Summer Reading Is Mandatory for All Students at Neville High School

Summer Reading Summary

Summer reading is mandatory for all students at Neville High School.

Students need to read the assigned novel over the summer and complete the annotation project that was distributed in English classrooms in May and is available on the Neville English Department and Library websites. Assignments are due the first full day of school, Tuesday, August 15.

Entering 9th grade:

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros: Read and complete the attached assignment.

Entering 10th grade:

A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest Gaines: Read and complete the attached assignment.

Entering 11th grade:

Regular: Read ONLY: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: Read and complete

the attached assignment.

Honors, GT, and AP: Read BOTH: 5 chapters excerpted from How To Read Literature Like a

Professor by Thomas Foster

AND

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Read and complete the attached assignment

Entering 12th grade:

Regular: Read BOTH: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

AND

6 “This I Believe” essays, available in guidance or

online, linked to English Dept and library websites.

Honors, Gifted, AP,

and Dual Enrollment: Read BOTH: Choice of one memoir from the attached list.

AND

6 “This I Believe” essays, available in guidance or

online, linked to English Dept and library websites.

Complete the assignment distributed in English classes in May, available below. This assignment is also available on all English teachers’ websites, the English Department website, and the library website. Extra copies are also available in the guidance office over the summer, if you prefer a hard copy.

Summer Reading for English IV: AP, GT, DE, and Honors

Please read the following assignments carefully. All assignments are due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, August 15 . Any assignment plagiarized in whole or in part will receive a 0. We want to see your thoughts about these books – not the thoughts of your friends! If you have any questions about any part of the assignment, please do not hesitate to contact us over the summer.

Katherine Sandifer: Jennifer Etzel:

Over this summer, you are required to complete 2 mandatory assignments. First, you will read and annotate one of the six memoirs described below. Then you will read and annotate SIX “This I Believe” essays chosen from the list below. A third, optional, extra credit assignment is also attached.

Assignment #1 (Mandatory): Read and annotate your choice of ONE of 6 memoirs.

Annotate the novel by writing questions and comments in the margins. If you prefer not to write in your book, you may annotate using post-it notes. Your annotations should reflect a CLOSE reading of the book, as you will use them during our class discussions of the text. Your notes should be LITERARY, not personal, in nature. For example, note point of view, ethos, logos, pathos, diction, syntax, character development, setting, etc. Do NOT note “This is like one time when I...”

*Aim to have approximately 7 – 10 annotations per chapter.

*Annotations do NOT have to be in complete sentences, but they must be legible.

*Annotations are SEPARATE FROM highlighting. You may highlight in addition to annotating, but

highlighting alone will receive NO CREDIT.

*As part of your annotation score, include a bulleted summary at the end of each chapter

1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

2. Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success by Phil Jackson

3. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

4. Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell

5. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

6. I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for the Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

*Turn in your annotated and highlighted book on Tuesday, Aug 15*

Assignment # 2 (Mandatory): Read and annotate 6 selected essays from the “This I Believe” series

“This I Believe” is a popular National Public Radio series of essays, written by Americans “from the famous to the unknown.” Each essay focuses on the phrase “This I Believe,” and the pieces “compel readers to rethink not only how they have arrived at their own personal beliefs, but also the extent to which they share them with others.” These will hopefully inspire you as we begin our narrative essay assignment in the fall, which you may choose to use in your college and scholarship applications process.

Read and annotate 6 essays from those listed below. The required essays are available on NPR’s website, linked to teachers’ webpages, the English Department’s webpage, and the library webpage under the Summer Reading tabs. If you would prefer a hard copy, you can pick one up in Mrs. Sandifer’s or Mrs. Etzel’s classrooms next week, or in guidance over the summer. You may access these essays by going to the NPR website or thisibelieve.org and entering the number of the essay. You may choose to listen to the podcast instead of reading the selection; however, if you do this, you must submit one page of written or typed notes about what you notice in each essay.

Creativity:

"My Father Told Me I Was Fat" (essay 12446)

"An Athlete of God" (essay 16583)

"The Power of Words" (essay 4210)

"Disrupting My Comfort Zone" (essay 22868)

"The Holy Life of the Intellect" (essay 31760)

Discrimination:

"Free Minds and Hearts at Work" (16931)

"My Black Mother" (essay 232)

"The Birthright of Human Dignity"(17047)

"We Are Each Other's Business" (essay 33)

"A Good Neighborhood"(essay 7707)

*Turn in your printed, annotated essays on Tuesday, Aug 15*

Assignment # 3: Optional Extra Credit Assignment

The class this year will be primarily geared toward the AP English Language exam; however, many of you may still want to take the AP English Literature exam. Still others may want to do a little extra credit reading during the summer. If so choose 1 to 4 of the novels listed below to read AND annotate for an extra test grade to be used in any of the 4 nine weeks – your choice. If you complete more than one, you may apply the extra test grade to more than 1 nine week period. I have copies of many of these books. If none of these selections appeal to you, but you wish to read another novel of “significant literary merit” please e-mail me over the summer to get approval.

Classic Choices:

- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

- Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

- A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Contemporary Choices:

- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

- The Road by Cormac McCarthy

- Beloved by Toni Morrison

Summer Reading for English IV Regular

Lisa Collins:

Over this summer, you are required to complete 2 mandatory assignments.

Assignment #1 (Mandatory): Read and annotate I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

*Aim to have approximately 7 – 10 annotations per chapter.

*Annotations do NOT have to be in complete sentences, but they must be legible.

*Annotations are SEPARATE FROM highlighting. You may highlight in addition to annotating, but

highlighting alone will receive NO CREDIT.

*As part of your annotation score, include a bulleted summary at the end of each chapter

*Turn in your annotated and highlighted book on Tuesday, Aug 15*

Assignment # 2 (Mandatory): Read and annotate 6 selected essays from the “This I Believe” series

Read and annotate 6 essays from those listed below, taken from NPR’s “This I Believe” Series. The required essays are available on NPR’s website, linked to teachers’ webpages, the English Department’s webpage, and the library webpage under the Summer Reading tabs. If you would prefer a hard copy, you can pick one up in Mrs. Sandifer’s or Mrs. Etzel’s classrooms next week, or in guidance over the summer. You may access these essays by going to the NPR website or thisibelieve.org and entering the number of the essay. You may choose to listen to the podcast instead of reading the selection; however, if you do this, you must submit one page of written or typed notes about what you notice in each essay.

Creativity:

"My Father Told Me I Was Fat" (essay 12446)

"An Athlete of God" (essay 16583)

"The Power of Words" (essay 4210)

"Disrupting My Comfort Zone" (essay 22868)

"The Holy Life of the Intellect" (essay 31760)

Discrimination:

"Free Minds and Hearts at Work" (16931)

"My Black Mother" (essay 232)

"The Birthright of Human Dignity"(17047)

"We Are Each Other's Business" (essay 33)

"A Good Neighborhood"(essay 7707)

*Turn in your printed, annotated essays on Tuesday, Aug 15*

Summer Reading for English III: AP, GT, and Honors

Please read the following assignments carefully. All assignments are due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, August 15 . Any assignment plagiarized in whole or in part will receive a 0. All of your work should be TYPED, double spaced, in Times New Roman 12-pt. font. You will be required to submit all of your work to Turnitin.com during the first week of school. If you have any questions about any part of the assignment, please do not hesitate to contact us over the summer.

Anna Sawyer: Kathryn Waters:

Jennifer Etzel: Beth Cummings:

Over this summer, you are required to read 2 books. First, you will read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. Then, you will need to read excerpts from How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster.

Assignment #1 (Mandatory): Read, annotate, and color code One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey.

1. Annotate the novel by writing questions and comments in the margins. If you prefer not to write in your book, you may annotate using post-it notes. Your annotations should reflect a CLOSE reading of the novel, as you will use them during our class discussions of the text. You should have at least 3 annotations per chapter. These are SEPARATE from the highlighting. Your notes should be LITERARY, not personal, in nature. See the examples from page 1 below:

2. Color Code your text by using different colored highlighters (you will need four colors) to mark instances of the following motifs. This color coding assignment is your prep work for your first multi-paragraph essay.

* You may use different colored post-it tabs if you cannot mark your book.

Please include a KEY so I will know what the different colors mean. If you are using an e-book, you need to label all notes with the same title.

· Green: Laughter/ other emotions

· Pink or Orange: Masculinity and femininity

· Yellow: Narration/ sanity vs. insanity

· Blue: Isolation / community/ race and identity

The first few weeks of school will be devoted to the study of this novel, so you need to know it well. You should NOT read SparkNotes, Shmoop, or any other “notes” or online summary in lieu of reading this primary text. We want to know what you think. Therefore, you should analyze and interpret the literature on your own. Do your best and don’t worry about “getting it wrong.”

*Turn in your annotated and highlighted book on Tuesday, Aug 15 along with your typed assignments.*

Sample:

When the fog clears to where I can see, I’m sitting in the day room. They didn’t take me to

the Shock Shop this time. I remember they took me out of the shaving room and locked me

in Seclusion. I don’t remember if I got breakfast or not. Probably not. I can call to mind some

mornings locked in Seclusion the black boys keep bringing seconds of everything -- supposed

to be for me, but they eat it instead -- till all three of them get breakfast while I lie there on

that pee-stinking mattress, watching them wipe up egg with toast. I can smell the grease

and hear them chew the toast. Other mornings they bring me cold mush and force me to

eat it without it even being salted.

*you do NOT have to have 2 annotations on each page – just 2 per chapter.

*annotations do NOT have to be in complete sentences, but they should be legible.

*annotations are SEPARATE FROM highlighting. Highlighting alone will receive NO CREDIT.
Assignment # 2 (Mandatory): Read and annotate selected chapters from How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster.

Annotate the assigned chapters using the packets distributed at the end of school. Extra copies of the packet will be available online, linked to the English Department’s homepage, as well as in the guidance department at Neville.

- Underline the main idea of each paragraph and write a comment or note in the margin.