An orphaned boy living on dirty streets. A surprise terrorist attack. An out of control government. A drug chef’s girl that has to take care of her family. A real life evil dictator. A famous boxer. An immortal human that saves humanity.

These are some of the things students at CHS will be reading about this summer during the Summer Reading Challenge.

For the past four summers Clayton High School students have been challenged to read a book over summer vacation with the mission to return to a full school discussion in the fall.

This year all of the books center on the theme “Rebels with a Cause”.

The books chosen for the Summer Reading Challenge include “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens, “Little Brother” by Cory Doctorow, “Winter’s Bone” by Daniel Woodrell, “In the Time of the Butterflies” Julia Alvarez, “King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero” by David Remnick, and “Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot.

The Summer Reading Challenge committee considers suggestions from students and the faculty before making the final decision.

English teacher Emily Grady, a committee member, said that there was a little play on words for the theme this year.

“This year, the theme is ‘A Rebel with a Cause’ and this is a pun from a movie in the 1950s called ‘A Rebel Without a Cause,’” Grady said.

The Summer Reading Challenge had always been very informal until the district recently changed its stance.

English teacher and former committee member Jennifer Sellenriek explained how the summer reading challenge started four years ago.

“We always had a list of suggested reading and it evolved from that,” Sellenriek said. “Dr. Barbeau asked us to consider an assignment or challenge for summer reading and that was how the most recent summer reading challenge started.”

Librarian and committee member Lauran DeRigne said that the success of the Summer Reading Challenge has been very positive in its beginning stage.

‘The first book chosen was the ‘Hunger Games’ series and almost all the students have read it,” DeRigne said. “Each year, there seem to be one or two books that take off and throughout the year they are always the highest checkouts in the library.”

Grady agrees with DeRigne on the success of the Summer Reading Challenge.

“We heard a lot of comments, and this is not just for the students because the faculty is also reading the book and talking about it,” said Grady. “That gives us a way to know each other better. Just hearing people talking about the books and being excited about it is a big success.”

DeRigne feels like the Summer Reading Challenge is a necessity for students if they want to be involved in the school community.

“We are moving toward a third hour celebration every year where we talk about what we read over the summer,” DeRigne said. “It’s a good way for students to be included in the community. They are encouraged to read one of the summer reading books and hopefully more.”

Most of the students in CHS take off right after school finishes and do not have time to read. However, Grady cannot imagine why kids are too busy to read over the summer.

“I am such a reader that I have to read everyday,” Grady said. “I can’t breathe if I don’t read. I think if you don’t read first of all you are missing out on enriching part of your life because you are not thinking about things. Also, reading is a skill, and if you don’t practice it, then you slip.”

Grady hopes every student reads a Summer Reading Challenge book.

“I would like to encourage students to have a voice in it, and to give suggestions for books, and also just try it, even just one book, even don’t finish it–just start it,” Grady said. “We think reading is so important that we really want to welcome more people to do it.”