| Julia Furukawa Librarian 847-692-8074 |
| Jennifer Don Librarian 847-692-8070 |
Maine Township Libraries are dynamic, student-centered spaces, constantly evolving to meet the ever-changing needs of our District 207 students and staff. Libraries are no longer book repositories and places of silent study – we are creative and engaging community centers, offering space for collaboration and authentic learning. Teacher and Librarian collaboration is essential to making our district philosophy a reality, and we are committed to creating an environment and building our resources to support modern classrooms based on inquiry. Our libraries explore the many new definitions of literacy and house material that reflects the evolution of technology and print to support our evolving curriculum and exploration of ideas.
2025 Summer Reading Program
Welcome to Maine South’s Summer Reading program! We know that reading and listening has a positive impact on brain development, so we hope this guide will help you find exciting, high-quality options to support your reading during the school break. Any students who read and submit a short review* of at least 2 books by Monday, September 15th will be able to come into the library to pick out a small prize; every subsequent book read and reviewed over the summer will count as an entry in the Golden Egg and Grand Prize drawings. Four Golden Egg winners will receive a tote bag, two YA books of their choice, and a library prize. Two Grand Prize winners will receive a tote bag, three YA books, a library prize, and a free large 1-topping Pizza Hut pizza.
Many of our students and staff have books they will jump into without needing a list. However, for those looking for recommendations, we’ve created 3 lists that offer a variety of options: the 2026 Lincoln Award nominees, student-recommended books, and our most popular checkouts from 2025. All of these titles are available for checkout through Sora, our high school’s ebook and audiobook platform, which students can sign into with their Chromebook login. These lists are intended as inspiration to get the ball rolling, but students are not restricted to these titles! Any books read between May 28th and September 15th will count toward summer reading.
This year, we are especially encouraging students to read from the 2026 Illinois Teen Readers’ Choice Lincoln Award list; reading from this list will dovetail with some of our school year library programming. In addition to the regular library prize, any students who read and review at least 2 of this year’s Lincoln nominees by Monday, September 15th will also be invited to our first semester Lincoln Award Pizza Party. Students who read and review at least 4 Lincoln Award titles by Monday, February 9th will be invited to vote at our second semester Lincoln Award Pizza Party. These votes will count toward the state-wide tally naming the 2026 award-winner!
*Please note: incoming freshmen will not receive their Maine South log-in information until material pick-up at the beginning of August. If they would like to submit a review before that time, they can do so through this incoming freshman-only form instead.The summer is full of opportunities for our students and families to continue learning, pursuing interests, and nurturing curiosities; we hope that this can play a small part! Students and families may also enjoy participating in summer reading with the Park Ridge Public Library, Niles-Maine District Library, or Eisenhower Public Library. Visit the Maine South library website for this and more information to support your reading: bit.ly/mslrc-summer.
Accessing eBooks and Audiobooks
- Students can access Maine South’s digital copies for free through Sora on desktop or by installing the Sora app on a phone or tablet. Use your Maine South username (before the @) and password to log in.
- Students can also access many of the titles digitally with a Park Ridge library card through Libby and/or Hoopla. All Maine South students, regardless of address, are eligible for a Park Ridge library card. Park Ridge residents can fill out this online form; if a student’s address is not in Park Ridge, they can email Patron Services directly ([email protected]).
- Students may want to listen to one of the books at audible.com.
Summer 2025 Required Reading for AP English Courses
Students enrolled in an AP English class should read the following over the summer. In addition to any titles they choose from the recommended summer reading suggestions of the Maine South Summer Reading Program, students should read the following: Links to descriptions of the texts or the texts themselves are hyperlinked.
AP Seminar: Read one of these sets of texts.
| Set 1 | American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang
Fuchs, Chris. “Behind the ‘Model Minority’ Myth: Why the ‘Studious Asian’ Stereotype Hurts.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 22 Aug. 2017. (article) Yellow Peril Advertisement – 1882 (artistic work – advertisement) |
| Set 2 | Love, Hate, and Other Filters, Samira Ahmed
Litchblau, Eric. “Hate Crimes Against American Muslims Since Post 9/11 Era.” The New York Times. 16 Sept. 2017 (article) “Greater Than Fear” by Shepard Fairey (artistic work – political poster) |
| Set 3 | American Street, Ibi Zoboi
Grinberg, Emanuella. “They treated us as though we were animals’: Letters from inside an immigration detention facility.” CNN. 4 July 2018. (article) “Self Portrait Between the Borderline of Mexico and the United States”, Frida Kahlo (painting) |
| Set 4 | Scythe, Neal Shusterman (foundational text)
Sheehan, Matt. “The Five Biggest Questions about China’s New Two-Child Policy.” Huffington Post. 30 Oct. 2015. (article) “The Scream” by Edvard Munch (artistic work – painting) |
| Set 5 | Not if I See You First, Eric Lindstrom (foundational text) (Disabled Rights)
Stamberg, Susan. “Blind Art Lovers Make the Most of Museum Visit with ‘Insight’ Tours.” National Public Radio. NPR. 5 Jan. 2017. (article) “The Butler”, Jack Vettriano (artistic work – painting) |
AP Language & Composition: Read the following.
| Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell. (ISBN# 978-0316017930) |
AP Literature & Composition: Read ONE of these four books.
| A Thousand Splendid Suns | Khaled Hosseini | 978-1594483851 |
| James | Percival Everett | 978-0593862735 |
| Jane Eyre | Charlotte Brontë | 978-0141441146 |
| One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | Ken Kesey | 978-0451163967 |