Summer
Reading Requirements - June 2003
Nyack
High School English Department
Nyack’s English Department shares with
the school, district, and community a commitment to providing all of our
students with the educational experiences necessary to become successful
adults, informed citizens, and complete human beings.
Assignments vary according to next
year’s course, but all students must read at least two books. Most
students must read at least one book that is recommended for their
grade. They may select their second book
from any section of the list, or, if they prefer, students may read any other
age appropriate full-length book of their own choice. Students should not read books that they have read before.
New York State requires that all
students read twenty-five (25) books a year in all subject areas. We expect that many students will go beyond
the two-book requirement, and we encourage them to do so. We also encourage parents to read along with
their children.
All ninth grade and Regents Level
(including R/LAB) students will be tested on both books in September, and they
should prepare themselves by taking notes and filling out the study sheets on
pages 14 and 15. Students will not be
excused because they cannot remember what they read.
Honors English students in grade 10 are
required to keep a journal of responses to one
of their books. Guidelines for this
journal are described on page 13. These
students will be tested on their second book.
All Grade 11 Honors English students
must read The Scarlet Letter by
Nathaniel Hawthorne and one other book by a multicultural author from a list
which has been added as an appendix to this summer reading list. In addition to
the journals, there will also be an objective test on the day the journals are
due.
Journal instructions and the books for
Advanced Placement English will be distributed at a mandatory after school
meeting in May or June. Completion of
the summer reading assignment is a course requirement.
Reading
lists and journal instructions will be distributed in
English
classes before the June exams.
Extra
copies of these instructions and the list of titles will be
available in
the Guidance Department and the main office during the summer.
GRADE
NINE
Contemporary
Berry, James. Ajeemah and His Son. Tells
the story of a father and his 18-year-old son’s
experiences as slaves in Jamaica in the early 19th century.
Carter, Alden. Up Country. 16-year-old Carl
starts to understand his mother’s alcoholism after he gets into trouble with
the law.
Dessen, Sarah. Someone
Like You. Halley’s junior year of
high school includes the death of her best friend Scarlett’s boyfriend, the
discovery that Scarlett is pregnant, and Halley’s own first serious
relationship.
Deuker, Carl. Painting
the Black. While catching for Josh
during pitching practice, Ryan decides to try out for the team but finds
himself in an ethical dilemma when he discovers his friend has a serious flaw.
Draper, Sharon M. Forged
by Fire. Gerald, who has struggled
his entire life to survive in spite of his drug-addicted mother, now must
protect his sister from an abusive stepfather.
Fleischman, Paul. Seedfolks. Urban neighbors splintered by race, economy,
ethnicity and age join hands in an empty lot to make a garden.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Leaving
Fishers. Dorry has just moved to
Indianapolis and has no friends – until she joins a church group called Fishers
of Men. Soon she is no longer making her
own decisions.
Hoffman, Alice. At Risk. The story of a
young girl with AIDS who struggles to remain in school.
Classics
Alcott, Louisa May. Little
Women. In this classic novel,
cultural obligation and artistic freedom cause tension in the lives of four
young women.
Craven, Margaret. I Heard the Owl Call My Name.
This is the story of a young, dying priest who spends his best days
working among the Kwakiuti Indians of British Columbia.
Dickens, Charles. Great
Expectations.
Young Phillip Pirrip (Pip) is changed by a mysterious act of kindness,
which raises him from poverty to wealth. One of the greatest works of classic
literature, this novel is a timeless tale of love, hope and humanity.
Herriot, James. All Creatures Great and Small.
An English veterinarian works with people and animals in a small
Yorkshire village.
Horgan, James P. Bug
Park. Teenagers Kevin and Taki, who
have created the interactive computer game Bug Park, must use the game and
their impressive computer skills to save Kevin’s father from a murder plot.
Paton, Alan. Cry, the Beloved Country. Set in South Africa, this compassionate
story centers on a Zulu pastor and his son as they struggle with the immorality
of apartheid.
Poe, Edgar Allan. Read any collection
of short stories by the master of horror and the macabre.
Wells, H.G. The
Time Machine. When the Time Traveler
courageously stepped out of his machine for the first time, he found himself in
the year 802,700--and everything had changed.
H.G. Wells's famous novel of one man's astonishing journey beyond the
conventional limits of the imagination is regarded as one of the great
masterpieces in the literature of science fiction.
Drama, Poetry, and Non-Fiction
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Growing
Up in Coal Country. The harsh life
of immigrant
workers in the Pennsylvania coal mines
is vividly brought to life in this haunting photo-essay.
Bitton-Jackson, Livia. I Have
Lived a Thousand Years. Thirteen
when she and her family were sent to Auschwitz, Bitton-Jackson vividly
describes the horrors they faced.
Cadet, Jean-Robert. Restavec. The autobiographical journey from Haitian
slave child to Middle Class American.
Canfield, Jack. Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul.
101 stories of Life, Love and Learning.
Hersey, John. Hiroshima. This compelling book describes the experiences of six
survivors during the destruction of this Japanese city by the first atomic
bomb.
Hughes, Langston. Read a collection of plays, poetry, or short
stories by one of America’s preeminent
African-American authors.
Glenn, Mel. Class Dismissed or Class
Dismissed II are two collections of
sometimes funny, sometimes serious poems about life in high school.
Hamilton, Virginia. In the Beginning is a beautifully
illustrated collection of creation myths from all over the world.
GRADE
TEN
Contemporary
Alvarez, Julia. How the
Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.
This humorous and sensitive first novel describes growing up in a new
country.
Chevalier, Tracy. Girl With a Pearl Earring. Set in Holland, the story describes 16
year-old Griet who becomes a maid in Vermeer’s house. Griet begins to understand the painter’s
genius and sympathizes with his family’s domestic problems.
Flinn, Alex. Breathing Underwater. Written from the point of view of a popular
and intelligent high school student who is in trouble with the law for hitting
his girlfriend. This young adult novel also demonstrates how abused children
learn to be violent.
Fraustino, Lisa Rowe (Editor). Dirty
Laundry. A collection of eleven
short stories by various authors dealing with situations which a family or
family member tries to keep secret because of an underlying problem.
Kincaid, Jamaica. Annie
John. A young girl focuses on her
relationship with her mother as she describes coming of age on the island of
Antiqua.
Maxwell, Robin. Secret
Diary of Anne Bolen. Elizabeth,
England’s monarch, receives her mother’s secret diary and becomes acquainted
with a mother she has never known.
McDonald, Joyce. Swallowing
Stones. Depression, guilt, and fear
plague Michael’s dreams after a stray bullet from his rifle kills a man.
Mowat, Farley. Never Cry Wolf. Written by
an acclaimed Canadian naturalist, this novel tells the fascinating story of man
living among the Arctic wolves.
Myers, Walter Dean. Crystal.
High school sophomore Crystal seems to have it all, but her ticket
out of her poor black Brooklyn neighborhood leads her into an equally confusing
and dangerous world.
Nix, Garth. Shade’s
Children. The few remaining human
children must find and destroy the “Grand Projector” in order to release
themselves from the mutant rulers of Earth.
Shusterman, Neal. The
Dark Side of Nowhere. Feeling
trapped and bored in his normal peaceful hometown, Jason slowly learns that he
and most of the townspeople are aliens.
Tan, Amy. The Kitchen God’s Wife. A
Chinese-American mother decides to reveal her long-hidden secrets to her grown
daughter in this novel by the author of The Joy Luck Club. With wisdom and humor, the mother shares the
story of her tumultuous life, taking us from 1920’s China to modern-day San
Francisco.
Classics
Conrad, Joseph. The
Heart of Darkness. First published
in 1902, Conrad's story describes in stark detail how greed can drive civilized
men to revert to primitive savagery. Set
against the background of the European ivory trade in Africa, Heart Of Darkness depicts narrator
Marlow's account of his journey in search of the legendary Kurtz, who is reputed to be the most
successful trader of them all. Marlow's
quest becomes both a harrowing journey of self-discovery and haunting
description of the brutality of colonial exploitation.
Dickens, Charles. A Tale
of Two Cities. This novel provides a
highly-charged examination of human suffering and human sacrifice. Dickens
interweaves a complex story of private experience and public history during the
French Revolution
Doyle, Arthur Conan. Sherlock
Holmes: Selected Stories. The
brilliant, analytical English detective uses his powers of observation to solve
unique crimes.
Gunther, John. Death
Be Not Proud. This deeply moving
book is a father’s account of his brave and gifted son’s unsuccessful struggle
against a baffling disease.
Potok, Chaim. The
Chosen. Friendship between two
Jewish boys, one Hasidic and
the other Orthodox, begins at a
baseball game and flourishes despite their backgrounds and beliefs.
Renault, Mary. The
King Must Die. The myth of Theseus and
the minotaur of Crete
comes to life in the form of a novel.
White, T. H.. The
Once and Future King. King Arthur
learns his lessons from Merlin the Magician, creates Camelot and the Knights of
the Round Table, and loves and loses Guinevere.
Drama, Poetry, and Non-Fiction
Ambrose, Stephen. Undaunted
Courage. This best seller tells the
fascinating story of the Lewis and Clark expedition across the American West.
Baldwin, James. Notes
of a Native Son. These collected
essays state Baldwin’s views of African-American literature and life.
Fradin, Dennis B. Planet
Hunters: The Search for other Worlds. Are we alone in space? Explore the universe with those who have
sought answers and contact since A.D. 100.
Glenn, Mel. Jump
Ball: A Basketball Season in Poems. The rhythm of basketball permeates a series
of poems that tell the story of the Tower High School team’s winning season.
Hansberry, Lorraine. To Be
Young, Gifted and Black. The author
of
A Raisin in the
Sun uses
autobiographical experiences to dramatize a young black girl’s growth and
pride.
Mathabane, Mark. Kaffir Boy in America. The second autobiography by a South African
who compares life in American with life in his homeland.
Pipher, Mary. Reviving
Ophelia. Accounts from American
teenage girls presenting many important issues which can destroy their
self-esteem.
Soto, Gary. Read any collection of poetry by this
contemporary Latino poet writing
about growing up in the barrios of Los
Angeles.
Walker, Alice. Her
Blue Body Everything We Know - Earthling Poems 1965 - 1990 Complete. This collection of Walker’s poetry traces her
growing interest in the relationship between human beings and the environment
of planet earth.
GRADE
ELEVEN
Contemporary
Atwood, Margaret. Cat’s
Eye. An artist reassessing her past
as she returns to
Toronto,Canada, for an
exhibition of her work.
Brooks, Martha. Bone
Dance. When Alexandra inherits a log
cabin in the wilderness from a father she never met, she goes there to make
sense of their relationship – and meets Lonny.
Cook, Karen. What
Girls Learn. When two sisters go
with their divorced mother from their southern home to live with their mother’s
boyfriend in the North, he becomes their caretaker after their mother’s death.
Delillo, Don. White
Noise. Narrator Jack Gladney teaches
Hitler Studies at a small college. His wife
may be taking a drug that removes fear, and one day a nearby chemical plant
accidentally releases a cloud of gas that may be poisonous. Writing before Bhopal and Prozac entered the
popular lexicon, Delillo produced a work so closely tuned into its time that it
tells the future.
Greenberg, Joanne. Of Such
Small Differences. Falling in love
with an actress
propels deaf and blind John into a
whole new world of experiences.
Gordimer, Nadine. July’s
People. This fantasy describes a revolution in South Africa with
fascinating results.
Kerouac, Jack. On the
Road. On the Road chronicles
Kerouac's years traveling the North American continent, from East Coast to West
Coast to Mexico, with his friend Neal Cassady, "a sideburned hero of the
snowy West." As "Sal Paradise" and "Dean Moriarty,"
the two roam the country in a quest for self-knowledge and experience.
Kerouac's love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of
language as jazz combine to make On the Road an inspirational work of lasting
importance.
Lantz, Francess. Someone
to Love. In letters to her
soon-to-be-adopted sibling, Sara explains how, defying her parents, she becomes
friends with the birth mother, Iris, and ruins everything.
Malamud, Bernard. The
Fixer. Yakov Bok fights for his life
when he becomes the
victim of a vicious anti-semitic
conspiracy and is unjustly sent to a Russian prison. or
Malamud, Bernard. The
Assistant. While working for an
older man in his city grocery, Frank Alpine struggles to become a true man.
Or
any title by Bernard Malamud
Mazer, Norma Fox. When
She Was Good. Seventeen-year-old Em
remembers what is was like living with her emotionally disturbed abusive
sister, Pamela.
No Easy Answers. Short
Stories about Teenagers Making Tough Choices. Teens face tough ethical and moral choices in
this collection of 16 stories.
Soto, Gary. Buried
Onions. Mexican American Eddit tries
desperately to escape his violence-infested life in Fresno, California.
Tyler, Anne. St.
Maybe. Seventeen-year-old Ian
Bedloe blames himself for the
accidental death of a family member and
turns to the Church of the Second Chance, where he learns about forgiveness,
sacrifice, and love.
Tyler, Anne. Morgan’s Passing is an
unconventional love story, a tragicomedy that
is full of surprises.
Or
any title by Anne Tyler
Classics
Baldwin, James. Go Tell
It On The Mountain. Told from
several viewpoints, this family
drama shows how a young black man
becomes a preacher.
Chopin, Kate. The
Awakening. An American classic that
paved the way for the modern novel, The
Awakening is both a remarkable novel in its own right and a startling
reminder of how far women in this century have come.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Charlotte
Perkins Gilman Reader: The Yellow
Wallpaper and Other Fiction. A
collection of the work of the 19th century feminist with excerpts
from four of her novels and three utopias.
Or
any title by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The
Scarlet Letter. A stark and
allegorical tale of adultery, guilt, and social repression in Puritan New
England, this story is a foundational work of American literature. Hester Prynne discovers strength in the face
of ostracism and emerges as a heroine ahead of her time. (Required reading for
all Grade 11 Honors English students.)
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun
Also Rises. This novel depicts the problems faced by
America’s “lost generation” in
Paris after World War I.
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick is the story of the fateful voyage of the Pequod, a
whaling ship commanded by the mysterious Captain Ahab in his relentless pursuit
of the white whale.
Steinbeck, John. The
Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck portrays
the forced migration of the “Okies” from their bank-foreclosed farms during the
1930’s. The story of the Joad family is
also a dramatization of the dispossessed everywhere.
Steinbeck, John. Travels
with Charley. A collection of essays
about Steinbeck’s travels all over the United States with his faithful
companion, dog Charley. A beautifully
written, evocative book, the last of Steinbeck’s prolific career.
Or
any title by John Steinbeck
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle
Tom’s Cabin. This nineteenth-century
romantic novel describes the evils of slavery in the American South.
Wharton, Edith. Ethan
Frome. Ethan a gaunt, patient New
Englander, is tormented by a passionate love for his wife’s young cousin. His desperate quest for happiness leads to
pain and despair.
Or
any title by Edith Wharton
Wright, Richard. Native Son is the gripping tale of Bigger Thomas, a young black man
in a white man’s world, whose crimes upset the whole of Chicago in the 1930’s.
Drama, Poetry, and Non-Fiction
Aaron, Henry with Lonnie Wheeler. I Had a
Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story. This
autobiography describes Aaron’s struggles to play in the major leagues.
Ambrose, Stephen. Citizen
Soldiers. Ambrose relates the true
experiences of individual American soldiers who fought in Europe during World
War II.
Bernstein, Sara Tuvel. The
Seamstress. A powerful and
engrossing story of 12-year old Seren Tuvel’s lifesaving decision to walk out
of her classroom in war-torn Romania and into a new life.
Brent, Lee. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiographical
account of slave
life in the South from the 1820’s to
the 1840’s. It is one of the few slave
narratives told by a woman.
Brown, Dee. Bury My
Heart At Wounded Knee. An eloquent,
fully documented account of one of the most shocking chapters in American
history - the systematic destruction of the American Indians during the second
half of the nineteenth century.
Cary, Lorene. Black
Ice. An autobiography of a young
African-American woman from Philadelphia in a prestigious, predominantly white,
private prep school in New Hampshire.
Comer, James, M.D. Maggie’s American Dream. A compelling family history that shows the
power of education to change people’s lives - written by one of America’s most
eminent black educators.
Corbett, Sara. Venus
to the Hoop. An exciting account of
the extraordinary young American athletes who won basketball gold at the
Atlanta Olympics.
Desetta, Al (Editor). The
Heart Knows Something Different.
Presents narratives from over three dozen young writers, ages fifteen
through twenty, who are living within the foster care system, exploring the
various aspects of life in foster care and the continual search for family and
security.
Halberstam, David. Summer
of ‘49. By telling the story of the 1949 pennant race, in which two
legendary rivals, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, battled down to
a winner-take-all final game of the season, the author presents a nostalgic
portrait of an America at the brink of “the age of television”.
Katz, William. The
Black West is the history of black settlers, cowboys, soldiers,
Explorers, and slaves who
participated in the development of the American West.
Lightfoot, Sarah Lawrence. Balm in
Gilead. This biography, of
particular interest to Nyack residents, shows the growth of a young woman into
a doctor.
GRADE
TWELVE
Contemporary
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless
Me, Ultima. Ultima, a wise old
mystic, helps a young Hispanic
boy resolve personal dilemmas caused by
the differing backgrounds and aspirations of his parents and society.
Berg, Elizabeth. Joy
School. Teenage Katie deals with the
complexities of an unstable home when she falls in love with a young married
man.
Bradbury, Ray. Read any full-length work by this science
fiction writer whose writing
provides serious commentary on
contemporary culture.
Cooney, Caroline B. What
Child is This? A Christmas Story. Several teens discover the true meaning of
Christmas.
Danticat, Edwidge. Krik?
Krak! This collection of short
stories, which reflect the myths and folklore of Haitian culture, is the first
work by a new female writer. Breath, Eyes, Memory. This first novel about a young Haitian girl’s
relationship with her mother and her new life in America came close to winning
the National Book Award. It includes
mature subject matter.
Frazier, Charles. Cold
Mountain. This well-written story of
a wounded Confederate soldier’s journey home toward the end of the Civil War is
a best seller.
Kingston, Maxine Hong. The
Woman Warrior and Chinamen
are two works by an
acclaimed, contemporary author. Both combine autobiography and fiction to
describe life as a Chinese-American.
Levenkron, Steven. The
Luckiest Girl in the World.
Fifteen-year-old figure skater Katie Roskova inflicts pain on herself
when she can’t manage.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved.
This is a beautifully crafted novel about the brutality of
slavery in America.
Or
any title by Toni Morrison
Reynolds, Marjorie. The
Starlite Drive-In. Thirteen-year-old
Callie falls hard for the romantic drifter who disrupts the lives of her lonely
mother and bitter father.
Soto, Gary. Petty
Crimes. A collection of short
stories about Mexican American youth growing up in California’s Central Valley.
Thomas, Rob. Doing
Time: Notes from the Undergrad. Ten high-school students doing mandatory
community service in order to graduate give 10 different voices and viewpoints
to the enterprise.
Vidal, Gore. Lincoln:
A Novel. This historical novel
recreates Lincoln's Washington and offers a complete picture of the man and his
times.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s
Cradle, Dead Eye Dick, or Mother Night. Read a novel by a
contemporary author known for his comic
style and social satire.
Wersba, Barbara. Whistle
Me Home. Tomboy Noli and TJ are
friends and almost a couple, and Noli is totally shocked when she discovers
that he is gay.
Classics
Camus, Albert. The Stranger. This
existentialist novel depicts a young Frenchman's sense of alienation in the
modern world.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart
of Darkness. This adventure story describe journeys toward
self-knowledge.
Dostoyevsky, Fedor. Crime and Punishment. This nineteenth-century Russian tale is a
powerful story of one man’s struggle with guilt.
Flaubert, Gustave. Madam
Bovary. A young woman in rural
nineteenth-century France marries for status and security and cannot escape the
tragedy she brings upon herself.
Forester, E.M. Passage
to India. Set during the time of
British rule in India, a romance ends in a sensational trial.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. This
harrowing vision of the future sheds harsh light on present trends in
contemporary culture.
Kafka, Franz. The
Trial. As K is accused, tried, and
convicted of an unspecified crime, the author effectively portrays man’s sense
of paranoia in the twentieth century.
Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. Orlando enters the book as an Elizabethan nobleman and
leaves the book three centuries and one change of gender later as a liberated
woman of the 1920’s.
Woolf, Virginia. To the
Lighthouse. The three sections of
the book take place between 1910-1020 and revolve around various members of the
Ramsy family during their visits to their summer house on the Isle of Skye.
Drama, Poetry, and Non-Fiction
Albee, Edward. The Zoo
Story. This play shows the lack of communication between people through the
theater of the absurd.
Albee, Edward. Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf. A play in
three acts that takes place primarily in the living room of a middle aged
couple George and Martha. A long night
of malicious games, insults and humiliations ensues.
Brown, Claude. Manchild
in the Promised Land. This autobiography depicts growing
up in Harlem in the 1950’s.
Jacobs, Thomas A. What
Are My Rights? : 95 Questions and Answers about Teens and the Law. Provides
information to help the reader understand laws, recognize responsibilities, and
appreciate rights especially in relation to parents, school, job, and personal
matters.
Katz, William. Black
Indians: A Hidden Heritage This work traces the history of relations between
African-Americans and Native Americans from the earliest foreign landings through pioneer
days.
Krakauer, Jon. Into
Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mr.
Everest Disaster. Courage,
cowardice, foolishness, and high adventure marked the 1996 rival expeditions’
efforts to reach the summit of Everest when everything went terribly wrong.
Libo, Kenneth and Irving
Howe. We Lived There Too is a vivid portrayal of the Jewish
Immigrants who ventured into the
wilderness of the American West to forge new
communities.
Momaday, N. Scott. In the
Presence of the Sun. This collection
of poems and short stories is a glorious testament to the author’s Native
American heritage.
Rowan, Carl T. Dream
Makers, Dream Breakers. This
biography eloquently describes
the distinguished career of Civil
Rights advocate and Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Thurgood
Marshall.
Tate, Sonsyrea. Little
X: Growing Up in the Nation of Islam. Sonsyrea, who was raised in a Nation of Islam
family, honestly describes life in the strict religious community.
JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT FOR HONORS CLASSES
All
students who will be in English 10H or 11H must complete the following
requirements:
By
September you should have read at least two books in accordance with the
instructions on the cover sheet. While
reading these works you will need to keep a record of your reactions to the
literature in a reading journal. This
journal will be collected and graded by your English teacher at the beginning
of the 2003-04 school year.
For
your journal, buy a marbled notebook to keep a record of your responses to the
summer reading. Active reading involves
responding to literature in many different ways. Aim to combine the following different types
of responses throughout your entries where appropriate:
Describe how specific characters,
events or descriptions make you feel
Predict what you think will happen next
in the story
Observe emerging patterns in the plot
Connect the events, characters and
messages of the novel to real life or other pieces of literature
Comment on the author’s writing
style/language
Analyze the work and interpret its
meaning (themes)
Evaluate the literacy merit of the
work as a whole
Quote significant passages and explain
their significance within the context of the novel
Please
notice that the word “summarize” does not appear on this list. Please do not give a plot summary of
your chosen novels. This journal should
be filled with your personal responses, comments and analysis of the
novel. Although you do not need to
include a great deal of the plot, if you are making a point about a character
or event, you should certainly explain the context.
When
your journals are collected at the beginning of the school year, you should
have a minimum of six 250-word entries for both of the books you have
read. The final entry on each book
should analyze the work as a whole, (including themes) and evaluate the work’s
literary merit. You will be tested on
your second book when you return to school in September.
Excerpt
from a Sample Journal Entry:
In the first two chapters of The Great Gatsby, we are introduced to
many characters. However, none of them
are actually Jay Gatsby, although there are many references made to him. The narrator of the story is a man named Nick
Carroway, and it is set in New York City during the 1920’s. I haven’t come to many conclusions about the
characters. Tom Buchanan, the husband of
Nick’s cousin, is very snobby, arrogant and racist. He is having an affair with a married woman
named Myrtle Wilson, a phony snob who, like Tom, feels that she deserves much
more in life than she actually does. In
many ways, the characters in this book remind me of same people from Ernest
Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises in
that they are very conceited and bigoted.
In some ways, F. Scott
Fitzgerald’s writing style is very similar to that of Hemingway. They both write in a very romantic and poetic
fashions. So far, much of what I have
read sounds a great deal like poetry.
For instance, when Nick is describing Miss Baker, Fitzgerald writes,
“For a moment the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing
face; her face compelled me forward as I listened – then the glow faded, each
light deserting her with lingering regret like children leaving a pleasant
street at dusk” (Fitzgerald 18). The way Fitzgerald uses personification in
the description of Miss Baker’s face and figurative language makes it seem as
though that passage could be separated into verses. (Lynn)
SUMMER
READING NOTES: FICTION
This is a guide and you are not
expected to fit all your notes on this page.
Title:
Author:
Date of publication:
Brief description of main characters:
Most important minor characters
and why they are important:
Major conflicts:
Important minor conflicts:
Setting and its importance to
the story:
Point of view or narrative technique
(first person, third person limited, third person omniscient, multiple
narrators), and how this influences the story:
Most memorable scenes:
Brief description of the climax
and how it resolves the conflict(s):
Theme(s) The author's message or
purpose in writing this book:
SUMMER
READING NOTES: NON-FICTION
This is a guide and you are not
expected to fit all your notes on this page.
Title:
Author:
Date of publication:
Type of non-fiction (biography,
autobiography, history, essays, etc.):
Brief description of the most
important individuals in the book:
Setting and its importance to
the story:
Most memorable scenes or ideas:
The most significant and or
crucial scene or idea:
Most important information you
learned:
Describe the author’s purpose in
writing this book by describing the author’s thesis, main idea, theme or
objective.
Appendix
to Summer Reading List for Incoming 11H Students
In addition to reading and responding
to The Scarlet Letter, you will also
write journal entries for one of the memoirs listed below. Both sets of journal entries will be turned
in the first Friday of the 2003-04 school year.
Amazing Grace
Jonathan Kozol
Through a series of interviews
conducted in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country, a vivid picture
of the lives of the people who live there is revealed.
Black Boy
Richard
Wright
The classic account of a young man
struggling to survive and escape the oppression of the Jim Crow south.
Bound Feet
and Western Dress
Pang-Mei
Natasha Chang
A Chinese woman breaks with the
conventions of her culture and moves to the U.S. where she goes on to lead “an
extraordinary life.”
Catfish and
Mandala
Andrew
X. Phan
A boy and his family flee Vietnam and
come to the U.S. where they each undergo tremendous changes.
Saffron Sky
Gelareh
Asayesh
The author depicts the difficulties in
retaining the language, religion and rituals of her native Iran while
attempting to assimilate into American society.
When I Was
Puerto Rican
Esmerelda
Santiago
A young girl leaves behind the poverty
of rural Puerto Rico for NYC and, eventually, Harvard University.
Woman Warrior
Maxine
Hong Kingston
A young Chinese woman struggles to find
her identity and to balance two cultures.
NYACK HIGH SCHOOL
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
SUMMER READING REQUIREMENTS
JUNE, 2003
