Accelerated English 9 Reading Assignments
Mrs. Smart
Education is an active process, and the learner must have an inquiring mind. In order to prepare for the rigors of Accelerated English, each student must complete the following assignments before class begins in September. Our class will work well together if each student realizes that he/she bears the primary responsibility for his/her education. The teacher will facilitate, stimulate, and expedite that education, but the students should not sit passively and wait for knowledge to be draped upon them. With this in mind, your summer should be spent reading and exploring various works of fiction and non-fiction.
My goal is that you will be better at the conclusion of this course – better writers, better readers, better speakers, better thinkers, and most important, better human beings. If you involve yourself in the course and become committed to learning, you will improve and most likely find that good grades will follow. Your first assignments are designed to stimulate your thinking and polish your writing skills.
This assignment is posted on the HMHS website and my e Board. Parts One and Two must be word-processed in 12-point font. Good luck and have a great summer. I look forward to a wonderful and productive year with you.
PART ONE – Classic Novel (100 points)
1. Read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This famous novel of social upheaval and radical change is a fascinating tale of motivation and counter motivation. It is a novel of constant surprises and memorable characters. As you read, use sticky notes to mark passages. Every time you encounter a particularly important, provocative, dramatic, surprising, or disturbing passage, mark it with a sticky note. When you have completed the novel, you can look at all the passages and decide which bear the most relevance.
2. Select a minimum of ten passages from the novel. Copy the passages (including page numbers) and then write about each passage according to the following criteria:
a. In a well-written paragraph explain how the passage “fits” in the novel by adding to major or minor character development, plot line, social or historical setting description, or conflict. Discuss the importance of the passage to the book’s meaning, message, or theme.
b. In another well-written paragraph, react to the passage as a reader. Make me understand why you have selected this passage. Do not introduce your paragraph with “I have selected this passage because…”
To generate a response, you may consider the following prompt:
· Why does the passage impress, horrify, or puzzle you?
· Do you find the author’s use of language appealing or powerful? Does the passage jump off the page as a descriptive passage?
· Is the passage particularly meaningful? Is it a high point in the book? Do you agree or disagree with the ideas it presents?
· Does the passage remind you of a situation in your life?
· Does the passage make you laugh out loud or something else?
· Does the author raise intriguing questions and issues?
· Does the passage challenge or expand your thinking?
You are not limited to the above list, nor do I expect you to answer all of the above. However, your responses to the passages should clearly explain to me why these passages caught your attention. Assignment will be collected on September 6, 2006.
PART TWO – Reader’s Choice (50 points)
1. Peruse the attached New York Times Best Seller Lists for hardback and paperback
fiction. Please note that the entire list is posted on my e Board. Select a book to read
and analyze. Write a book review that will address the piece of literature and focus on
one or more important elements (plot, character, setting, or theme). Your review should
contain supporting detail and examples and maintain a clear and consistent view from
start to finish. I will evaluate your review according to the attached rubric. Feel free to
read sample book reviews but avoid reading one on your book of choice.
2. Please email or mail your review no later than August 14, 2006. My email address is:
. Please use this email to communicate any concerns or questions you may have. The school address is: 401 Kings Hwy East,
Haddonfield, NJ, 08033 (ATTN: J. Smart).
PART THREE – Nonfiction
1. Purchase and read Woe Is I: The Grammarphobes Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner (Riverhead Hardcover Publisher, July 2003,ISBN # 1573222526; Berkley Publishing Group, ISBN # 1594480060 – available June 29, 2004).
2. Outline chapters 1-4, 6 and 7 and 9. Note specifically the grammar rules and the language O’Conner uses to help you better understand the English language.
Think about what you already know and what you need help understanding.
3. Create your own grammar guide. This can be in a small notebook or on index cards.
4. On September 9, 2006, be prepared to take a grammar test. This test will total 100 points in value.
Book Review
· Logical progression (perhaps offering the strongest point first or last)
· Effective beginning, strong supporting details, convincing conclusion
· Effective paragraphs: topic sentence and support
· Smooth transitions / · Addresses a single piece of literature
· Focuses on one or more important elements
· Ideas are supported with appropriate examples and specific text references
· Quotes are embedded and placed in proper context / · Meaningful variety in sentence structure
· Scholarly tone with strong action verbs
· Active voice and appropriate use of vocabulary
· Explains or defines unfamiliar terms or locations / · Grammatically correct
· Subject/verb/pronoun agreement
· Accurate spelling, punctuation, and capitalization
· Avoids run-ons, fragments, and shifts of tense
47-50 / Excellent / Excellent / Excellent / Excellent
43-46 / Obvious / Interesting / Deliberate / Oops
39-42 / Confusing / Minimal / Haphazard / Careless
35-38 / Nonexistent / Insufficient / Awkward / Unacceptable
June 11, 2006
Hardcover Fiction
ThisWeek / Last
Week / Weeks
On List
1 / AT RISK, by Patricia Cornwell. (Putnam, $21.95.) A Massachusetts state investigator applies DNA and other forensic techniques to a cold murder case; written as a serial for The New York Times Magazine. / 1
2 / BEACH ROAD, by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge. (Little, Brown, $27.95.) An East Hampton lawyer becomes involved in a highly publicized trial that pits locals against the super-rich. / 1 / 4
3 / DEAD WATCH, by John Sandford. (Putnam, $26.95.) A political operative investigates the murder of a former senator. / 2 / 2
4 / THE HARD WAY, by Lee Child. (Delacorte, $25.) When his wife is kidnapped, a man who deals in illegal soldiers turns to the former military cop Jack Reacher. / 3 / 2
5 / TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE, by Mary Higgins Clark. (Simon & Schuster, $25.95.) A small girl communicates telepathically with her kidnapped twin. / 4 / 8
6 / DIGGING TO AMERICA, by Anne Tyler. (Knopf, $24.95.) Two families, one of them Iranian-American, become involved with each other when both adopt baby girls from Korea. / 5 / 4
7 / THE DA VINCI CODE, by Dan Brown (Doubleday, $24.95; special illustrated edition, $35.) A murder at the Louvre leads to a trail of clues found in the work of Leonardo and to the discovery of a secret society. / 8 / 165
8 / BLUE SHOES & HAPPINESS, by Alexander McCall Smith. (Pantheon, $21.95.) The seventh novel in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, featuring Mma Ramotswe and her assistant, Grace Makutsi. / 6 / 6
9 / PROMISE ME, by Harlan Coben. (Dutton, $26.95.) Myron Bolitar becomes a suspect when a high school girl disappears after he drives her to a friend's house. / 9 / 5
10 / * EVERYMAN, by Philip Roth. (Houghton Mifflin, $24.) A man grapples with aging, physical decline and impending death. / 10 / 5
11 / I SAY A LITTLE PRAYER, by E. Lynn Harris. (Doubleday, $21.95.) As a gay singer struggles with homophobia in the black church, he must come to terms with his past. / 7 / 4
12 / BAD TWIN, by Gary Troup. (Hyperion, $21.95.) A private investigator faces danger as he helps a man search for his irresponsible missing brother. / 14 / 3
13 / KILLER INSTINCT, by Joseph Finder. (St. Martin's, $24.95.) A mild-mannered executive hires a former Special Forces officer who will stop at nothing to help his friend get ahead; from the author of "Company Man.'' / 1
14 / SUITE FRANÇAISE, by Irène Némirovsky. (Knopf, $25.) Two novellas, which came to light more than 50 years after the author's death at Auschwitz, about life in France under the Nazis. / 16 / 4
15 / THE POE SHADOW, by Matthew Pearl. (Random House, $24.95.) A Baltimore lawyer investigates the poet's mysterious death; from the author of "The Dante Club.'' / 1
Also Selling
16 / SECOND SIGHT, by Amanda Quick (Putnam)
17 / THE WHOLE WORLD OVER, by Julia Glass (Pantheon)
18 / THE MAN OF MY DREAMS, by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House)
19 / FULL OF GRACE, by Dorothea Benton Frank (Morrow)
20 / DARK HARBOR, by Stuart Woods (Putnam)
21 / SUSANNAH'S GARDEN, by Debbie Macomber (Mira)
22 / DEFINITELY DEAD, by Charlaine Harris (Ace)
23 / THE KING OF LIES, by John Hart (Thomas Dunne)
24 / EDGE OF BATTLE, by Dale Brown (Morrow)
25 / THE DEBUTANTE DIVORCÉE by Plum Sykes (Miramax/Hyperion)
26 / THE STOLEN CHILD, by Keith Donohue (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday)
27 / QUEEN OF BABBLE, by Meg Cabot (Morrow)
28 / ANGELS AND DEMONS, by Dan Brown (Atria)
29 / OAKDALE CONFIDENTIAL, by Anonymous (Pocket)
30 / CHASING DESTINY, by Eric Jerome Dickey (Dutton)
31 / THE FAITHFUL SPY, by Alex Berenson (Random House)
32 / TELEGRAPH DAYS, by Larry McMurtry (Simon & Schuster)
33 / THE BOOKWOMAN'S LAST FLING, by John Dunning (Scribner)
34 / DARK TORT, by Diane Mott Davidson (Morrow)
35 / THE HOUSE, by Danielle Steel (Delacorte, $27.)
Rankings reflect sales, for the week ending May 27, at almost 4,000 bookstores plus wholesalers serving 50,000 other retailers (gift shops, department stores, newsstands, supermarkets), statistically weighted to represent all such outlets nationwide. An asterisk (*) indicates that a book's sales are barely distinguishable from those of the book above. A dagger (+)indicates that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders.
Home
June 11, 2006
Paperback Fiction
ThisWeek / Weeks
On List
1 / THE DA VINCI CODE, by Dan Brown. (Anchor, $14.95 and $7.99; Broadway special illustrated edition, $22.95.) A murder at the Louvre leads to a trail of clues found in the work of Leonardo and to the discovery of a secret society. / 9
2 / ANGELS & DEMONS, by Dan Brown. (Pocket Star, $7.99.) A Harvard scholar tries to save the Vatican from the machinations of an underground society. / 140
3 / BROKEN PREY, by John Sandford. (Berkley, $9.99.) Lucas Davenport, working for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, searches for a serial killer. / 4
4 / VELOCITY, by Dean Koontz. (Bantam, $7.99.) A bartender becomes an unwitting accomplice in choosing a serial killer's next victim. / 5
5 / A WEDDING IN DECEMBER, by Anita Shreve. (Back Bay, $14.95.) Seven friends reunite for a wedding and remember the tragedy that drove them apart. / 4
6 / DIGITAL FORTRESS, by Dan Brown. (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's, $14.95 and $7.99.) A cryptographer at the N.S.A. breaks a mysterious code. / 37
7 / TRUE BELIEVER, by Nicholas Sparks. (Warner, $12.95.) A hip young New Yorker finds love with a beautiful librarian who lives in North Carolina. / 7
8 / MAP OF BONES, by James Rollins. (Avon, $7.99.) An ancient secret society steals the bones of the Three Wise Men to accomplish a nefarious goal. / 5
9 / * THE INNOCENT, by Harlan Coben. (Signet, $9.99.) An ex-con who was unjustly sent to prison years earlier finds himself a suspect in a pair of murders. / 5
10 / A GOOD YARN, by Debbie Macomber. (Mira, $7.99.) The lives and loves of a group of women who meet at a knitting class in Seattle. / 5
11 / DECEPTION POINT, by Dan Brown. (Pocket, $9.99 and $7.99.) An intelligence analyst is sent to the Arctic on a special assignment by the White House. / 66
12 / GHOST HUNTER, by Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Jayne Castle. (Jove, $7.99.) A powerful ghost hunter and his former fiancée investigate a disappearance. / 1
13 / THE UNDOMESTIC GODDESS, by Sophie Kinsella (Dial, $12) At her wit's end, an attorney leaves London and winds up a housekeeper in a small town. / 1
14 / NO PLACE LIKE HOME, by Mary Higgins Clark. (Pocket, $9.99.) A woman who is trying to conceal her past becomes the target of a killer. / 10
15 / THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, by Lauren Weisberger Broadway, $13.95; Anchor, $7.99.) A young woman gets a job at a fashion magazine, and a difficult boss. / 3
16 / * GOODNIGHT NOBODY, by Jennifer Weiner (Washington Square, $15.) An unhappy mother gains independence by investigating a murder. / 1
Also Selling
17 / THE KITE RUNNER, by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead)
18 / PAWLEYS ISLAND, by Dorothea Benton Frank (Berkley)
19 / THE MERMAID CHAIR, by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin)
20 / MARRIAGE MOST SCANDALOUS, by Johanna Lindsey (Pocket)
21 / THE TWELFTH CARD, by Jeffery Deaver (Pocket Star)
22 / THE ENGLISHER, by Beverly Lewis (Bethany House)
23 / CROSS BONES, by Kathy Reichs (Pocket Star)
24 / EVERYONE WORTH KNOWING, by Lauren Weisberger (Downtown)
25 / THE HAZARDS OF HUNTING A DUKE, by Julia London (Pocket Star)
26 / BURNED, by Carol Higgins Clark (Pocket Star)
27 / X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, by Chris Claremont (Del Rey)
28 / IMPULSE, by JoAnn Ross (Pocket Star)
29 / LIE BY MOONLIGHT, by Amanda Quick (Jove)
30 / SATURDAY, by Ian McEwan (Anchor)
31 / THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN, by Mitch Albom (Hyperion)
32 / WICKED, by Gregory Maguire (ReganBooks/HarperCollins)
33 / HOT ITEM, by Carly Phillips (HQN)
34 / KILLER TAKES ALL, by Erica Spindler (Mira)
35 / MY SISTER'S KEEPER, by Jodi Picoult (Washington Square)
Rankings reflect sales, for the week ending May 27, at almost 4,000 bookstores plus wholesalers serving 60,000 other retailers, statistically weighted to represent all such outlets. An asterisk (*) indicates that a book's sales are barely distinguishable from those of the book above. A dagger (+) indicates that some stores received bulk orders.