What the Kids Are Reading These Days
Required summer reading for 9th graders at Springfield’s Commonwealth Academy:
White Teeth (Zadie Smith), Paradise Lost (John Milton), The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger), King Lear (William Shakespeare), The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
Suggested summer reading for 9th graders at Amherst Regional High School:
The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd), Summerland (Michael Chabon), Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card), Anansi Boys (Neil Gaiman), Ellen Foster (Kaye Gibbons), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon), Donald Duk (Frank Chin), Welcome to the Monkey House (Kurt Vonnegut), When I Was Puerto Rican (Esmeralda Santiago), Annie on My Mind (Nancy Garden), Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson), Buddha (Osamu Tezuka), Flight (Sherman Alexie)
Freshman summer reading list at Cathedral High:
Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life (Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker), The Color of Water (James McBride), The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd), The Count of Monte Cristo (abridged) (Alexander Dumas), The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins), Shoeless Joe (W.P. Kinsella), The Book Thief (Markus Zusak), Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
Mark Your Calendar
This weekend marks the 41st anniversary of Springfield’s Mattoon Street Arts Festival—the longest-running event of its kind in the Valley, organizers proudly note. The two-day event will feature the work of about 100 painters, photographers, fiber artists, ceramicists and other artists and crafters from around the region, plus food, music and the chance to spend time in one of the city’s most gorgeous historic neighborhoods.
This year’s festival runs Sept. 7 and 8, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, go to www.mattoonfestival.org.
By the Numbers:
40,323
The number of people charged with drug crimes based on faulty evidence handled by Annie Dookhan, a former crime lab chemist for the Mass. Department of Public Health. Dookhan was arrested last September for allegedly falsifying drug test reports and mixing samples in her lab. The state has spent, to date, $7.6 million investigating the case, Commonwealth Magazine recently reported. Dookhan’s trial is set to begin next January.
Worth Quoting
“We are committed to the safe and reliable operation of Vermont Yankee until shutdown, followed by a safe, orderly and environmentally responsible decommissioning process”
— Leo Denault, chairman and chief executive officer of Vermont Yankee’s parent company, Entergy, in a statement announcing plans to close and decommission the power station following its current fuel cycle.
