Summer Reading 2016
This summer you will be responsible for reading one book and watching one movie. You will write one essay and do one project. Choose one book from each list. All of these books are on the California Approved Reading List, but choose the books with your parents so there is no confusion as to what you are reading because some of the books were not written specifically for teens. It is also up to you to find the summaries of the books to try and choose the books in which you have the most interest.
Book and movie comparison:
Read one of the books from this list, and watch the movie adaptation of the book. Once you have read the book and watched the movie you write a 700- 800 word essay comparing the two. The essay should focus on what is the same between the two, what is different and which one you preferred. Focus on plot points, character development, themes, and even the dialogue. Essay should be typed, double spaced, and be in 12 pt Times New Roman font. Include word count at the bottom of the essay. (Worth 25 points)
Books:
Fiction:
The Help-Kathryn Stockett
Water for Elephants- Sara Gruen
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close- Jonathan Foer
Paper Towns- John Green
The Maze Runner- James Dashner
Non-fiction:
Eat Pray Love- Elizabeth Gilbert
Tuesdays with Morrie-Mitch Albom
Moneyball- Michael Lewis
Marley and Me- John Grogan
Perfect Storm- Sebastian Junger
Essay Rubric:
A (23-25): Successfully analyzes the similarities and the differences between the book and movie. Shows that student actually read the book and watched the movie. Uses solid vocabulary, has little to no grammatical errors, meets the word requirement, and has a better than average sentence variety. Delves deep into the differences and analyzes why changes were made from book to movie.
B (20-22): Successfully analyzes the similarities and the differences between the book and movie. Shows that student actually read the book and watched the movie. Uses solid vocabulary, has limited grammatical errors, meets the word requirement, and has a better than average sentence variety. Delves semi- deep into the differences and somewhat analyzes why changes were made from book to movie.
C (18-19): Is mostly summarizing what happened in the book and movie, without offering analysis of why you think those changes were made. Shows only basic knowledge of the story. Basic vocabulary, many grammatical errors, meets word requirement. No real sentence variety/bad sentence structure.
D (15-17): All summary, zero analysis. Bad grammar, bad vocabulary, does not meet the word requirement, littered with errors in grammar, spelling, and structure.
Project options: Using the same book, complete one of the following projects.
1. Create a soundtrack for the book: Choose 15 songs you think go perfectly with the book. Also write a brief paragraph for each song explaining why you chose it (does it fit a certain scene, character, overall mood, theme, etc.?)
2. Mini comic book: Choose 8 main events from the book and create an 8 panel comic book. You must draw the pictures, color them, and use dialogue boxes similar to actual comic books.
3. Scrap book: Make a 5 page scrapbook for the book. Research scrapbooking, and make sure you include photos, stickers, captions, and anything else that fits the book.
4. Music/poetry: Write, play and record 2 original songs that fit either a character, or a theme, or mood from the book you read. Put the recordings on a flash drive to bring to class on first day. Also bring in the music and lyrics. If you cannot write music or sing, you may write 3 poems based on the book. There is no length requirement, but if you write a short poem in hopes of doing little work, the short poems better pack an emotional punch.
5. Wardrobe: Sketch or cut and paste 3 sets of outfits for 3 separate characters for your novel. Make one casual outfit, one formal outfit, and another outfit of your choosing. Also write a brief paragraph describing why you chose those outfits. Think about the colors you choose for your characters as well.
6. Movie time: Film a movie trailer for your book. You write it, direct it, star in it, and edit it together making sure you get the tone and mood right, and include key moments from the book.
7. Set Design: Sketch/paint/color/design or build mini versions of 3 of the settings from the book. The buildings can be out of anything you want.
Rubric:
A (23-25): Creative, shows a deep understanding of the book, clean, shows analysis of themes, characters, mood, etc. Hits every part of the assignment.
B (20-22): Creative, shows an understanding of the book. Looks mostly clean and clear. Shows some analysis of themes, characters, mood, etc. Hits every part of the assignment.
C (18-19): Somewhat creative. Shows understanding of book. Not super clean, no real analysis in the project. Hits every part of the assignment.
D (15-17): Not creative, parts are missing, no explanations, no connections made to themes, characters, mood, etc.