Spring Semester Parallel Reading ~ Honors 9th Lit: Due Monday, February 29th

Assignment:

Part A:Annolighting

Either purchase or check out a copy of the book (Kindle or e-reader is fine, but you must be able to makes notes as you read). Annolight or sticky note the entire book, making thoughtful comments about content and style. An “A” on this part of the assignment would require annolights on every page or every other page.

Part B: Essay

If you choose one of the nonfiction books, select what you consider to be the most significant chapter, summarize it, and defend its significance. Then, relate it to your own personal experiences or phenomena you see occurring in the world around you.

If you choose one of the fiction books, watch the accompanying film (for Sherlock Holmes, choose an episode of the BBC show Sherlock or you may watch one of the recent film versions with Robert Downy Jr.) and write a Compare/ Contrast essay. Use this helpful website to guide you on how to structure a C/C essay:

Nonfiction Choices

Any Malcolm Gladwell book: (all synopses are taken from

Tipping Point

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.

Outliers

There is a story that is usually told about extremely successful people, a story that focuses on intelligence and ambition. Gladwell argues that the true story of success is very different, and that if we want to understand how some people thrive, we should spend more time lookingaroundthem-at such things as their family, their birthplace, or even their birth date. And in revealing that hidden logic, Gladwell presents a fascinating and provocative blueprint for making the most of human potential.

What the Dog Saw

What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20thcentury?Here is the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzling inventions of the pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz. Gladwell sits with Ron Popeil, the king of the American kitchen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secrets of Cesar Millan, the “dog whisperer” who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand. He explores intelligence tests and ethnic profiling and “hindsight bias” and why it was that everyone in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate.

Blink

Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-that actually aren’t as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work-in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?

David and Goliath

We all know that underdogs can win–that’s what the David versus Goliath legend tells us, and we’ve seen it with our own eyes. Or have we? InDavid and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell, with his unparalleled ability to grasp connections others miss, uncovers the hidden rules that shape the balance between the weak and the mighty, the powerful and the dispossessed. Gladwell examines the battlefields of Northern Ireland and Vietnam, takes us into the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, and digs into the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms–all in an attempt to demonstrate how fundamentally we misunderstand the true meaning of advantages and disadvantages.

Woe Is I by Patricia T. O’Conner

Patricia T. O’Conner’sWoe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English sells itself to its target audience with that big word in the subtitle — this book is gentle on the reader — but more confident writers and editors who might just need to look something up now and then will find it a friendly resource as well. Woe Is Iis a lighthearted antidote to colorless usage manuals — a reference work you’ll actually be inspired to read cover to cover as well as thumb through when you need a refresher. – dailywritingtips.com synopsis

Fiction Choices

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Although Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote several novels throughout his lifetime, none of his works were as well-received as his series of 'Sherlock Holmes' stories in which he created the famous, logical detective with his level-headed assistant, Doctor Watson. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmesis a compilation of twelve short Sherlock Holmes stories that was published on October 31st, 1892 and written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The character, Sherlock Holmes, was previously introduced to the world in a novel calledA Study in Scarlet, in a Christmas 'annual.' The stories in the compilation loosely followed by the hit TV show, Sherlock. – study.com synopsis

The Helpby Kathryn Stockett

In 1960s Mississippi, Southern society girl Skeeter (Emma Stone) returns from college with dreams of being a writer. She turns her small town on its ear by choosing to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent white families. Only Aibileen (Viola Davis), the housekeeper of Skeeter's best friend, will talk at first. But as the pair continue the collaboration, more women decide to come forward, and as it turns out, they have quite a lot to say. – Google book synopsis

The Secret Life of Beesby Sue Monk Kidd

Set in South Carolina in 1964,The Secret Life of Beestells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come. – Goodreads.com synopsis