6/26/2019 American Lit Summer Reading 2019-20 - Google Docs

11 th Grade American Literature Summer Assignment (2019­2020 School Y ear)

Welcome to American Literature! This summer assignment is meant to keep your reading and writing skills fresh. You should choose carefully —select books that will be interesting and enjoyable for you.

Any assignments that do not follow directions exactly will not be accepted. This assignment is due Friday, August 16, 2019 to your American Literature Teacher. This will count as your first formative grade and be used as a diagnostic for your writing ability.

Directions: For your summer assignment, please choose o ne of the following books to read. You can choose if your book is Fiction or Nonfiction.

Fiction Choices Nonfiction Choices Catch 22 by Joseph Heller The satirical story of a WWII soldier who The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs. An account thinks everyone is trying to kill him and hatches plot after plot to keep of a young African‑American man who escaped Newark, NJ, to attend from having to fly planes again. Yale, but still faced the dangers of the streets when he returned is, Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison The story of an abusive “nuanced and shattering” ( People ) and “mesmeric” ( The New York Southern childhood. Times Book Review ) . The Known World by Edward P. Jones The story of a black, slave Outliers / Blink / The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell Fascinating owning family. statistical studies of everyday phenomena. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway A young American The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston There is an anti‑fascist guerilla in the Spanish civil war falls in love with a complex outbreak of ebola virus in an American lab, and other stories of germs woman. in modern society *warning: graphic and gross descriptions of The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck The story of a family in diarrhea* turn‑of‑the‑century China. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides A male hermaphrodite comes to terms The author explores the ethical, environmental, and political factors with having been raised as a girl. that dictate the unhealthy, earth‑offending diet of modern Americans . The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon The Redeployment. Phil Klay . A collection of short stories about complicated, intertwined lives of two comic‑book writing cousins in deployment and the struggles of soldiers to return to civilian life. New York City. The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright A historical look at the way in The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos The story of which the militant organization, the background for various terror Cuban musician brothers in New York in the 1930s.—warning: contains attacks and how they were investigated, and the events that led to the graphic sex. 9/11 attack Stones from the River Ursula K. LeGuin The life of a dwarf woman in Devil in the White City by Erik Larson The story of a serial killer at the Germany. 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Roots by Alex Haley (Historical fiction—based on a true story) The The Emperor of all Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee The history of origins of the author’s family are traced from Africa to America. cancer. The Book of Unknown Americans. Chris tina Henriquez. After their The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Elizabeth Kolbert. Over the daughter Maribel suffers a near‑fatal accident, the Riveras leave last half‑billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the México and come to America. But upon settling at Redwood diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Apartments, a two‑story cinderblock complex just off a highway in Scientists are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be Delaware, they discover that Maribel's recovery‑‑the piece of the the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that American Dream on which they've pinned all their hopes‑‑will not be wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us. easy. Fire Shut Up In My Bones Charles Blow. Poetic and powerful memoir Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Luhiri. Fictional stories of Indian takes us through his life, from an impoverished childhood in Louisiana families in the United States. to a fraternity house to adulthood, as he learns what it is to become a Prep Curtis Sittenfeld. A girl from a small, lower‑middle class family man and comes to terms with the abuse he suffered as a child. earns a scholarship to a prestigious boarding high school, where she “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” Dr. struggles with her identity in a the world of the 1%’s female teenagers. Beverly Tatum. Essays on education, race, and socialization by The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Professor Tatum, former president of Spellman College. Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. Gustavo Arrellano . https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QC4iWXAMNuXG99-1rxoVgSZV5dMO-zXO3ue0MX8VPqE/edit 1/2 6/26/2019 American Lit Summer Reading 2019-20 - Google Docs

Colson Whitehead weaves together a sordid history of white American Written by Denver‑based columnist Gustavo Arellano, this novel traces violence toward black Americans, during and after slavery, into one the spread of world’s best cuisine (Mexican) into white mainstream steam‑punked, sci‑fied escape adventure about a woman named Cora. America, and the cultural implications of tacos and burritos. The writing: electrifying. The scenes: often horrifying. The book: Hunger of Memory. Richard Rodriguez. A memoir that explores unmissable. Richard Rodríguez’s coming‑of‑age in an America that challenges him The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Set in 17th‑century Puritan to understand what it is to be a Mexican American and what it is to be Massachusetts Bay Colony, during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the a Catholic in America. story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives . Suzanne Oboler Hispanic or Latino? struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Mexican American or Chicano? Social labels often take on a life of their On the Road by Jack Kerouac Based on the travels of Kerouac and his own beyond the control of those who coin them or to whom they are friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the applied.Suzanne Oboler explores the history and current use of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonists label “Hispanic,” as she illustrates the complex meanings that ethnicity living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use. has acquired in shaping our lives and identities The Awakening by Kate Chopin Set in New Orleans and on the The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on the Measure of the Stars by Dava Sobel Mid Nineteenth‑century Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox Harvard College observatory employs women to be “calculators” or views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social “human computers” to track and measure stars. Engrossing story of attitudes of the turn‑of‑the‑century American South. early American female scientists who shaped our study of astronomy. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance A memoir about the Appalachian values of his upbringing and their relation to the social problems of his hometown.

O verview 1. Bring completed assignment with you—on paper—on the first day of school. 2. Work may be typed or handwritten. 3. Any assignments not turned in during the first week of school will be marked late and receive a 20% reduction in credit. Any student who does not complete a summer assignment will be issued a zero until he/she makes up the assignment for a reduced grade in Saturday School. 4. You will write 1 essay; you get to choose the prompt. The prompts are as follows:

Fiction Assignment Prompts (choose 1) ● Analyze how the main character changes over the course of the novel. Use evidence from the novel to compare and contrast the character’s beliefs, personality, and priorities over the course of the novel. ● Analyze the themes of the novel. What observations does the author make about the world around him? ● Analyze a motif or symbol in the novel. What does this symbol/motif reveal about the novel’s larger themes?

This essay should include an introduction, a thesis statement, full formal analysis body paragraphs, and a conclusion. This must be a minimum of two full pages.

Non­fiction Prompts ( choose 1) ● How do the knowledge and facts in this book contrast with previous ideas on the subject? Explain how an understanding of this subject matter has grown/evolved over time. ● Analyze the author’s purpose of the novel. What techniques does the author use to convey this purpose throughout the novel? ● What inequalities or social justice problems are revealed in this novel?

This essay should include an introduction, a thesis statement, full formal analysis body paragraphs, and a conclusion. This must be a minimum of three full pages.

*If you would like to read a different book not from the lists, you must get Ms. Hickey or Mr. B’s approval! F or more questions, please reach out to Katie Hickey (k [email protected]) or Mike Bienkowski (m [email protected] ) Expect a response in 1­3 business days)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QC4iWXAMNuXG99-1rxoVgSZV5dMO-zXO3ue0MX8VPqE/edit 2/2