English 9 Honors:
Summer Reading
Welcome to Honors English 9. We hope you have a great summer, and we would also like to introduce your first assignment, which consists of reading three wonderful novels. In addition to having completed the reading, you will also be given a written assessment over one or all of the required readings (that you chose from each list) during the first week of school. In order to prepare for this assessment, students should keep a reading log for each book, including information listed on the back. Students enrolled in this class for second semester will have arranged times before or after school to complete the writing assessment during the first week of school. First semester students will complete the writing assessment in class the first week of school.
Required Reading:
Students should choose and read one novel from each list A, B, C, reading a total of three novels by the end of the summer. Novels may be obtained through libraries, used or local bookstores, or online.
List A:Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch
A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt / List B:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson / List C:
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
After making your final selection of one book from each list, you must send an e-mail to both English 9 Honors teachers no later than Saturday, June 22nd, introducing yourself (name, summer plans, hobbies, something special about you, etc.) and listing all three books you have committed to read before the first day of class. You must submit your list by this date, and you may not change your choice of reading selections after you have submitted your e-mail. In other words, the written assessment you will complete during the first week of school will be based on the titles you chose and submitted in the email. Please know in advance that excuses will not be entertained on the due date.
E-mails should be titled ENGLISH 9 H / YOUR NAME, and sent to and . YOUR E-MAIL MUST BE SENT TO BOTH TEACHERS. Due to the high amount of e-mail we will be receiving for this assignment, we will not be able to correspond back and forth with students throughout the summer. Please use the above e-mail addresses only to submit the necessary information. Any e-mail received not following the above format will not be opened due to the risk of receiving a virus. Be sure to follow directions in order to earn credit.
Reading Selections:
Judging a book by its cover or its total number of pages may result in missing out on a great reading experience, and depending on Spark Notes or a movie will not help you pass the written assessment. Although there may be a movie version, we can attest that the movie versions of the above titles lack the content pertinent to the plot included in the books. The best way to read a book is to do exactly that. Read the book.
Note to Parents:
When deciding upon titles for the summer reading, the goal was to provide a reading experience that would be challenging, interesting, and life applicable to students. Although books included in the summer reading are considered age appropriate reading material for ninth graders, several titles are offered in each list order to give both parents and their children a choice as to which book they choose to read. Especially due to the fact that it is an honors course, the students are expected to be mature readers, sometimes being exposed to reading with mature subjects and language. Parents, we urge you to please take the time to thoroughly read book reviews available for each title before making a purchase from the lists above. If a book should be considered offensive in your household, please choose the alternative book offered from the same list. There are many wonderful titles out there, so we are sure you can understand how difficult it was to narrow the list down to six, while at the same time hit the interest of both boys and girls.
Happy Reading!
Miss. Bosnjak and Ms. Butler
CHS English Dept.
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Suggested Journal Entry Questions: