Your Student Has Requested Pre-AP English I for the Upcoming School Year. the Purpose Of

May 2014

Dear Parents:

Your student has requested Pre-AP English I for the upcoming school year. The purpose of this course is to offer promising students challenging work that will prepare them for Advanced Placement courses.

In the Alvin Independent School District, Advanced Placement English courses are offered to eleventh and twelfth grade students. Upon successful completion of course work, students may take AP examinations administered each year in May, and if successful, they will be awarded college English credit accepted by most universities. The Pre-AP courses offered in grades 6-10 develop reading, writing, and thinking skills necessary for success in AP courses. Reading selections for these courses represent concepts and/or reading selections frequently cited on Advanced Placement examinations.

Alvin ISD assigns summer reading to begin the year with a common dialogue, to expose students to high-quality authors and texts, to inspire critical thinking, and to maintain the standard of an advanced curriculum.

Your student is required to read ONE of the books listed within the attached assignment. Titles were chosen from the College Board’s suggested reading list as well as the 2014 TAYSHAS Reading List.

Please encourage your child to complete this reading assignment in order to be prepared for an assessment at the beginning of the school year.

Thank you for your cooperation and continuing interest in your student’s education.

Sincerely,

Kevon Wells Kristi Piper Executive Director of Secondary Education English Lead Teacher

All AISD Summer reading titles have been given to the following local book vendors:

Laid Back Books – 2320 Mustang Rd. Alvin, TX Barnes and Noble - Pearland and Webster Please sign and return to your student’s current English teacher.

My child and I have received notice of the summer assignment for Ninth Grade Pre-AP and will comply. We understand that the completion date for this assignment is Wednesday, September 3, 2014.

In the fall of 2014, my child will attend:

_____ Alvin High School

_____ Manvel High School

Parent Printed Name ______

Parent Signature ______

Student Printed Name ______

Student Signature ______

Date ______

Current English Teacher’s Name ______

Current Campus ______

NOTE: If you do not wish to have your child enrolled in Pre-AP or AP English Language Arts, please contact the guidance counselor at your child’s school. 9 th Grade Summer Reading Assignment 2014-2015 Grade Level Belief Statement - Through this summer reading assignment, 9th grade students will strive to recognize different ways in which an author develops a character or characters. Understanding character development is essential to understanding the complexities in any work of fiction.

Assignment - After reading ONE work of fiction chosen from the lists provided, you will be creating a college resume from the perspective of a character in your story intended for applying for admission to a college you feel is best suited for him/her. Fill in the fields of the resume with information from the book about your character. You may be creative, but stay true to the character’s personality and events from the story. You will find sample resumes posted on the webpage of your current language arts teacher as well as the English I teachers at both high schools.

Choose ONE FICTION book from either lists of titles below. (NOT a book from each list.)

The Adventures of Augie The Joys of Motherhood Ceremony March The Namesake The Color Purple Adventures of Huckleberry A Portrait of the Artist as a Daisy Miller Finn Young Man Death of a Salesman All the Pretty Horses Purple Hibiscus The Glass Menagerie Atonement The Secret Life of Bees The Grapes of Wrath Black Boy A Separate Peace Great Expectations Breath, Eyes, Memory Siddhartha Heart of Darkness Brown Girl, Brownstones Song of Solomon Invisible Man The Catcher in the Rye The Sorrows of Young King Lear Cat’s Eye Werther Maggie: A Girl of the The Chosen The Sound and the Fury Streets The Cider House Rules The Story of Edgar Sawtelle M. Butterfly The Color Purple Their Eyes Were Watching A Midsummer Night’s David Copperfield God Dream The God of Small Things A Thousand Splendid Suns My Ántonia The Grapes of Wrath To Kill a Mockingbird Native Son Great Expectations A Tree Grows in Brooklyn No Exit The House on Mango Street The Woman Warrior One Flew Over the Invisible Man Absalom, Absalom! Cuckoo’s Jane Eyre The Age of Innocence Nest Jasmine Another Country One Hundred Years of The Joy Luck Club Brideshead Revisited Solitude Oryx and Crake A Raisin in the Sun When the Emperor Was A Passage to India Snow Falling on Cedars Divine The Piano Lesson Sula The Women of Brewster The Plague The Sun Also Rises Place The Poisonwood Bible Tess of the D’Urbervilles Wuthering Heights Pride and Prejudice Waiting for Godot

2014 TAYSHAS READING LIST

Author Title Author Title Bascomb, Neal The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi Beaudoin, Sean Wise Young Fool Berry, Julie All the Truth That’s in Me Bick, Ilsa J. The Sin Eater’s Confession Black, Holly The Coldest Girl in Coldtown Blagden, Scott Dear Life, You Suck Bracken, Alexandra The Darkest Minds Brown, Jennifer Thousand Words Cameron, Sharon Dark Unwinding Clement-Moore, Rosemary Spirit and Dust Coats, Jillian Anderson The Wicked and the Just Edwards, Janet Earth Girl Farish, Terry The Good Braider Gardner, Sally Maggot Moon Goodman, Shawn Kindness for Weakness Griffin, Paul Burning Blue Harmon, Michael Under the Bridge Hartzler, Aaron Rapture Practice Hassan, Michael Crash and Burn Henry, April The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die Honeyman, Kay The Fire Horse Girl Hoose, Phillip M. Moonbird: a Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 King, A.S. Ask the Passengers: a Novel King, A.S. Reality Boy Konigsberg, Bill Openly Straight Kraus, Daniel Scowler LaBan, Elizabeth The Tragedy Paper Lange, Erin Jade Butter Leavitt, Lindsey Going Vintage Marsh, Katherine Jepp, Who Defied the Stars McNeal, Tom Far Far Away Medina, Meg Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass Moore, Kelly Amber House Murdoch, Emily If You Find Me Newman, Lesléa October Mourning: a Song for Matthew Shepard Quick, Matthew Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock Roskos, Evan Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets Rowell, Rainbow Eleanor & Park Rowell, Rainbow Fangirl Rudnick, Paul Gorgeous Sales, Leila This Song Will Save Your Life: a Novel Sanderson, Brandon Rithmatist Sanderson, Brandon Steelheart Schneider, Robyn The Beginning of Everything Sedgwick, Marcus Midwinter Blood Sepetys, Ruta Out of the Easy Shepherd, Megan The Madman’s Daughter Smith, Andrew Winger Sonnenblick, Jordan Are You Experienced Stiefvater, Maggie The Curiosities: A Collection of Tessa Gratton, Stories Brenna Yovanoff Stone, Tanya Lee Courage Has No Color: the True Story of the Triple Nickles: America’s First Black Paratroopers Sullivan, Tara Golden Boy Thomas, Sherry The Burning Sky Wasserman, Robin The Waking Dark Wein, Elizabeth Rose Under Fire Whitney, Daisy When You Were Here Winters, Cat In the Shadow of Blackbirds: a Novel Yancey, Rick The 5th Wave