New Leadership Charter School Summer Reading List: 2011 Incoming 11th Grade Students

Students are required to read two texts this summer. They must read the required text listed below and must choose one additional text from the suggested reading list.

Students must complete Part I: the graphic organizer and Part II: respond to 10 of the Essential Statements for each novel. (Both the graphic organizer and the Essential Statements are attached.)

Part III: In addition, students must complete a five paragraph thesis essay for the required reading. See assignments below.

Required Reading :

Bastard Out Of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison

11th Grade Summer Reading List

Suggested Readings (select ONE):

• How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
• Alive by Piers Paul Read
• Roots by Alex Haley
• Sophie's Choice by William Styron
• Blindness by Jose Saramago
• The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
• Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
• If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

Written Assignments :

•  Part I: Students must complete the Book Graphic Organizer for each text. (50 pts)

•  Part II: Students must respond to any 10 Essential Statements (in paragraph form) for each novel . See attachments for the organizer and essential statements. (100 pts)

•  Part III: Additionally, students must complete the following written assignment for Bastard Out Of Carolina by Dorothy Allison:

• Come up with a question related to one of the themes that emerges in the text (e.g., child abuse, poverty, coming of age, etc.) and answer the question in a well-developed, 5 paragraph essay with a 3-point thesis. (100 pts)

* Essay must be typed in 12 point Times New Roman font, double spaced, 1 inch margins. Be sure your essay is printed on white paper with blank ink.

Part 1: Summer Reading 2011 Book Graphic Organizer (50 pts.)

Write in COMPLETE sentences.

Part II (100 pts)

Essential Statements/Prompts for Reader Response

These essential statements/prompts represent the kinds of things good readers think about while reading a text of any kind. You will often be asked to respond to any number of the essential statements/prompts below during your reading experiences throughout this course.

Respond in paragraph form to any 10. You must complete this assignment for each novel.

1. Something that surprised you
2. A question that you have about something you've read
3. A favorite character
4. A character who inspires you
5. A character you dislike
6. Something you feel strongly about
7. Something that angers/upsets you
8. A statement or passage that you find interesting/important
9. Something you would say to the author
10. An issue raised by the reading
11. Something from personal experience that this book reminds you of
12. Something from this book that reminds you of something you read in another book/text/poem/article/etc.
13. Something from this book that reminds you of what's happening in your community or the world
14. Something in the book that you think still happens today
15. A message that this book has for us today
16. How your attitude has changed about an issue/idea as a result of reading this book
17. Something you learned that you didn't already know
18. Something you read that you already knew
19. An historical fact that was similar to/different from what you've read in a history textbook
20. A statement or passage from the reading that you did not understand
21. A strategy or series of strategies you used to help you understand what you've read
22. A term or word that you did not know but looked up in the dictionary (give definition)
23. A comment

Part III (100 pts)

Complete the following written assignment for Bastard Out Of Carolina by Dorothy Allison:

• Come up with a question related to one of the themes that emerges in the text (e.g., child abuse, poverty, coming of age, etc.) and answer the question in a well-developed, 5 paragraph essay with a 3-point thesis.

* Essay must be typed in 12 point Times New Roman font, double spaced, 1 inch margins. Be sure your essay is printed on white paper with blank ink.

Your summer reading project is worth a total of 400 points.

6/11

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