Prepare a Presentation That Answers Each of the Following Questions

Dear Soon-to-be Sophomore,

Here are your summer reading assignments. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is required and is available in the media center. The second novel will be your choice, see the attached assignment. Look over the guidelines for each assignment. The reading log will be due the first day we have class in the fall, and the Book Talk will be due the second day we have class. Both of these assignments are mandatory and failure to complete them will result in a schedule change to the general education equivalent. If you have questions, please see me before the end of the school year. Good luck and have a great summer! Mr. Potter Honors English Book Talk!

Directions: - Choose a novel with an author from a country other than the United States. There is a list attached to get you started. If you choose a piece not listed below, please clear it with me before the end of this school year. - Prepare a presentation that answers each of the following questions. - Each Book Talk question is worth 10 points for a total of 100 points. - You may use any visual aids you would like, including PowerPoint. - Your presentation should not exceed 6 minutes.

Book Talk Questions: 1. State the title, author, and background information about the author. 2. State the length of the book and the genre. (A genre is a category of literature with a distinctive style. Genre includes fantasy, fiction, folklore, historical fiction, mystery, myth, non-fiction, novel, poetry, science fiction, biography, autobiography). 3. Give a brief explanation why you selected the book you did. 4. Give a brief description of the main characters. 5. Give a brief synopsis of the plot but … please do not give the ending away. 6. Read a special part/quotation of special interest to you and discuss the importance of that part or that quotation. 7. Make a connection to your quote/part selection. Can you personally connect to the quote (Text to Self), can that quote be connected to another book you read (Text to Text), or can your quote be related to the world (Text to World)? 8. Explain/discuss the connection made in #7. State why you made the connection you did. 9. Select a quote from the book that would be a good motto by which to live. Explain your selection. 10. To whom would you recommend this book?

 You will be graded on your presentation as well as a written copy of your responses.  Be sure not to simply read your presentation, it should be well rehearsed and polished. The Aeneid Virgil | Ancient World The God of Small Things A few Arundhati Roy | India Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie | India Possibilities Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez | South America The Stranger Reading Lolita in Tehran: Albert Camus | Europe A Memoir in Books Cry, the Beloved Country Azar Nafisi | The Middle East Alan Paton | Africa The Book Thief The Metamorphosis Markus Zusak | Europe Franz Kafka | Europe Annie John Siddhartha Jamaica Kincaid | The Caribbean Hermann Hesse | Europe Chronicle of a Death Foretold A Doll’s House Gabriel Garcia Marquez | South America (Four Major Plays, Vol. I) Obasan Henrik Ibsen | Europe Joy Kogawa | Japanese/Canada All Quiet on the Western Front Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Erich M. Remarque | Europe Cultural Revolution One Hundred Years of Solitude Ji-li Jiang | China Gabriel Garcia Marquez | South America Medea Antigone Euripides | Ancient World Sophocles | Ancient World I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Crime and Punishment Growing Up in the Holocaust Fyodor Dostoyevsky | Europe Livia Bitton-Jackson | Europe The Inferno Girl in Hyacinth Blue Dante Alighieri, translated by Susan Vreeland | Europe John Ciardi | Europe Living up the Street The Iliad Gary Soto | Hispanic American Homer, translated by W.H.D. Rouse | The Namesake: A Novel Ancient World Jhumpa Lahiri | India Les Miserables Sold Victor Hugo | Europe Patricia McCormick | India Nectar in a Sieve The Bookseller of Kabul Kamala Markandaya | India Asne Seierstad | The Middle East Like Water for Chocolate What is the What: The Autobiography of Laura Esquivel | Mexico Valentino Achak Deng The Epic of Gilgamesh: Dave Eggers | Africa The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts All But My Life: A Memoir in Akkadian and Sumerian Gerda Weissman Klein | Europe translated by Andrew George | My Forbidden Face: Ancient World Growing Up Under the Taliban Bless Me, Ultima Latifa | The Middle East Rudolfo Anaya | Hispanic American Before We Were Free Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Julia Alvarez | The Caribbean Promote Peace... The Bonesetter’s Daughter One School at a Time Amy Tan | China Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin | Dawn The Middle East Elie Wiesel | Europe Madame Bovary Dreaming in Cuban Gustave Flaubert | Europe Cristina Garcia | The Caribbean Mythology Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Edith Hamilton | Ancient World Daughter The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Adeline Yen Mah | China Dream The Hunchback of Notre Dame Paulo Coelho | Europe Victor Hugo | Europe In the Time of the Butterflies In My Hands: Julia Alvarez | The Caribbean Memories of a Holocaust Survivor Hiroshima Irene Opdyke with John Hersey | Japan Jennifer Armstrong | Europe Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Le Morte d’Arthur Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid Thomas Malory | Europe South Africa Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass Mark Mathabane | Africa Isak Dinesen | Africa The House of the Spirits The Phantom of the Opera Isabel Allende | South America Gaston Leroux | Europe A Long Way Gone: Purple Hibiscus Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Africa Ishmael Beah | Africa Ties That Bind, Ties That Break The Count of Monte Cristo Lensey Namioka | Asia Alexandre Dumas | Europe One Day in the Life of Waiting Ivan Denisovich Ha Jin | Asia Alexander Solzhenitsyn | Europe Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in A Thousand Splendid Suns America Khaled Hosseini | The Middle East Firoozeh Dumas | The Middle East The Poisonwood Bible A Book of Luminous Things: Barbara Kingsolver | Africa An International Anthology of Poetry Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Czeslaw Milosz, ed. Dai Sijie | China Enrique’s Journey: A Portrait of the Artist The Story Of A Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey As a Young Man Sonia Nazario | Central America James Joyce | Ireland The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Anne Frank: The Diary Alexander McCall Smith | Africa of a Young Girl Retold African American Folktales Anne Frank | Europe David Haynes | Africa Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Waiting for Godot Marjane Satrapi | The Middle East Samual Beckett | Ireland The Power of One American Shaolin: Flying Kids, Buddhist, Monks, and Bryce Courtenay | Africa the Legend of Iron Crotch: First They Killed My Father: An Odyssey in the New China A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Matthew Polly | China Loung Ung | Cambodia Apology The Handmaid’s Tale Plato | Ancient World Margaret Atwood | Canada The Bet Anna Karenina Anton Chekhov | Europe Leo Tolstoy | Europe Born Confused Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: Tanuja Desai Hidier | India A Novel The Good Earth Lisa See | China Pearl S. Buck | China Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return Chanda’s Secrets Marjane Satrapi | The Middle East Allan Stratton | Africa The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekov | Europe Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter Adeline Yen Mah | China City of the Beasts Isabel Allende | South America Crow Lake Mary Lawson | Canada

Things Fall Apart Reading Log

In addition to the free-read assignment, you will need to read Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and complete the accompanying reading log. Novels are available in the library.

Your reading log will be broken down into 4 different sections: Characters, Culture, Proverbs and Plot Timeline. Sections should be stapled and turned in the first day of class. Section 1: Characters

The section of your paper titled “Characters” will include the major characters from the novel and a two to three sentence description of each one. Many characters are presented in the piece, only choose the most important. Section 2: Culture

Throughout the reading, you will learn a great deal about the Igbo culture and tribal Nigeria. For five different aspects of their culture and beliefs, write a short paragraph summarizing the event, ritual, belief, etc. Section 3: Proverb

Achebe uses many proverbs to bring the text to life. Record the different proverbs you see in the text and give a one to two sentence summary of its meaning.

prov·erb –noun 1. a short popular saying, usually of unknown and ancient origin, that expresses effectively some commonplace truth or useful thought. Ex. The grass is always greener on the other side. Section 4: Plot Timeline

The last section you will need to include is a timeline of at least 15 events from the novel. This can be either handwritten or typed, but it must be neat and in the correct order. Use your evaluative skills to determine the most important events. These should also be evenly spaced throughout the novel. I do not want 15 events from the first 2o pages.