because I think it offers hope and connection in a world of violence and division.
Birds of a Feather : a Maisie Dobbs Novel  (Ms. Katie Walsh)
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison (Ms. Katie Walsh)
Brooklyn, Colm Toibin (Ms. Rickert-Wilbur, Mr. Waters, Ms. Jansen)
A Civil Action, Jonathon Harr (Ms. Weijer)
This is an incredible, true story of a lawyer’s struggle to get justice for families whose children got cancer from contaminated water. It’s creative nonfiction at its best. Was also made into a movie in 1998 starring John Travolta and Robert Duvall; Duvall’s performance earned him an Oscar nomination.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres (Mr. Metsopoulos)              
Fiction story about the Greek civil war, love, and tragedy.  I won’t say more, but it’s a moving tale.
Crime and Punishment, Fyordor Dostoyevsky (Ms. Feiss)
Einstein's Dreams, Alan Lightman (Ms. Schaffner)
The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman (Ms. Weijer)
This is my long-standing favorite fantasy book. Pullman does a masterful job of creating a magical world for the reader.
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret  Atwood  (Ms. Katie Walsh)
The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson (Mr. Metsopoulos)
A classic haunted house book, it’s also about society tells us we shouldn’t admit regarding our dreams and desires.
The History of Love, Nichol Krauss (Ms. Schaffner, Dr. Waters)
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (Ms. McDonald)
Krik? Krak!, Edwidge Danticat (Ms. Jansen)
This is a moving collection of short stories that will challenge your ideas about love and struggle.  Many of the stories offer both the struggle and triumph of being a woman.
Lila, Marilyn Robinson (Ms. McDonald)
Maisie Dobbs : a novel, Jacqueline Winspear  (Ms. Feiss)
The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri (Ms. Jansen, Ms. Feiss)
It’s a story about identity, immigration, homeland, new beginnings, America, India, and literature.  What else is there?!
Peace Like a River, Leif Enger (Ms. McDonald)
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (Ms. Summers)
I love this book so much I named my cat after the protagonist.
Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver  (Ms. Katie Walsh)
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens  (Ms. Katie Walsh)
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf  (Mr. Metsopoulos)
Virginia Woolf: Woolf’s novel about a marriage and a family is a stream-of-consciousness tour-de-force that takes place over a decade of visits to a family summer home.
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan  (Mr. Metsopoulos) A fractured-time narrative that resolves in ways unexpected and resonant
Waterland, Graham Swift (Mr. Metsopoulos) A lyrical story about the history of the English fenlands and a history professor’s last lecture: his own secret history of love and madness entwined with that of England’s.
Migration : New & Selected Poems, W.S. Merwin (Mr. Waters)
Paddy Clarke, Ha-Ha-Ha, Roddy Doyle (Mr. Waters)
Someone, Alice McDermott  (Mr. Waters)

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Students get a first-hand look at 19th Century American Culture.

Dr. Yeager's U.S. History students came to the library to work with his Nineteenth Century newspaper collection. They compared articles, ads and illustrations from the early 1800's to the mid and late 1800's.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Elizabeth Wein Visits Bryn Mawr



Author, Elizabeth Wein, spoke to Middle and Upper School students yesterday about the writing process, finding primary sources, the significance of illustrations in her work, and being a pilot. She then joined students in the Edith Hamilton Library to chat and sign books. Students asked great questions about writer's block, keeping a journal, and integrating real life experiences and memories into one's work. Elizabeth headed to Washington D.C. after lunch to meet astronaut, Cady Coleman.



Thursday, October 15, 2015

Author Elizabeth Wein to Visit Bryn Mawr

Author, Elizabeth Wein, spoke to Middle and Upper School students yesterday about the writing process, finding primary sources, the significance of illustrations in her work, and being a pilot. She then joined students in the Edith Hamilton Library to chat and sign books. Students asked great questions about writer's block, keeping a journal, and integrating real life experiences and memories into one's work. Elizabeth headed to Washington D.C. after lunch to meet astronaut, Cady Coleman.

Summer Reading 2015


All Upper School students are required to read four books during the summer. At least one of the four is a selection from the Upper School Student Nominated Books List. Remaining requirements for each grade are listed below.

Incoming Grade 9:

English Department: The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger. (Get the Back Bay Books edition, available from Amazon.com ISBN-10: 0316769177 or ISBN-13: 978-0316769174 )

Technology Department: The Innovators, by Walter Isaacson. You are required to read only the chapter on Ada Lovelace (pgs 7-33).

Math Department: Algebra Success in Twenty Minutes a Day is strongly recommended for all incoming 9th graders but not required, problem sets. 

Personal Choice: Choose one book from the Upper School Student Nominated Books List.



Incoming Grade 10

English Department: Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys W. W. Norton & Company; Reissue edition,  ISBN-10: 0393308804 or ISBN-13: 978-0393310481. Do NOT get the the Norton Critical Edition.  
History Department: (Modern World) Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe (paperback, $10.95)

AP World History: AP World History will read the grade wide book Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, and a selection of AP specific works. Dr. Riley will send a packet with the AP specific works over the summer.

French 4H."Rex" by Sempe-Gosciny and an additional reading/assignment to be determined. Get packet from Ms. McAndrew.

Spanish 4H:   Packet including listening exercise; questions; short story "La desesperación de las letras” by Ginés S. Cutillas ; and a short writing piece. Get packet from Ms. Gray. 

Personal Choice: Choose one book from the Upper School Student Nominated Books List. 



Incoming Grade 11:

Biology Department:  For both Biology and Honors Biology: Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollen (Paperback,  you are encouraged to purchase a used copy.)

English Department: The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien.  (Mariner Books; 1st edition, 2009)

Please note: Students taking English at Gilman must check their reading list. It is linked to our library webpage.

French 4H. "Rex" by Sempe-Gosciny and an additional reading/assignment to be determined. Get packet from Mme McAndrew.

Spanish 4H:   Packet including listening exercise; questions; short story "La desesperación de las letras” by Ginés S. Cutillas ; and a short writing piece. Get packet from Ms. Gray. 
AP French Language:  Packet including listening exercises; questions; grammar exercises; and a short writing piece.   See Dr. Barck.

AP Spanish Language:  Packet with various activities including a choice of short stories by Juan Rulfo, Isaac Aisemberg or Isabel Allende. Get packet from Mr. Mendaro.
Personal Choice: Choose one book from the Upper School Student Nominated Books List. 

Please note: If you are taking classes at Roland Park or Gilman, you must check their summer reading lists!
Incoming Grade 12:

All Upper School students are required to read four books during the summer. One of the four is a selection from the Upper School Student Nominated Books List. Students enrolled in more than one AP course should read AP choices first. Since many seniors choose electives elsewhere, the students are required by honor and, it is hoped, inclination to read four books (including one or more selections from the Student Nominated Summer Reading Book List, and from the combined lists of Departmental and AP). Teachers of BMS English and history electives have listed books which you should read if you are taking their courses. If taking Gilman or Roland Park courses, you should ask the faculty teaching those courses if they have pre-requisite reading. 

English Department Electives:

Creative Writing; Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (Paperback $10.50)

History Department Electives:

AP Economics: The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity by Russell Roberts. Princeton, 2008 (Paperback $11.50)

Baltimore Issues. Also called Charm City: Down to the Wire: Cop in the Hood by Peter Moskos (Paperback $12.87)

America in the World: The Post-American World:Release 2.0 , by Fareed Zakaria. W.W. Norton, (Paperback $9.35)

Legal Systems: In the Name of Honor: A Memoir by Mukhtar Mai. (Paperback $10.00 through Amazon)

World Languages and Cultures Electives:

French 4H: "Rex" by Sempe-Gosciny and an additional reading/assignment to be determined. Get packet from Mme McAndrew.
French Senior Honors Seminar: Students should see Mme McAndrew for a packet  that includes the story "La Belle et la Bête" by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1756) and some other activities.

Spanish 4H:   Packet including listening exercise; questions; short story "La desesperación de las letras” by Ginés S. Cutillas ; and a short writing piece. Get packet from Ms. Gray. 
Spanish Senior Honors Seminar: "En la ardiente oscuridad" (first two acts) by Antonio Buero-Vallejo. Get instruction sheet from Ms. Gray. Book available through the Bryn Mawrket.

AP Courses :

AP Biology: Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species, by Sean Carroll ( Paperback, you are encouraged to purchase a used copy.)

AP Economics: The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity by Russell Roberts. Princeton, 2008 (Paperback $11.50)

AP English Bright Lights, Big City, By Jay McInerney (Paperback $9.71)

AP Environmental Science: How the Earthquake Bird Got Its Name and Other Unbalanced Nature by H. H. Shugart (Paperback,  you may purchase a used copy.)

AP French Language: Packet including listening exercises; questions; grammar exercises; and a short writing piece.   See Dr. Barck.

AP Physics C: Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character, ed. By Edward Hutchins. W.W. Norton. (Paperback, you are encouraged to purchase a used copy.)
AP Spanish Language:  Packet with various activities including a choice of short stories by Juan Rulfo, Isaac Aisemberg or Isabel Allende. Get packet from Mr. Mendaro.

AP Statistics: How to Lie with Statistics, by Darrell Huff. (W.W. Norton, $11.00)

Please note: If you are taking classes at Roland Park or Gilman, you must check their summer reading lists!

May 2015

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Unforgettable Lines

April 12-18 is National Library Week, and to celebrate we are asking students, faculty and staff from all divisions to share a favorite line from a book. We have begun putting faculty and staff favorites on display in the window outside of the Library. They include lines in several languages and come from authors as varied as Dr. Seuss and Rabelais. Now we invite you to post a favorite line on the black display panels in the Library.  You may write it on paper  or print it, and you may embellish it if you wish. I hope that you will join us in filling the Library with unforgettable lines!