The Count of Monte Cristo
Honors English 10
For the next few weeks, we will be reading the novel The Count of Monte Cristo. You will be responsible for reading large sections of the book and responding to them over a long period of time. This assignment will pull on your time management skills quite a bit. We will be working on other assignments during class and have other homework, but you are still responsible for reading this novel at the same time. So work ahead, manage your time wisely, and keep up with the assignment.
Part I – Chapters 1 – 17 (89 pages) – Due Tuesday, January 24
Part II – Chapters 18 – 37 (119 pages)– Due Tuesday, February 14
Part III – Chapters 38 – 50 (95 pages)– Due Tuesday, February 28
Part IV – Chapters 51 – 71 (124 pages)– Due Tuesday, March 14
Reading Log for Novel
Create a typed reading log of at least 2 entries for each chapter.
· On the left side, copy a meaningful passage from that chapter - perhaps a bit of dialogue, a description, or a character’s thought. Be sure to number your entries and include the page number from which you copied it. I am not looking for a specific length of words for each quote. However, put some thought into your quote choices!
· On the right side, write your response to the quotation – please use a variety of response types
o Make a connection with your own experience. What does the reading make you think of? Does it remind you of anything or anyone?
o Make connections with other texts, concepts, or ideas you are familiar with. Do you see any similarities between these and other information? Can you make a literary connection?
o Ask yourself questions about what you are reading. “I wonder why…” or “I don’t understand…” or “I was surprised by…”
o Try agreeing with the writer and write down supporting ideas. Try arguing – on what points do you disagree?
o Write down literary devices, images, phrases. Why did the author choose these? What do they add to the story? What made you notice them?
o Each response should consist of 2-4 sentences.
· Do not just “translate” each quote. In other words, if the quote says, “The sky was cerulean,” don’t just say, “This means the sky was blue.”
Example: from the book The Hobbit
Chapter 1Passage / Meaning
1. “What a lot of things you do use good morning for!” said Gandalf. “Now you mean that you want to get rid of me, and that it won’t be good till I move off.” - page 5 / I found this part to be quite funny! Gandalf is totally right when he suggests that Bilbo uses “good morning” for many different things. He uses it to mean hello, and good morning, and good bye. Gandalf is very clever in the way that he says this to Bilbo.
2. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-tress and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking stick. – page 7 / Sometimes I feel the same way Bilbo feels. I really enjoy travelling and seeing new places and having different experiences. I don’t really want to have a sword instead of a walking stick, however! I don’t really think I want to stab anyone or any dragons.
Chapter 2
Passage / Meaning
1. But they were trolls. Obviously trolls. Even Bilbo, in spite of his sheltered life, could see that: from the great heavy faces of them, and their size, and the shape of their legs, not to mention their language, which was not drawing-room fashion at all, at all.
- page 14 / 1. I made a connection here between The Hobbit and Harry Potter. In the first Harry Potter book, there’s a troll in the dungeon! It then gets loose and tries to kill Hermione in a bathroom, only to be defeated by Ron and Harry. So I was able to picture in my head what a troll looked like, thanks to this description and also the Harry Potter movie.
2. Etc. / 2.
On each of the due dates, we will have a quiz on that section of the novel, then a lengthy discussion of the key points. Each reading log will be worth 50 points, so make sure you do them! I expect you to do your own original work with these logs. Do NOT work together on this.