Summer Reading 2017 You know it, you love it, you look forward to it every year. Well, here it is. Sure, catch some rays and zzz’s; see the world and take selfies, but then, get the books, and do the work or else your brain might dissolve and trickle out of your ears, and we can’t have that, can we.
Please scroll down to find the summer reading assignment for your course. It may take some scrolling.
The Hyphenated American Experience For your summer reading, you will be reading American Dervish, by Ayad Akhtar. This novel tells the story of a young American-Pakistani boy growing up in the Midwest. This young boy struggles to balance and understand his identity as a Muslim, a Pakistani, and an American.
While this course will not exclusively focus on stereotyping is an essential part in understanding the experience of the “hyphenated American.” So, while reading this novel, please create a two column chart with at least seven examples of stereotypes you come across throughout the novel. These could be stereotypes about Muslims, Jews, Christians, Americans, men, or women. One column, should have a quote or description of an example (with page number), and the second column should have a written analysis of the event.
In addition to reading American Dervish, please watch the 2004 movie Crash. This movie tells the story of the American experience from multiple perspectives. Please make a second chart, identifying at least seven assumptions made about a character based on his or her race, gender, religion, or ethnicity.
This movie is rated R. If you, or your parents are uncomfortable with this movie choice, please contact me and I’ll recommend a different movie.
War, What is it Good For?
Welcome Seniors. For your summer reading, you will be reading Pulitzer Prize winner: All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. The novel tells the story of a blind French girl and German boy during World War II. Beware: the novel switches back and forth between telling the stories of these two victims of war.
While reading this novel, please make a chart of both the physical and emotional impacts of war on the boy and the girl. You should have at least five examples for each character with page numbers. In one column, you should present the quote and page number; in the other column, you should have your analysis of this example. You will be writing an essay on this when you return to school.
In addition to reading his novel, please watch one war movie of your choice. There are almost too many to name. Please make a similar chart for the movie you watch.
Please email me with any questions over the summer. [email protected]
Senior English: Banned Books Summer Reading Assignment Mrs. Wang Birnbaum
“If you can’t defend what is unpalatable to you personally, then you don’t actually believe in free speech. You only believe in the free speech of those who agree with you.” Salman Rushdie, noted author Since the novel was published in 1937, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men has been one of the most frequently Banned Books. The book is challenged because of controversial issues such as: sexism, racism, violence, use of profanity, and the treatment of the mentally challenged.
Please read the following edition. It can be purchased at Barnes and Noble. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men ISBN-13:9780140177398 Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
In addition to reading the novel, please print and read the following articles. You will need copies of these articles for class.
Chicago Tribune 10 Things You Might Not Know About Cens*rsh*p - www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-perspec-0708-things-20120708-story.html
THE NEW YORK TIMES The Island “Pushing for the Last Word to Be Against Censorship” https://nyti.ms/2rc2Bfz Assignment: For both the novel and the articles: 1. Keep a Reader’s Journal. Record at least ten plot points which highlight the controversial issues. Cite examples and the page(s) so we can refer to the text when we discuss the novel. In addition to this, write 2-3 lines of commentary about each issue you are recording. 2. Record the salient points from the articles and provide commentary in this section as well.
Sports and Literature
Reading The Natural, by Bernard Malamud Shoeless Joe, by W.P. Kinsella
These books were adapted into movies: The Natural, and Field of Dreams. There are major differences between the novels and the adaptations. Please list five differences between each novel and its adaptation citing the pages in the novel where the stories have been altered.
Writing Your summer assignment consists of both a reading section and a writing section. You will closely read two pieces of creative nonfiction and then write your own piece.
Part I: Reading Assignment A)Please read “Fish Cheeks,” by Amy Tan and annotate as you read.
Link to the Essay: http://www.ncps- k12.org/cms/lib8/CT01903077/Centricity/Domain/638/LA/Short%20Story%20- %20Fish%20Cheeks.pdf
Regarding the composition, please make note of the following: • Descriptive language • Storytelling • Narrative shifts from past to present • Reflective language (“I have since learned,” “I have come to realize,” “I now understand/appreciate” etc.)
Regarding the content, please make note of the following: • Narrator’s shame • Parent/Child relationship • Cultural clashes/differences • Food as a cultural symbol
B)Please read, “Once More to the Lake,” by E.B. White and annotate as you read.
Link to the essay: http://wheretheclassroomends.com/wp- content/uploads/2013/07/White_OnceMoretotheLake1.pdf
Regarding the composition, please make note of the following: • Descriptive language • Storytelling • Repetition • Narrative shifts from past to present • Reflective language (“I have since learned,” “I have come to realize,” “I now understand/appreciate” etc.)
Regarding the content, please make note of the following: • Father/Son relationships • Fear of aging • How setting evokes memories • The dramatic conclusion to the piece
Part II: Writing Assignment Both “Fish Cheeks” and “Once More to the Lake” discuss the parent-child relationship. Write your own personal essay in which you reflect either on your relationship with your parent or on your relationship with a different family member. Include both narrative (storytelling) as well as description to relay your ideas. Your essay, like the two essays you have read, should reveal something about your character or your fears/hopes. They should express an aspect of your identity. Think of a specific moment to address. It could be a story from your childhood or a series of related events you have experienced throughout your life. Include some of the writing techniques that both Tan and White incorporate in their essays.
Please write three pages; they do not have to be perfectly polished, but they should be an expression of your thoughtfulness and storytelling abilities. We will workshop these essays at the beginning of the year. You may wish to consider your college application essay when writing this piece. Hopefully, everyone will be able to use part of this essay in at least one college application essay.
Technical Details: • On the first day of school, come in with printed copies of “Fish Cheeks” and “Once More to the Lake” (they should be marked up with annotations) as well as your personal essay. . • Your personal essay should be three pages and double spaced in Times New Roman font, size 12.
Literature and Social Justice Honors Senior English Summer Reading Assignment Mrs. Wang Birnbaum Due: September 6, 2017.
LITERATURE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE will focus on understanding issues that impact a society economically, racially, demographically and culturally. For this assignment, you will read the following works: John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath SBN-13:9780143039433 Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group Publication date: 03/28/2006
Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America ISBN-13:9780312626686 Publisher: Picador Publication date: 08/02/2011 Please make sure to have these editions so that we may be on the same page (literally). When you read these two works focus on the authors’ positions. Both Steinbeck and Ehrenreich provide critical commentary on the plight of poor workers in America and champion the marginalized in society. Both works are divided into sections. Ehrenreich’s divisions are based on her personal experiences going “under cover” as a poor American in search of labor in different states. In addition to the plot, Steinbeck provides chapter divisions (intercalary chapters) which provide commentary about migrant farmers during the Dustbowl without referring to the main plot and its characters.
Keep a reader’s journal for both books. Make sure to record your reactions to important details, quotes and pages. You will need this for class discussions and for your essay. For the first day of classes, write a three page essay (12 font, double spaced) focusing on how each author depicts American social (in) justice against the individual in his/her realizing the American dream. Make sure you have a clear thesis and a strong introduction. Proofread carefully. Be thoughtful and ready to discuss your ideas.
Summer Reading Packet Honors English 12: Fantasy & Science Fiction Mr. Dunton Welcome Welcome to the first iteration of our new senior elective program! It's a thrill to be able to offer this course. I made this packet to help you navigate our summer reading assignment—even if you have little experience reading in the genre. A Warning: Your summer reading assignment is not something you can do in a few days. It's meant to be savored over a period of weeks. So don't wait too long to start! Otherwise, you'll never be able to finish. Your Summer Reading Books Get yourself a copy of Dune (1965) and Dune Messiah (1969), both by Frank Herbert (1920- 1986). It will work best if you own the books. Otherwise, I recommend purchasing "page nibs" from amazon.com or levenger.com. They'll help if you are reading a library book. Why These Books? First, Dune is the first novel to win both the Hugo and the Nebula awards— something I'll explain more about in class. Second, Herbert is one of the four or five most important science fiction authors of modern times. Third, Dune uses each of the major subgenres under the sf umbrella (except for two). Thus, it serves as a model for much of what we'll be studying during the year. I'll refer back to it throughout the course. But why two books? Why not six? After all, the series continues with Children of Dune (1976), God Emperor of Dune (1981), Heretics of Dune (1984), and Chapterhouse Dune (1985). So why NOT all six? Here's why: Dune is the masterwork. It's sequel, Dune Messiah, finishes the first major story line. And Herbert succeeded beyond his wildest imagination— the books made him famous, generated enourmous sales, and were embraced on college campuses all over the country. Seeing that, Herbert got back to work: Children of Dune and God Emeror of Dune contain the next story line—that of the original hero's son. The last two works are minor, fleshing out some secondary directions to round out the picture. And that was that. Now, there are 14 more titles, co-authored by Herbert's son and Kevin J. Anderson. Why? Quite frankly, because people are stupid enough to buy them. They're a marketing strategy and little else. This summer, I want you to master the first tale in the series. If you decide you like it, the second tale and the two offshoots Herbert wrote are worth exploring some day. As for the 14 others—forget it. What About Fantasy? Yes. We'll cover that in the course also. But Dune and Dune Messiah are both meaty, demanding, exciting reads. To add fantasy would have doubled the summer workload. Furthermore, when he wrote Dune, Herbert was riding the American Fantasy & Science Fiction world-creation wave: Tolkien's Lord of the Rings became popular here in the early 1960s, so Asimov wrote his "Foundation" series, so Herbert wrote the "Dune" books, and so on. Tolkien, Asimov, and Herbert were the first real world-builders. The rest came after (and that, of course, includes Harry Potter). On Reading Science Fiction—Some Tips for Those New to This Stuff Science fiction is the fiction of ideas—so Dune is filled with the working out of ideas in human terms. Therefore, focus on setting—the physical, political, social, and historical setting. While you will meet interesting characters, most of the characterization will be shown by their actions, and many of the characters are types. They are there to serve the plot. And the plot is there to demonstrate aspects of the setting. Don't forget that setting also includes culture, and culture includes what people can do and not do in the place and time they are living. Science fiction is NOT about predicting the future—a common misconception. What it's really about is an extrapolation of ideas based on what is going on at the time of writing. At the time Herbert wrote, America was mired in cold war inspired empire building, an extension of WWII. And both WWII and the Cold War were rife with cultural myth- making about "heroic strongmen," challenging our definition of "hero" and demonstrating the power of myth (and religion) as a tool to control society. It was also a time when college campuses and labs focused on the possibilities of human enhancement. The study of psionics was a serious discipline: can we develop powers of the mind (telekinesis, telepathy, empathy, brainwashing)? What about physical training? Can we perfect our phyical capabilities beyond the normal? What about psychotropic drugs? Can they help? Is eugenics (human breeding for specific goals) ever a good idea? Finally, studying the behavior of dunes out in the mid-West of America lead Herbert to become interested in ecology. That lead him to wonder if there should be a wider view of ecology—an ecology of society. These are just some of the ideas Herbert extrapolated in Dune and Dune Messiah. Dune is also an excellent example of worldmaking: Herbert created backstory and a lot of imagined history before he wrote the novels. (His son is using Herbert's backstory notes to produce all the new marketing titles— prequels, sequels, offshoots, cookbooks, whatever, never mind.) Herbert reveals bits of this backstory as he tells us the story he's telling. As such, you will experience lots of corner-of- the-eye vision. Tom Shippey describes it this way: "What [corner-of-the-eye vision] does is to suggest the existence of a complete and crowded alternative universe of which the story being told can give only the barest glimpse." As we follow the protagonist through the story, snippets of this "complete and crowded alternative universe" intrude upon our awareness, inviting questions: what was that? who are they? how did that get that way? why is this the way it is? "All these questions imply that there could be answers, but each answer would only generate another story—and to those stories only the creator of the fantasy universe has the key. The sense of strong control, of an author prepared to let only relevant bits of information seep out" is the mark of the true worldmaker. So. How do you cope with that? Trust the author to repeat the stuff he really wants you to think about. If Herbert wants you to focus on something, he'll repeat it in lots of different ways throughout both books, so you'll know it's a major feature of the work and not just part of the atmosphere. Also, don't get too caught up in how to pronounce new terms and names. For example, the story unfolds on the planet Arrakis, also called Dune. Never mind how to pronounce "Arrakis." You don't need to know how it's pronounced. (I put the accent on the first syllable; others put the accent on the middle syllable. Who's right? Who knows?) In additon to being an example of worldmaking, Dune makes use of a favorite science fiction trope, first introduced in the 1930's—the future history galactic empire. As such, Herbert participates in an in-genre conversation about how such an empire might unfold. Herbert is responding to Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series (late 1950's and early 1960's). Asimov's future history extrapolated a mathematical super-science of prediction that would create order in human affairs. Herbert thought Asimov had not paid enough attention to the role of chaos in the world. So Herbert wrote Dune partly in response to Asimov. Finally, here's another tip about reading science fiction in general: "The science ficiton reader likes the feeling of unpredictability. It creates intense curiousity, as well as the pleasure of working out, in the long run, the logic underlying the author's decisions, vocabulary, and invented world. It is a powerful stimulus to the exercise of 'cognition,' of putting unknown data into some sort of mental holding tank, to see if and when they do start to fit together, and what happens when they do. Yet this experience is in a sense a deeply anxious one. . . . The reader has to function to some extent like the reader of a detective story; but the resolution of the reading turns out very differently in the two genres. There is no tidy summing up, no comforting closure at the end; instead, there is the satisfaction for the reader of having decoded a part of the author's imaginary universe. The difficulties may account for the way in which the necessity to decode repels many readers; it may also explain why those who are attracted to it are usually captured young, in their teens or earlier. Children and adolescents spend much of their time trying to decode the weird and alien world in which they live; decoding sf is no different for them, and indeed, working on an understanding of a deliberately coded work such as an sf novel may actually assist them in learning to understand the meaning of the culturally and unconsciously coded world of a [realistic] novel, or indeed, of 'real life.' (Bark Bould and Sherryl Vint. The Routledge Concise History of Science Fiction. New York: Routledge. 2011. 120-121). In other words, enjoy the new, the weird, the strange—eventually you'll decode it. Trust the author to take you on his tour of this strange place and these strange people. Ok, So What Do I Want You to Do? 1) Get the books. 2) Pick one of the sub-themes listed below. 3) As you read, watch for how that sub-theme is extrapolated and developed. Highlight or underline quotations from the book that illustrate that sub-theme in action or establish it as a major idea. If you don't own the book you are reading, Page Nibs are great little tools. (So are paper clips, I guess). 4) After reading both books and highlighting your key passages, write up an annotated list of the top 10 passages that establish your chosen sub-theme as a major idea in the work. Choose the top five from each book to make your list. Follow the manuscript form explained below. 5) Use NO outside sources of any kind (other than a dictionary to look up vocab words you might need to understand a sentence). Within the first week of school, you will submit your annotated list to turnitin.com, which will screen it for use of outside sources. Then, I'll assign an essay as a follow- up. The Sub-Themes—Choose One to Track ON MYTH & RELIGION as a POLITICAL TOOL After he wrote Dune, Herbert said, "I had this idea that superheros were disasterous for humans." Shane Ralston declares, "The power of myth-making is notorious. For instance, there's the myth that we, Americans, are a chosen people, exceptional, moral examplars and world leaders. There's also the countervailing myth that America is an evil empire, jingoistic, imperialistic, and exploitive of other nations and peoples. Myth-making is pragmatically valuable—it works!." Trace Herbert's presentation of myth and religion as a pragmatic tool of statecraft. ORACULAR VISION (PRESCIENCE) In Sophocles Antigone, the blind seer, who has the power of prescience laments "Oh what anguish to be wise when wisdom is a loss!" Do we really want to be able to see the future? Or is that a trap that destroys our free will? Trace Herbert's presentation of the use of prescience as a tool for descision making. ON THE EPIC TRADITION—AND GOOD VS EVIL; RIGHT AND WRONG; From the start, Herbert invites us to root for Paul Atreides and detest his enemies—the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. It looks like a clear case of good vs. evil, just vs. unjust, fair vs. unfair. Is it? Trace Herbert's presentation of binary moral systems. ON ECOLOGY AS AN IMPERATIVE When Herbert wrote the novel, many people thought the spice melange was an analogy for oil. Now that climate change is a growing threat, readers substitue potable water for oil. Herbert's great achievement in Dune is his expansion of ecology to include social ecology and the need for a better understanding of the consequences of our actions. Trace Herbert's presentation of ecology as the key to everything. ON OUR GOAL OF PARADISE "There should be a science of discontent. People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles" (Dune 170). Why do we constantly believe we want paradise in a world filled with war, strife, and discontent? If we achieved paradise, would we be happy? What would we strive for? Trace Herbert's view on the need for and uses of war and the danger of paradise. Manuscript Form for your Annotated List—and the Due Date 1) Word process your list. Use one inch margins all around and a 12 point font in black ink. Double space the entire manuscript. Staple multiple pages in the upper left corner. You may print on both sides if you like. A hard copy of your work is due the first day of class. 2) Put a heading on the first page. It should look like this: Your name Honors F&SF Mr. Dunton Date 3) Title it like so and center the title under the heading: Summer Reading Annotated List: Chosen Theme Title Here 4) The Annotated List would look like so (note the use of boldface type): Quotation One: in quotes (Title page numbers). A short paragraph on why you selected this statement as one of your top 10 picks. What does it imply or show us? Or Why do you find it interesting? Quotation Two: and so forth Questions? I'm in and out all summer long, but will check periodically at [email protected] Oh. Yeah. About the Movie David Lynch directed the movie Dune (1984). In a press release, he boasted that in preparing for the movie he deliberately avoided reading any of the books. How stupid is that? Worst movie I've ever seen. Enough said.
Summer Reading: Utopian and Dystopian Literature Please read: 1984, by George Orwell Between the World and Me, by Ta- Nehisi Coates
Based on your reading of 1984, present a list of five ways in which a totalitarian government suppresses the freedoms of its citizens, and give the pages and paragraphs of five examples for each method.
Please write five journal entries, one paragraph each, in which you discuss your reactions to your reading of Between the World and Me.
Summer Reading Matrix of Self
Dear Students:
Welcome to The Matrix of Self.
Your first assignment will be to read the following two works, carefully and mindfully. Savor the experience; please give yourself time, and do not rush through either reading.
Crime and Punishment. Fyodor Dostoevsky. Try to get either the Norton Critical Edition or the Oxford World’s Classic Edition—both are the translated by Jessie Coulson.
The Lonely Man of Faith. Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Doubleday Publishing).
Helpful advice: It will take you a while to get into the readings, until you orient yourself to the individual author's voice and the ideological contexts of the works. Keep at it—the rewards are substantial.
Have and great summer, and I am looking forward to learning with you.
I. Miller