American Literature and Composition Honors Summer Reading Assignment
Congratulations and welcome to Sophomore Honors English! I look forward to working with you next semester. This course challenges students to use critical thinking skills through a wide variety of classic and contemporary literature—focusing on American classics. Students write both expository and creative pieces, which emphasize critical thinking, research skills, analysis, style, and originality. In addition to reading and writing, students will be expected to prepare oral presentations, attend public performances, produce long-term projects, and contribute to seminar discussions (in class and online). The goal is to prepare students for AP (Advanced Placement) work during the junior year.
All Honors English 10 students must complete a general summer reading assignment. Therefore, you must choose one book from the summer reading list (see other side), complete a double-entry journal on the book, and be prepared to discuss the book upon returning to school after summer break.
Double Entry Reading Journal
You must obtain (or create) a notebook or composition book for this assignment. The purpose of a double entry reading journal is to help you analyze and connect with the text for deeper comprehension and to remember what you read. You must make at least 30 entries covering the entire book or novel. (If your novel is 300 pages, expect to make an entry every ten pages or so).
1. Divide each page into two columns.
2. The left column of your journal is for your reading notes (think concrete details—quotes, summary, paraphrasing) and the
right is for your reflections (commentary).
4. Number your entries, include page number, and use the letter codes below to ensure that you have a variety of types of responses.
5. The format of the journal is demonstrated here:
Title and Author, total # of pagesWhat the Text Says
Direct quotes or brief summaries of a paragraph or paragraphs. Each quote or brief summary is considered an “entry.”
Number your entries and include the page #
[Note: Need enough detail to understand context and meaning of the text. A word or two will not be enough to help you remember why you selected this quote.] / Your Response
This is where you reflect/comment on what you have read.
Each response should include detailed, meaningful commentary on the text.
Each response should include a letter code to indicate the type of response you are providing. The point of this is to make sure that you have various types of responses.
Letter codes:
Q—Question
I—Inference
P—Prediction
A—Associations with society/world
PC—Personal connection
T—Tone (speaker’s attitude)
Def—Words you don’t know and Definition
C—Connections to other texts
L—Literary Devices
WC—Comments about writer’s word choice (Diction)
S—Comments about sentence structure (Syntax)
D—Comments about detail or imagery
Summer Reading Choices: American Literature and Composition, Honors
See the instructor’s wikipage for descriptions of each book and a sample of the double entry journal assignment.
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway (Fiction)
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner (Fiction)
Black Boy, by Richard Wright (Fiction)
Catch 22, by Joseph Heller (Fiction)
Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson (Non-fiction)
Dune, by Frank Herbert
Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck (Fiction)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Fiction)
Looking for Alaska, by John Green (Fiction)
My Antonia, by Willa Cather (Fiction)
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Non-fiction)
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach (Non-fiction)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (Fiction)
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker (Fiction)
The Complete Stories, by Flannery O’Connor (Fiction)
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Non-fiction/memoir)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers (Fiction)
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair (Fiction)
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde (Fiction)
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (Fiction)
Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson (Non-fiction)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Fiction)
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (Fiction)
SUMMER READING LIST
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Non-fiction/memoir)
In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls writes about her upbringing at the hands of eccentric and constantly roaming parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and fascinating father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who hated the idea of being a housewife and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family. To call the Walls’ parenting style laid back would be putting it mildly, and the children (Jeannette, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to raise themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). The Glass Castle is truly astonishing—a memoir filled with the intense love of a peculiar, but loyal, family.
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (Fiction)
Lia and Cassie are best friends (or were, at least). Wintergirls, frozen in matchstick bodies, are competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend's restless spirit, all the while battling the same sickness that took her friend’s life. Even Cassie’s death can’t eradicate Lia’s disgust of the “fat cows” who scrutinize her body all day long as she grows closer and closer to her ultimate goal: nothingness.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach (Non-fiction)
"Uproariously funny" doesn't seem a likely description for a book on cadavers. However, Roach has done the nearly impossible and written a book as informative and respectful as it is irreverent and witty. From her opening lines ("The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back"), it is clear that she's taking a unique approach to issues surrounding death. Roach delves into the many productive uses to which cadavers have been put, from medical experimentation to applications in transportation safety research (in a chapter archly called "Dead Man Driving") to work by forensic scientists quantifying rates of decay under a wide array of bizarre circumstances. There are also chapters on cannibalism, including an aside on dumplings allegedly filled with human remains from a Chinese crematorium, methods of disposal (burial, cremation, composting) and "beating-heart" cadavers used in organ transplants. Roach has a fabulous eye and a wonderful voice as she describes such macabre situations as a plastic surgery seminar with doctors practicing face-lifts on decapitated human heads and her trip to China in search of the cannibalistic dumpling makers.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Fiction)
In this intriguing tale, readers are shown a behind-the-scenes look at circus life. You may be surprised to learn of the dark side of circus life, including animal cruelty, treachery, and even murder. As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. He was put in charge of caring for the circus animals, and it was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival. This is a tale you will not soon forget, and you will have your faith in the intelligence and loyalty of animals confirmed.
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner (Fiction)
As I Lay Dying is Faulkner's harrowing account of the Bundren family's odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Told in turns by each of the family members—including Addie herself—the novel ranges in mood from dark comedy to the deepest pathos.
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway (Fiction)
In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the war to end all wars. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded, and twice decorated. Out of his experiences came A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway's description of war is unforgettable. He recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteer, and the men and women he meets in Italy with total conviction. But A Farewell to Arms is not only a novel of war. In it, Hemingway has also created a love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion.
Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck (Fiction)
Although it follows the movement of thousands of men and women and the transformation of an entire nation, "The Grapes of Wrath" is also the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads, who are driven off their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots, Steinbeck created a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its insistence on human dignity.
Catch 22, by Joseph Heller (Fiction)
Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, Catch-22 is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never even met keep trying to kill him. Joseph Heller's bestselling novel is a hilarious and tragic satire on military madness, and the tale of one man's efforts to survive it.
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker (Fiction)
Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.
My Antonia, by Willa Cather (Fiction)
Willa Cather’s heartfelt novel is the unforgettable story of an immigrant woman’s life on the hardscrabble Nebraska plains. Through Jim Burden’s affectionate reminiscence of his childhood friend, the free-spirited Ántonia Shimerda, a larger, uniquely American portrait emerges, both of a community struggling with unforgiving terrain and of a woman who, amid great hardship, stands as a timeless inspiration.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Non-fiction)
What month were you born in? …and is this important? Malcolm Gladwell will argue that it is. By analyzing the details of successful people, he answers the question: Do we all have an equal chance at success if we try hard enough? Beware: Most of Gladwell’s details of success seem ridiculous…at first. But after analyzing hockey players, soccer players, baseball players, Bill Gates, the Beatles, and John D. Rockefeller, he might open your eyes to some startling ideas. Other controversial topics arise as well, such as whether or not a person’s ethnicity plays into the success of pilots and whether or not certain ethnicities are more likely to crash an airplane. What?!!! He has rationale, seriously. In addition, why are Asians stereotypically better at math? This book may change how you perceive potential and understand success. The question is… how will it change what you do about it?
Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson (Non-fiction)
In 1993, Greg Mortenson tried to climb K2. On the way down he became lost in the mountains of Pakistan and stumbled into a poor village. The villagers nursed Mortenson back to health, and told him: "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time, you are an honored guest. The third time you become family." Moved by their kindness, he promised to return and build a school for their children. Despite death threats, a kidnapping and more, Mortenson has built over sixty schools, especially for girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. An inspirational story of one man's efforts to address poverty, educate girls, and overcome cultural divides, Three Cups, which won the 2007 Kiriyama Prize for nonfiction, reveals the enormous obstacles inherent in becoming such "family."