AP CompositionName ______

A Prayer for Owen Meany

Reading Schedule / Notes

Task: Read frequently, meet deadlines, and write your own notes while reading A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Purpose: To challenge all students to read frequently, effectively and insightfully, and thus, to become a better reader by developing good reading habits. The notes are not meant to be very difficult or time consuming, but rather a quick and efficient means of creating a record of your reading. Additionally, it allows for critical thinking and practice writing. Take it seriously.

Directions: Each set of notes is due with chapter reading. Label each set of notes (due date, chapternumber and title, pages). Skip one or two lines between each requirement so the page is neat and you can add class discussion ideas as well. Keep each chapter on a separate page. Budget your time and pace yourself; some of these chapters will take hours to read!

Grade: You will receive or lose HW credit each day notes are due. All steps must be complete in order to receive credit. You will hand in notes on the day reading is due. **Take the time to do a good job!

Reading Deadlines

CHAPTER / DUE DATE / PAGE RANGE & TOTAL
Chapter 1 / T/W…1/26-27 / 1-36 / 36
Chapter 2 / M/T…2/1-2 / 37-93 / 56
Chapter 3
Chapter 4 / M/T…2/15-16 / 94-145 / 51
146-200 / 54
Chapter 5 / M/T…2/22-23 / 201-256 / 55
Chapter 6 / M/T…2/29-3/1 / 257-336 / 79
Chapter 7 / M/T…3/7-8 / 337-416 / 79
Chapter 8 / M/T…3/14-15 / 417-510 / 93
Chapter 9 / M/T… 3/21-22 / 511-617 / 106

Reading notes will consist of the following for each chapter:

  1. Name the chapter; record the date and page numbers. Be creative with your title; relate the title in some way to the plot/action of the chapter and use catchy words, alliteration, metaphor, irony, or some other technique…
  1. List each characterinvolved in the action of the chapter. No need to describe or characterize; simply list names. Add identifying information (details) only if you want.
  1. Scene shifts. Record where action takes place.If action begins at 80 Front St. before moving to Gravesend Academy, note the shift. Simply list these locations. In particular, write the pages whenever action shifts to present time in Toronto. Record the dates, if possible, of the Toronto scenes as well. Then note when the plot returns to New Hampshire in the past. Identify 8-12 scenes per chapter…
  1. Write 10 True / False questions based on various plot events in the chapter. Make sure they are clearly written and detailed. We will use these questions to challenge our classmates’ knowledge! Provide answers to your questions as well.
  1. Select a passage somewhere in the chapter in which you see various rhetorical elements at play. Irving often uses sophisticated syntax; he is also a descriptive writer and master of figurative language; maybe you see irony or juxtaposition in a scene or chapter; maybe a character’s lengthy speech illustrates ethos, pathos, logos… Write 1-2 sentences introducing the passage (context), quote its beginning, shorten with an ellipsis, quote the ending and cite the page(s). Then, skip a line andlist 3 or more rhetorical elements at play in the passage. You do not need to explain each one. We will use these passages for occasional study / analysis in class, however, so you should be familiar with and able to explain each observation (rhetorical element) that you’ve listed. Try to vary your choices, so that you are attentive to different rhetorical elements throughout the novel. (Don’t choose the same thing every time.)

Sample Passage (#4)

In the first paragraph of the novel, Irving quickly establishes his narrator’s voice and displays his long,complex sentence style along with an important irony as well: “I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice - not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he wasthe instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason Ibelieve in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany” (1).

  • Complex Sentence
  • Irony
  • 1st POV
  • polysyndeton
  • cumulative sentence

**Do #1-5 on front of page

  1. Personal Reaction - Flip your page of notes over and do some good writing!

Trace events in the chapter that relate to the reviewer’s comment(s) that you have selected / been assigned. Record not only the incidents in the chapter, but also your response to it. Therefore, if scenes in the chapter contrast the reviewer’s remark, explain this inconsistencies which, later on, will serve as analysis for your argument. If scenes in the chapter support the reviewer’s remark, explain the consistencies. Fill the back side of your paper with this piece of writing. Use at least three supporting examples from the chapter, including but not limited to direct quotes (incorporate paraphrase or summary as well). Feel free to bring in personal experience as well as outside knowledge as you react to and explain the examples you select.

Directions: Skim over the remarks written by various reviewers. Sounds like a great book, right? Create a list of themes that you can expect to explore while reading A Prayer for Owen Meany. Jot down two or three of the reviews that sound most interesting to you.

NEW YORK TIMES / BOOK LIST
NEW YORK MAGAZINE / LOS ANGELES BOOK REVIEW
PLAYBOY / SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW / NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (BACK COVER)
WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD / WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
THE NEW REPUBLIC / UPI (UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL)
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS / TIME MAGAZINE
THE HOUSTON POST