SUMMER READING - 2005

English I/English I Honors
English II
English II Honors
English III
English III Honors
English IV
AP English Language
AP English Literature

ENGLISH I and ENGLISH I HONORS:

1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
2. Rebecca by Daphme du Maurier

Please carefully read these books. Underline as you read, so that you can answer the questions below.

For each novel, do the following assignment that you will hand in before discussion of the novel. Please word-process and double-space your assignments. For each novel, your assignment should be about 2 pages.

Title of the work
Author
Location and Time Period

1. What statement is the author making in this novel? How is this shown in the novel?
2. What other themes did you notice? How are these themes shown?
3. Choose the most important character. For the character you've chosen:
   What are the character's three most important characteristics or values in the novel?
   Does the character change?
   What motivates the character?

ENGLISH II:

Read First: A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, Michael Dorris
Read Next: Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver
 
 
NOTE: These books may be difficult to find. Order them in June from your nearby bookstore.

During the first month of school, you will be tested on these novels. Underline as you read, because the questions will consist of identification of significant passages, which you will want to review before the test.

For each novel, do the following assignment, which you will hand in before we discuss the novel.
 
Title of Work
Author
Location and time period

1. What statement is the author making in this novel?
• a) How is this illustrated in the novel?
2. What other themes did you notice?
• a) How are they illustrated?
3. Characters
   • Choose the most important characters. For each:
   1. Give the character's three most important characteristics or values and an illustration from the novel for each.
   2. Show how the author portrays a change in the character or causes you to change your opinion of the character.
   3. Analyze what motivates the character.

ENGLISH II HONORS:

Please read in this order:
Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
 
NOTE: These books may be difficult to find. Order them in June from your nearby bookstore.
During the first month of school, you will be tested on these novels. Underline as you read, because the questions will consist of identification of significant passages, which you will want to review before the test.

For each novel, do the following journal assignment, which you will hand in before we discuss the novel.
 
Title of Work
Author
Location and time period

1. What statement is the author making in this novel?
• a) How is this illustrated in the novel?
2. What other themes did you notice?
• a) How are they illustrated?
3. Characters
   • Choose the most important characters. For each:
   1. Give the character's three most important characteristics or values and an illustration from the novel for each.
   2. Show how the author portrays a change in the character or causes you to change your opinion of the character.
   3. Analyze what motivates the character.

ENGLISH III and ENGLISH III HONORS::

Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

After reading and annotating Catcher in the Rye, make a list of the most important characters. Write a brief character description of each. Note the major conflicts in the book. Make a list of the main themes. Pick out a quote in each work that particularly interests you and discuss it in a paragraph.

AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

On Writing Well, William Zinsser
Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

After reading and annotating Catcher in the Rye, make a list of the most important characters. Write a brief character description of each. Note the major conflicts in the book. Make a list of the main themes. Pick out a quote that particularly interests you and discuss it in a paragraph.  Underline important ideas in the Zinsser book. You will want to determine why the O'Brien book is considered "as good as any piece of literature can get..."

ENGLISH IV:

1. Purchase a copy of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury from Ms. Dahl.
2. Read Fahrenheit 451– a novel about a world in which books are illegal.As you read, be sure to underline significant moments and quotes in the text, and make margin notes as you underline. These notes will be important for our discussion of the novel on your return to school and will be the “proof” that you have read and appreciated this work of literature.
3. Write out five quotes and a piece of analysis for each quote. Do not simply retell what happens in the story, but focus on language (imagery, metaphor, symbol), or give insights into character or theme.

AP ENGLISH LITERATURE:

"The experience of literature, far from being for the reader a passive process of absorption, is a form of intense personal activity. . . Literature is. . . a medium of exploration. Through books, the reader may explore [her] own nature. . . the outer world, other personalities, other ways of life."
Louise Rosenblatt, Literature as Exploration

1. Begin by reading the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone.
2. Read Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. As you read, note parallels between Tess and Persephone, Alex and Hades. Also notice the contrasts in the novel between the agricultural and industrial ways of life, represented by Talbothays and Flintcomb-Ash. Think, too, about how the novel contrasts Christian and Pagan beliefs. Pay close attention to the character of Angel Clare as you think about this. Write about these ideas in the thinking journal you will bring to class.
3. Read John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany. Enjoy the humor, but also notice the symbolic patterns in the novel and the allusions. Write about these in a thinking journal.
   Underline as you read, because that will aid you in class discussion and because the quizzes will consist chiefly of identification of significant passages, which you will want to review before each quiz.
   Bring thinking journals to class in which you have explored the significant ideas, patterns of imagery, and structure of each work. Illustrate each of your claims by quoting from the works.

During AP week we will discuss Tess of the D'Urbervilles and subsequently we will discuss A Prayer for Owen Meany.
 
Reading Guide for Tess of the d'Urbervilles By Thomas Hardy

1. Look for evidence of Tess as Persephone and Alec as Hades
• a. The dance in chapter 2.
• b. Tess's meeting Alec in Chapter 5.
  1. "Dark triangular door of the tent.
  2. Smoking
  3. Strawberries
• c. Tess's ride with Alec in Chapter 8.
  1. Chariot, sparks, speed and "down, down, down they sped."
  2. "The kiss of mastery."
• d. Tess's capture at Stonehenge. Do some research about the Eleusian Mysteries.
2. Look for allusions to Greek deities
   Chapter 10: satyrs, nymphs, Pan, Syrinxes, Lotis, Priapus, Sileni
3. Read Chapter 11 carefully. Note the symbolism of the small animals, of The Chase, and read the penultimate paragraph symbolically and carefully.
4. Tess as Demeter
   Exile, motherhood, the baptism of the baby, in which Tess appears as a "divine personage," Hardy's depiction of her as a part of nature (Chapter 13), wandering the earth, settling at Talbothays as a kind of earth goddess, Angel's worship of her.
5. Look for Hardy's attitude toward Victorian Christianity
   (Chapter 12: the lack of forgiveness expressed by the writings in red paint; Angel's unwillingness to forgive her.)
6. The crush of the agricultural way of life by the industrial
   • a. The explanation of Stoke d'Urberville in Chapter 5
   • b. The reaping machine and the little animals in Chapter 14
   • c. Flintcomb-Ash
   • d. Lady-Day