Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School Summer Reading Program – Entering 11th Graders Theme: The Masks We Wear
Required Reading Book: A Separate Peace by John Knowles: A Separate Peace tells the story of a sixteenyearold boy at boarding school in New Hampshire during World War II, and the mixed feelings of admiration and jealousy he harbors for his best friend and roommate. (Things get messy pretty fast, as you might expect from a bunch of illsupervised adolescents.) A Separate Peace begins with Gene Forrester, our narrator, visiting the prep school in New Hampshire he attended as a young man during World War II– the Devon school. Wandering through the campus, Gene makes his way to a certain landmark which he cites as the reason for his return: a tall tree by the river. We jump to Gene as a sixteenyearold during Devon's Summer Session, in the months before his junior year, standing before the very same tree (good to know flashbacks always work the same way). Among others, he's there with his friend and roommate Phineas, a.k.a. "Finny," and a quiet boy named Elwin Lepellier who is unfortunately nicknamed "Leper." Finny decides they should jump out of the tree; Gene complies but no one else does. The two boys now share this bond. They also happen to be roommates.
You must choose a second book from the list below pertaining to the theme of “The Masks We Wear.” Requirements 1. Read both A Separate Peace and your choice book, which is under the same theme. 2. Reflect in writing on the following items from each of the books: ∙ describe what is happening and the characters involved ∙ the theme’s importance to the each novel utilizing two quotes from each book. (Total of four quotes.) ∙ analyze two characters and their importance to the each novel utilizing two quotes from each book. (Total of four quotes.) ∙ total of 8 quotes
Plagiarism will result in a failing grade.
Handing in Your Work Your essay needs to shared with BOTH of us in Google Docs. To do this, open up a doc in your school/personal Google account and share it with [email protected] AND [email protected] . If you experience ANY problems with this, please save your work on a flash drive and bring it with you st on the 1 day of school. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS IN THE FILE NAME IF YOU ARE USING YOUR PERSONAL E MAIL.
Additional Reading Book List
Summer Reading – 2016
Title Author The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight Sherman Alexie in Heaven Life of Pi Yann Martel Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro The Book Thief Markus Zusak The Awakening Kate Chopin The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Below are links to synopses of the above mentioned books.
Theme: The Masks We Wear
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heavenhttps://www.buffalolib.org/vufind/Record/1943693/Reviews
Life of Pihttp://www.shmoop.com/lifeofpi/
Never Let Me Go http://www.shmoop.com/neverletmego/
The Book Thief http://www.shmoop.com/bookthief/
The Awakening http://www.shmoop.com/theawakening/
The Great Gatsby http://www.shmoop.com/greatgatsby/