Contact Information: Tomball Memorial High School English II Pre-AP Mrs. Erika Kaiser [email protected] http://goo.gl/lOVpsL

Summer Reading Assignment 2016

English II Pre AP students should acquire a printed copy of one of the following novels and actively read it. By active reading we mean highlighting or underlining key details as you read and taking notes on key ideas for reference when you begin writing your essays.

In the first week of school, students will take an objective test and write analytical essays examining themes, characters, motifs, and symbols found in their summer reading novel.

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

The novel tells of John Grady Cole, a 16-year-old who grew up on his grandfather's ranch in San Angelo, Texas. The boy was raised for a significant part of his youth, perhaps 15 of his 16 years, by a family of Mexican origin who worked on the ranch; he is a native speaker of Spanish and English. The story begins in 1949, soon after the death of John Grady's grandfather when Grady learns the ranch is to be sold. Faced with the prospect of moving into town, Grady instead chooses to leave and persuades his best friend, Lacey Rawlins, to accompany him. Traveling by horseback, the pair travels southward into Mexico, where they hope to find work as cowboys.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

A coming of age tale set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily’s fierce-hearted black “stand-in mother,” Rosaleen, insults three of the town’s most vicious racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina—a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love—a story that women will continue to share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart, a novel set in Pre-colonial Nigeria in the 1890s highlights the fight between colonialism and traditional societies. The protagonist Okonkwo is famous in the surrounding villages for being a wrestling champion, defeating a wrestler nicknamed "the cat" (because he never lands on his back). He is strong, hard-working, and strives to show no weakness. Okonkwo wants to dispel his father Unoka’s tainted legacy of being effeminate (he borrowed and lost money, and neglected his wife and children) and cowardly (he feared the sight of blood). Okonkwo works to build his wealth entirely on his own, as Unoka died a shameful death and left many unpaid debts. He is also obsessed with his masculinity, and any slight compromise on this is swiftly destroyed. As a result, he is brusque with his three wives, children, and neighbors, and is wealthy, courageous, and powerful among the people of his village. He is a leader of his village, and he has attained a position in his society for which he has striven all his life. And then, things fall apart.

Tomball ISD endorses a summer reading program for all students enrolled in advanced English courses grades 6-12. The selections on the summer reading list are chosen to encourage the enjoyment of reading and to prepare students for the study of literature. All students registered for Pre-AP, AP, or Dual Credit courses are required to read specific books. Students can expect a test and/or other skill-building assignments during the first few weeks of the school year. These activities will comprise the first major grade of the school year. Expect an assessment on the novel within the first week of school.

*How do I read a book actively?

Co-founder of the Great Books Foundation and chair of the Board of Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, Mortimer Adler (1902-2001) describes how to become an active reader. In his essay “How to Mark a Book,” Adler explains that reading is a “conversation between you and the author.” Adler writes: “Why is marking up a book indispensable to reading? First, it keeps you awake. (And I don’t mean merely conscious; I mean awake.) In the second place, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The marked book is usually the thought-through book. Finally, writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed.”

There are all kinds of devices for marking a book intelligently and fruitfully:

 Underlining or highlighting: of major points, of important or forceful statements  Vertical lines at the margin: to emphasize a statement already underlined  Star, asterisk, or other doo-dad at the margin: at the margin: to be used sparingly, to emphasize ten or twenty most important statements in the book  Numbers of other pages in the margin: to indicate where else in the book the author made points relevant to the point marked; to tie up the ideas in the book, which, though they may be separated by many pages, belong together  Circling or highlighting of key words or phrases  Writing in the margin, or at the top or bottom of the page, for the sake of: recording questions (and perhaps, answers) which a passage raised in your mind; reducing a complicated discussion to a simple statement; recording the sequence of major points through the book

If marking your book is not a possibility, here are some other options:  You can use sticky notes: place these on the pages/paragraphs where you would underline or highlight and write your thoughts or ideas on the note  Write out notes on paper and keep the paper inside the book: include page numbers with comments/notations so that you will remember what prompted your thinking

Expect an assessment on the novel within the first week of school.