SUMMER READING - GRADES 7 AND 8

Mrs. Moffitt and Mrs. Buri request that each incoming seventh and eighth grade student read over the summer. The following are writing activities that will be required in order for a student to receive credit. Students will receive two points on their report card for each book read over the summer. Students must choose to complete one of the following assignments for each book read in order to receive credit.

A. Write a journal following each chapter in the book.Youmay choose to write about any of the following after each chapter:

* Draw a personal connection to acharacter from the chapter. Explain how you are similar or different using details from that chapter and yourself.

* Personal Reflection - What did a character do in that chapter? What would you do if you were that character?

* Following the reading of a chapter, predict what you think may happen.

* Make a connection to an event in the story that relates to another story, TV show, movie or song.

B. At the conclusion of your book, write a detailed essay of at least four paragraphs in which you discuss the novel you read from the perspective of one of the statements that are provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the works you have chosen. Be sure to follow Regents style (lead/introduction, discussion of main ideas supported by specific textual examples, personally relevant/insightful conclusion).

Critical Lens:

* Novelist William Faulkner said, “I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail.”

* The Victorian poet and critic Matthew Arnold said literature is “at bottom a criticism of life.”

* The poet T.S. Eliot wrote “literature is not an assertion of truth, but the making of the truth more fully real to us.”

* J.F. Clarke wrote, “The bravest of individuals is the one who obeys his or her conscience.”

* Logan Pearsall Smith wrote, “It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important.”

* Anne Lamott wrote, “When writers write from a place of insight and real caring about the truth, they have the ability to throw the lights on for the reader.”

* “Good people…are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure.”

* William Styron wrote, “A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly

exhausted at the end.”

* “The only worthwhile literature is that which makes you think about your own life.” -- anonymous

* “To be truly memorable, a book must have at its core one of life’s great quests: the quest for love,

truth, or power.” -- anonymous

* “Courage is measured by an individual’s willingness to continue fighting even when the likelihood

of victory is small.” -- anonymous

* “Through engagement with others, literature lets us imagine what it would be like to be different.”

– Denis Donoghue

* “The final test of a work of art is not whether it has beauty but whether it has power.” – John Hersey

* “The best literature is about the old universal truths, such as love, honor, pride, compassion, and

sacrifice.” – William Faulkner

* “The purpose of literature is to educate the imagination, to train us to see what is possible.”

– Northrop Frye

Books should be approved by the teacher before a student reads them to make sure they are age appropriate. For all incoming 8th graders, please contact Mrs. Moffitt at to get approval for your book.

All book reports will be due Wednesday, September 7, 2011.

***Students who participate in the Summer Rec. Reading Camp will be able to have their titles approved by the teacher in charge.

Thank you and have a great summer!