Historical Figures
Required Reading
Summer Activities
Portmanteaus
Common Bonds
200

This Roman statesman famously demanded pirates that kidnapped him increase their ransom. While held captive, he joked that he would hunt them down and crucify them, which he did after his release.

Julius Caesar

200

 classic of children's literature, this book is the best-selling children's paperback of all time. It tells the story of the titular character working to spare the life of a barn animal in danger of being slaughtered.

Charlotte's Web

200

This holiday traditionally marks the end of the "summer season" in North America, although this year, it doesn't officially end until September 22nd.

Labor Day

200

An animated media franchise with its name coming from the Japanese words for "Pocket Monsters".

Pokémon (pocket + monsters)

200

Egg, Turtle, Bomb

Shell

400

This physicist and chemist was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields. She discovered the elements radium and polonium.

Marie Curie

400

This classic dystopian novel centers on themes of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and brainwashing. The novel popularized "Orwellian", "Big Brother", "doublethink", "Thought Police", "thoughtcrime", and "Newspeak".

Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

400

A participant in this activity may use a belay, carabiner, crampon, or piton.

Rock Climbing/Mountaineering

400

An art or practice where people dress as fictional characters.

Cosplay (costume + roleplay)

400

Monkey, Show, Funny

Business

600

As the Queen of England (1553-1558), this person violently attempted to push England toward Catholicism, leader to her nickname, which is shared by a cocktail and a folklore figure.

Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary)

600

This 1993 dystopian novel by Lois Lowry, features a society that has converted to "Sameness" by removing color, climate, and emotion. The protagonist discovers pain and other emotions, and works to end the "Sameness".

The Giver

600

Dating to at least the 16th century in England, this lawn game requires players to strike wooden or plastic balls through wickets and eventually hit a peg.

Croquet

600

A situation with the same outcome three times, typically in reference to a sporting event, like a championship.

Threepeat (three + repeat)

600

Royal, Extended, Nuclear

Family

800

This Chinese philosopher developed philosophical teachings, named after himself, that emphasize personal and governmental morality, harmonious social relationships, righteousness, kindness, sincerity, and a ruler's responsibilities to lead by virtue.

Confucius

800

This tragedy, the shortest by William Shakespeare, dramatizes the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambitions and power. Stage superstition says that the name of the play should not be spoken, instead being called "The Scottish Play".

Macbeth (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

800

This was the date of the 2026 summer solstice (you can be off by 5 days in either direction).

June 21st (June 16th - June 26th)

800

Consisting of letters and numbers.

Alphanumeric (alphabetic + numeric)

800

Horse, Set, Paper

Back

1000

This person was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. The 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, was nicknamed after her.

Susan B. Anthony

1000

DAILY DOUBLE

Regarded as a central work in the canon of American drama, this 1953 play by Arthur Miller is a partially fictionalized story of the Salem Witch Trials, serving as an allegory for anti-communist sentiment in the United States.

1000

This is a watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size connected by a frame.

Catamaran

1000

Substances that could be dangerous if not properly contained.

Hazmat (hazardous + material)

1000

Big, Head, Penalty

Shot