St. JosephCatholicSchool

Grade 7-12

Summer 2017 Reading Assignment

Grade - Including Honors / Book / Author
7th Grade / Be, The Journey of Rol / Ric Colegrove
8th Grade / Night / Elie Wiesel
9th Grade / Lord of the Flies / William Golden
10th Grade / Brave New World / Aldous Huxley
11th Grade / Great Expectations / Charles Dickens
12th Grade / The Alchemist / Paulo Coelho

We believe that students who read over the summer:

  • Maintain or improve reading comprehension and vocabulary.
  • Broaden their experience, knowledge and understanding of topics that are of personal interest.
  • Experience personal and academic success by developing their literacy skills.

Below are three (3) items of analysis that will help enhance your reading of the novel. You must complete all 3 parts.

Important Things to Know:

  1. You will be expected to read the novel and complete all parts neatly and thoroughly. Do not leave any questions blank. Use your best judgment.
  2. Feel free to either hand write or type your answers.
  3. If you misplace your summer reading assignment, extra copies will be available in the office at St. Joe and on the school website (

After reading your book, complete each section below with thoughtful responses. These responses will be typed in MLA style with each response typed on a separate page. Please review the Purdue Owl tutorial on the web that will assist you with the format. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/13/

For the writing tasks below, think about the following: ideas and development, organization, sentence fluency, word choice, voice, conventions, and the quality of the final draft and how to use these concepts to enhance your responses. In order to achieve full credit for each bullet make sure to provide the required textual support and citations, and explain answers in detail. Any words in bold are listed in the glossary section on the following page.

  1. Characterization Analysis 20 Points

Use the guidelines below to help formulate 3-4 paragraphs of analysis and make sure to embed 3-4 pieces of textual support in the analysis with proper citations.

Defend whether or not your protagonist is dynamic (changes) or static (stays the same).

  • How do other characters react to or interact with the protagonist?
  • What is the protagonist’s most important personality trait? Does it help or hurt their growth?
  • How does the main conflict in the story impact the protagonist’s development? (Think about how the conflict gets resolved and its influences on the protagonist).
  • (See example on following page on how to answer this question)
  1. Reader’s Discovery-What you conclude about the text as a whole 15 Points

Use the guidelines below to help formulate two to three paragraphs of analysis and make sure to embed at least three pieces of textual support with proper citations. Try to use examples from the first section, middle section and concluding section of the book.

Based on your understanding of the characters and how they cope with the conflict, what idea might the author be trying to suggest about life?

  • You must explain HOW each piece of textual support proves the message or statement(s) about life.
  1. Connecting Literature to Reality 15 Points

Select 1 of the quotes below to interpret. Explain in 3-4 sentences what you think the quote means. Feel free to consult a dictionary in order to understand any unfamiliar words.

In a bulleted list, identify and explain three examples from your summer reading book that support your interpretation.

  • What loneliness is lonelier than distrust or doubt?
  • Don't be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against, not with, the wind.
  • All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.

Late Entrants:

These assignments will be collected on the first day of class. Students who enroll within two weeks of the first day of school or who enroll after school has begun for the year will have 15 class days (three weeks) to read the assigned book and submit the assignment.

Glossary

Characterization: Characterization refers to the methods that a writer uses to develop characters. A protagonist is a person who is involved in the central conflict.

• An author may describe the physical appearance of a character.

• A character's personality may be revealed through his or her own speech, thoughts, feelings or actions.

• The speech, thoughts, feelings, or actions of other characters can be used to develop a character.

• The narrator can make direct comments about a character.

Conflict: A struggle or problem between two opposing characters or forces. An internal conflict takes place entirely within a character's own mind. In an external conflict, the problem occurs between the character and an outside force, which may be another character, nature or society as a whole.

Direct Quotes/Textual Support: Direct quotes are word-for-word passages taken from the text. Using direct quotes helps strengthen your answer to questions about the text. “Direct quote” does not mean just dialogue or parts of the story that already appear in quotation marks. Any words or phrases that you copy from the text as part of your answer should be surrounded by quotation marks followed by the page number. (Writing out the word “page” is not necessary). Example: "Joe walked slowly towards the dugout" (49).

Student Example for Characterization Question #1

Anna, the protagonist in My Sister’s Keeper, undergoes a transformation throughout her journey. Her most enduring personality trait of bravery keeps her motivated to fight for her rights and to stay strong amidst her family’s conflicts and controversies. Anna’s family conceived her to be a donor for her sister Kate, who battles leukemia throughout the novel. Anna has an internal conflict because she wants to be loyal to her sister but wants her own life as well: “We both tried to pretend we didn’t know the truth: that in additions to the piece of me that wanted Kate to live, there’s another horrible piece of me that sometimes wishes I were free” (462). The conflict forces Anna to seek help from a lawyer, another act of bravery and independence, and creates a division between what she wants and what her sister needs.

By forcing her family to realize that her life is equal to Kate’s, Anna continues to change and learn about herself. While in court testifying for her own human rights, Anna pushes past her fears, “But now I’m on the witness stand, there’s even more to be worried about…it’s not that I’m nervous…I’m not afraid either…I’m afraid of saying too much” (375) and stops worrying about what her family thinks but rather what she thinks is right. This act of heroism shows that Anna can work through challenges, even if it means rejection from the people she loves.

Overall, Anna’s bravery helps her to discover her own sense of self. The ethical debates with her parents, sister and lawyer all help her change and grow into a confident and self-assured young lady. Anna’s intrepid actions are what allow her to overcome the novel’s many internal and external conflicts.

Resources for Student Support

If you should have any questions or need assistance, please call us or contact us at the e-mails below.

Cindy Bennett - M. Morales

St. JosephHighCatholicSchool

Language Arts

662-378-9711

(Rev 5-22-17)

Rubric - Summer Reading – 2017

20 Points / 15 Points / `10 Points / 5 Points
Characterization Analysis
Total Pts ____ / The analysis is 3-4 paragraphs with 3-4 pieces of textual support and proper citation with all points complete and give a thorough understanding of the section discussed. There are no grammar and punctuation errors. / The analysis is 3-4 paragraphs with supporting details and information that are relevant, but several key issues are unsupported. There are 1-3 grammar and punctuation errors that do not detract from the meaning of the analysis. / The analysis is 3-4 paragraphs with supporting details and information that are typically unclear or not related to the topic. There are 3-5 grammar and punctuation errors that do not detract from the meaning of the analysis. / The analysis in less than 3-4 paragraphs with vague supporting details and there are 6 or more grammar and punctuation errors that do detract from the meaning of the analysis.
15 Points / 12 Points / 5 Points / 3 Points
Readers Discovery
Total Pts ___ / The analysis is 2-3 paragraphs with at least 3 pieces of textual support with proper citation and all points complete and give a thorough understanding of the first, middle, and last section discussed. There are no grammar and punctuation errors. / The analysis is 2-3 paragraphs with at least 3 pieces of textual support with proper citation and all points complete and give a thorough understanding of the first, middle, and last section discussed. There are 1-3 grammar and punctuation errors that do not detract from the meaning of the analysis. / The analysis is 2-3 paragraphs with supporting details and information that are typically unclear or not related to the topic. There are 3-5 grammar and punctuation errors that do not detract from the meaning of the analysis. / The analysis in less than 2 paragraphs with vague supporting details and there are 6 or more grammar and punctuation errors that do detract from the meaning of the analysis.
Connecting Literature to Reality / 15 Points / 12 Points / 5 Points / 3 Points
Total Pts ____ / The interpretation has 1 quote to interpret and explains in 3-4 sentences what the quote means. Identify and explain three examples from the summer reading book that support the interpretation. There are no grammar and punctuation errors. / The interpretation has 1 quote to interpret and explains in 3-4 sentences what the quote means. The examples provided from the summer reading book are vague and do not support the interpretation. There are 1-3 grammar and punctuation errors that do not detract from the meaning of the interpretation. / The interpretation has 1 quote to interpret and explains in less than 3 sentences what the quote means. The examples provided from the summer reading book are lacking and do not support the interpretation. There are 4-5 grammar and punctuation errors that do not detract from the meaning of the interpretation. / The interpretation has 1 quote to interpret with very little explanations, and there are 6 or more grammar and punctuation errors that do detract from the meaning of the analysis.
Total Score: ______/50
Teacher Comments: