ELYSIAN FIELDS HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER READING 2017 GRADE 9 HONORS—MS.JOHNSON
“Reading, real reading, is a strenuous and pleasurable contact sport.” --Maureen Howard
For summer reading this year, you are required to read Of Mice and Men. You must also read a work of nonfiction. Select from the list provided. For each of these books, you will complete an assignment. You will also take an in-class test on Of Mice and Men during the first week of school and will present the nonfiction work.
Due Dates and Policies for Summer Reading Each summer reading assignment is worth a TEST GRADE that will count in your first six weeks’ average. Both assignments are due first day of class. After that, the project will not be accepted, and you will not be allowed to enter Honors English.
Recommendations
1. It is highly recommended that students not begin reading until some time in July. Students will know their own reading aptitudes and speed and be able to determine the best time to begin reading. Students will want the details of the books to be fresh in their mind when the school year begins. 2. On the second day of school, a limited amount of time will be dedicated to answering any questions students have about Of Mice and Men prior to being tested.
Fiction—Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck A controversia l tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression. They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.
Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.
Double-Entry Journal For this assignment, you will need to maintain a double-entry journal while you are reading the novel. You will, as you read, choose excerpts from the novel that are significant and critical to the meaning of the work, the writer’s style, and/or the literary elements (e.g. character, plot, theme, symbols, etc.). You must include a minimum of ten entries in this journal, and they should cover the entirety of the novel. In a double-entry journal, you fold or divide your page in half, quote the author’s EXACT words on the left side of the page, and then write your interpretation and/or response to it on the right—you will paraphrase, explain, and analyze the author’s language to increase your own comprehension. Each entry should be at least 6-8 well thought out sentences, making references to the text whenever possible. Journals should be handwritten in two columns and single-spaced.
Scrapbook Create a scrapbook for a main character. The scrapbook should be at least 10 pages (8.5 x 11). It should have a creative cover and title. It should reflect the character’s personality and reflect through the included objects the central plot of the book. Include a one-page explanation of the scrapbook and its contents.
Nonfiction Note: Because this is a list aimed at high school students, some of the books address mature ideas and issues. Please preview the books before making your selection so that you and/or your parents are not surprised by the content.
Poster This poster should include a visual representation of the book (please avoid simply cutting and pasting a picture of the book’s cover from the internet) the title, the author, and a one paragraph review of the book either recommending it as a read for your peers or suggesting that they steer clear. I’m looking for creativity, neatness, presentation, and qualities of effective writing. Your finished poster must be at least one-half a standard poster board in size.
Review Review the book for your classmates. Your review should run about 2 pages in length and should be a word-processing (typed) document with 1-inch margins. Include the title and the author, along with page count. Your review should do two things: summarize the content of the book AND evaluate the book. As you evaluate, consider whether you recommend that your classmates read the book, and thoroughly explain why or why not. (You may want to think about which of your classmates will find it valuable, and which won’t.) Since this should be formal writing, do not use I. Visit http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/book-reviews/ for more how-to advice on reviewing a book. Remember that this is not a book report. It’s a book review. The two are very different.
Mitch Albom The Five People You Meet in Heaven Karen Blumenthal Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different Brent Runyon The Burn Journals Barbara Rosenblatt All But My Life Barbara Rosenblatt Ben Carson Gifted Hands Ben Carson Eric Schlosser Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal A.J. Somerset Arms: The Culture and Credo of the Gun Erik Larson Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania Henry Marsh Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery Susan Southard Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War Eileen Pollack The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys’ Club Peter Guralnick Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll Linda Hirshman Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World Marie Jalowicz Simon Underground in Berlin: A Young Woman’s Extraordinary Tale of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany Stacy Schiff The Witches: Salem, 1692 David McCullough The Wright Brothers; 1776; John Adams Anne Frank Diary of a Young Girl Greg Mortensen: Three Cups of Tea Rosa Parks My Story Barrack Obama The Audacity of Hope Dave Pelzer A Child Called It; The Lost Boy; The Privilege of Youth; A Man Name Dave Corrie Ten Boom The Hiding Place Immaculee Ilibagiza Left to Tell Jack Gantos Hole in My Life Lance Armstrong It’s Not About the Bike Aron Ralston Between a Rock and a Hard Place Jimmy Carter Our Endangered Values – America’s Moral Crisis; An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood Tom Brokaw The Greatest Generation James Herriot All Creatures Great and Small Arthur Ashe Days of Grace Rick Bragg All Over But the Shoutin’ Hampton Sides Ghost Soldiers Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Farley Mowat Never Cry Wolf David Halberstam Firehouse H. G. Bissinger Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team and a Dream C. S. Lewis Mere Christianity Sean Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle – A Memoir Madeline Blais In These Girls Hope Is a Muscle Todd Burpo Heaven Is for Real Thomas Keneally Schindler’s List Ackerman, Diane Rarest of the Rare Elio Asinof Eight Men Out Lucie Aubrac Outwitting the Gestapo Judy Barron & Sean Barron There's a Boy in Here Marion Bauer, ed. Am I Blue Tyronne Bogues & David Levine In the Land of Giants Dee Brown Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Jennings Burch They Cage the Animals at Night Steven Callahan Adrift: 76 Days Lost at Sea Truman Capote In Cold Blood Lorene Carey Black Ice Tom Clancy Submarine Mary Crow Dog Lokota Woman Will Durant The Story of Philosophy Bernard Edelman, ed. Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam Shakti Gawain Creative Visualization James Giblin When Plague Strikes Miep Gies Anne Frank Remembered Robin Graham Dove Judith Greenberg & Helen Carey, eds. Letters From a World War II GI Torey Hayden Ghost Girl; One Child Gillian Helfgott Love You to Bits and Pieces Nat Hentoff Free Speech for Me But Not for Thee Ann Heron Two Teenagers in Twenty Peter Jenkins Walk Across America Ron Jones The Acorn People Pagan Kennedy Platforms Gelsey Kirkland Dancing on My Grave Henry Kisor What's That Pig Outdoors Theodora Koeber Ishi: Last of his Tribe Ron Kovic, Ron Born on the Fourth of July Lawrence Krauss The Physics of Star Trek Alfred Lansing Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage William Least Heat Moon Blue Highways Grace Llewelly The Teenage Liberation Handbook Barry Lopez Of Wolves and Men Betty Mahmoody Not Without My Daughter Anne Moody Coming of Age in Mississippi David Mura Turning Japanese John Neihard Black Elk Speaks Tim O'Brien If I Die in a Combat Zone Elain Pagels The Gnostic Gospels Francine Patterson The Education of Koko Scott Peck The Road Less Traveled Mary Pipher Reviving Ophelia Richard Preston The Hot Zone David Quamm Song of the Dodo Slavomir Rawicz The Long Walk Joan Ryan Little Girls in Pretty Boxes Myra and David Sadker Failing at Fairness William Safire Quoth the Maven Esmeraldo Santiago When I Was Puerto Rican Jean Sasson Princess Alan Shepard Moon Shot Konrad Spindler The Man in the Ice Studs Terkel Working; Hard Times Paul Theroux Kingdom by the Sea Piri Thomas Shown These Mean Streets Lynda Van Devanter Home Before Morning Elie Wiesel Night Donna Williams Nobody Nowhere Tobias Wolff This Boy's Life Howard Zinn You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
Essential Literary Terms
Exposition–the essential background information at the beginning of a literary work Rising action– the development of conflict and complications in a literary work Climax–the turning point in a literary work Falling action–results or effects of the climax of a literary work Resolution/denouement–end of a literary work when loose ends are tied up and questions are answered Alliteration – repetition of initial sounds in words: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers” Allusion – a reference to something well-known that exists outside the literary work Antagonist–character that is the source of conflict in a literary work Aside – a dramatic device in which a character makes a short speech intended for the audience but not heard by the other characters on stage
Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds: “the pond is long gone”
Characterization– The manner in which an author develops characters and their personalities Conflict –struggle between two or more opposing forces (person vs. person; nature; society; self; fate/God.
Dialogue –direct speech between characters in a literary work Diction –word choice to create a specific effect Figurative Language –language that represents one thing in terms of something dissimilar (non-literal language). Includes simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, symbol) Flashback–the method of returning to an earlier point in time for the purpose of making the present clearer
Foreshadowing– hint of what is to come in a literary work Genre – type or category to which a literary work belongs Hyperbole – extreme exaggeration to add meaning Imagery – language that appeals to the five senses Irony – Dramatic when the reader or audience knows something a character does not … Situational when there is a disparity between what is expected and what actually occurs … Verbal when the speaker says one thing but means the opposite … Metaphor – an implied comparison between dissimilar objects: “Her talent blossomed” Motif– a recurring feature of a literary work that is related to the theme Onomatopoeia – use of a word whose sound imitates its meaning: “hiss” Oxymoron – phrase that consists of two words that are contradictory: “living dead” or “Microsoft works”
Personification – figure of speech in which non-human things are given human characteristics Plot–the sequence of events in a literary work Point of view–the vantage point or perspective from which a literary work is told …
st 1 person point of view- the narrator is a character in the story (use of ‘I’)
rd 3 person point of view- the narrator is outside of the story (use of ‘he’ ‘she’ ‘they’) Protagonist– the main character in a literary work Rhyme – repetition of similar or identical sounds: “look and crook” Rhyme scheme – the pattern of rhyme among lines of poetry [denoted using letters, as in ABAB CDCD EE]
Setting– the time and place of a literary work Simile – a direct comparison of dissimilar objects, usually using like or as: “I wandered lonely as a cloud”
Soliloquy – a dramatic device in which a character is alone and speaks his or her thoughts aloud Speaker – voice in a poem; the person or thing that is speaking Stanza – group of lines forming a unit in a poem Stereotype– standardized, conventional ideas about characters, plots, and settings Suspense – technique that keeps the reader guessing what will happen next Symbol/symbolism – one thing (object, person, place) used to represent something else Theme – the underlying main idea of a literary work. Theme differs from the subject of a literary work in that it involves a statement or opinion about the subject. Tone – the author’s attitude toward the subject of a work.