9th grade Summer Reading Essay Requirement

Note: This essay is due the first day of school.

Directions: Choose ONE of the following prompts over The Book Thief. Answer it in an organized, well-developed essay that includes textual evidence for support.
Option 1: Death states, "I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both." To what extent do we see the ugliness and beauty of humans in the novel The Book Thief?
Option 2: What is the significance of Zusak’s choice of using Death as the narrator? How might the novel have been different had the author chosen a different character to tell Liesel’s story?
Requirements:
·  Typed with 1 inch margins
·  Double-spaced in MLA Format (Modern Language Association)
(Helpful Resource: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/)
·  3-5 pages in length
·  3-5 in-text citations for each both novel
·  Works Cited Page (cite the novel)
·  You do not need to include any literary criticism or other sources for this essay.
·  See the attached example of an MLA paper.
Reminders:
1.  The essay is due the first day of school and is worth one test grade.
2.  NO EXCEPTIONS. NO EXTENSIONS. If you do not have this essay on the first day of school, your first test grade will be a zero.
3.  Attach the included rubric to the front of your essay before turning it in.
4.  This is NOT a book report; therefore, there is NO need for summary.
5.  The essay should be written in present tense.