June 2017 Dear Parents/Students, In order to encourage life-long reading and prepare for the upcoming school year, we have developed a summer reading program featuring relevant selections that connect to the English curriculum. Our summer reading program provides an opportunity for students to begin the year ready to participate in both class discussion and a written evaluation of the works. This discussion and evaluation will be included in the first quarter English grade. The summer reading program works as follows: Students in each grade level will read an assigned book or books as listed on the MDSA website under the Academics tab: www.mountdesales.org/academics Some reading selections are required of all students in a given class. Additionally, in most classes, students are also required to choose a reading selection from a short list of literary works. Discussion questions can be downloaded from the MDSA website Students will use the discussion questions for each work to guide them in their reading Students do not have to write the answers to the questions, but answering the questions will help prepare them for the written evaluation/test which will be given the first or second week of the quarter Limited class discussion will take place on each assigned book. The written evaluation/test on the book(s) will be included as part of the first quarter grade. In this way, students will have the opportunity to make the connection between their summer reading and other literature covered in their English classes and will also be held accountable for reading the works. Since the summer reading selections will be used during the first few weeks at the beginning of the first quarter, we encourage students to purchase the assigned text(s) so that they are available for the class discussion and evaluation. All of these texts are readily available at Barnes and Noble and online sites such as Amazon. We genuinely hope that the program will provide an enjoyable reading and learning experience for your daughters. Sincerely, Helen Hufford English Department Chair 1
SUMMER READING LIST 2017 AP English Literature (Seniors) Required Reading: Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett, The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka, The Stranger Albert Camus, Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy Honors Senior English British Literature Required Reading: 1984 George Orwell, Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro Frankenstein Mary Shelley Tess of the D Urbervilles Thomas Hardy To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf Level 2 Senior English British Literature Required Reading: 1984 George Orwell Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde Tess of the D Urbervilles Thomas Hardy Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë Level 1 Senior English British Literature Required Reading: Lord of the Flies William Golding And Then There Were None Agatha Christie A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson AP Language/American Literature (Juniors) Required Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston, A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway Choose two, one from each of the following pairings: Bartleby - Herman Melville Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck & Angela s Ashes Frank McCourt The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls Honors Junior English American Literature Required Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston Billy Budd Herman Melville The Turn of the Screw Henry James My Antonia Willa Cather East of Eden John Steinbeck 2
Level 2 Junior English American Literature Required Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury Our Town Thornton Wilder East of Eden John Steinbeck The Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, Big Two-Hearted River, and Indian Camp Ernest Hemingway (Read all three short stories, counting as one selection) Level 1 Junior English American Literature Required Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee The Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd Honors Sophomore English Required Reading: Great Expectations Charles Dickens Lord of the Flies William Golding A Separate Peace John Knowles A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith Level 2 Sophomore English Required Reading: The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque A Room with a View E.M. Forster Call of the Wild Jack London The Moviegoer Walker Percy Level 1 Sophomore English Required Reading: The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway The Pearl John Steinbeck Our Town Thornton Wilder Honors Freshman English Required Reading: The Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen Levels 1 and 2 Freshman English Required Reading: The Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd 3
Summer Reading Questions Required Text: Great Expectations - Charles Dickens Consider the following questions while you read the novels and be prepared to discuss them in class. You should be able to refer to specific examples from each novel. You will also be required to either take a quiz and/or write an essay. 1. The story opens with an unusual encounter between Pip and two escaped convicts. What kind of relationship do the two convicts seem to have? 2. What evidence suggests that Pip s benefactor is Miss Havisham? 3. Miss Havisham seems to encourage Estella s haughty attitude toward Pip; she murmurs to Estella, Break their hearts...and have no mercy. What do you think she means? 4. In a way, Satis House is a symbol of Miss Havisham. How has she made it reflect her own state of mind? 5. In Dickens novels, it is not unusual for unexpected relationships between characters to be revealed at the end. How does Great Expectations follow this pattern? 6. Wemmick s tiny home in Walworth is a castle defended against the city. How does the home life of John Wemmick resemble that of today s suburbanite? 7. Throughout the novel, Dickens deals with the contrast between appearance and reality, illusion and substance. Mr. Jaggers tells Pip: Taken nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. Where in the novel has Pip been influenced by looks rather than evidence? 8. The climax of a novel is usually the most exciting part of the plot. Which incident would you identify as the climax? How does Dickens build suspense as he leads up to the climax? 9. Which of Dickens two endings do you prefer? Why? Which do you think is most faithful to the nature of the characters involved? 10. While ill with fever, Pip realizes that his great expectations had all dissolved, like our own marsh mists before the sun. How does this statement sum up all that Pip has learned? In your own words, state what you think is the overall theme of Great Expectations. 4
Summer Reading Questions (continued) You are required to choose one text from these selections: Lord of the Flies - William Golding o Symbolism - Why does the conch shell change colors? Explore the meaning of repetition of the colors red/pink or blue/white in Lord of the Flies. What might the colors symbolize? What, if anything, might the dead parachutist symbolize? How is the fire significant? How is the setting symbolic? What role do the littluns play in the novel? o Power & Leadership - Is Ralph a good leader? Would Jack be a better leader than Ralph? What makes Jack a powerful leader? The sow s head and the conch shell each wield a certain kind of power over the boys. In what ways do these objects powers differ? In what way is Lord of the Flies a novel about power? About the power of symbols? About the power of a person to use symbols to control a group? o Human Nature - Fear is the enemy for civilization; fear prevents construction and progress." Discuss the fragility of civilization against the destructive powers of fear. Are people innately savage, civil, both, or neither? What evidence do we have that Ralph was losing his mind toward the end? Describe what is happening to the boys appearance as the novel progresses and how is that symbolic. o Piggy - Of all the characters, it is Piggy who most often has useful ideas and sees the correct way for the boys to organize themselves. Yet the other boys rarely listen to him and frequently abuse him. Why do you think this is the case? In what ways does Piggy to advance the novel s themes? What events foreshadow Piggy s fate? o The Ending - How would the book have been different if Simon had lived? How would the book have been different if Jack never caught a pig? When there were only four of them, Ralph still blew the conch to start the final assembly. Why did he do this? What weapons did Ralph and Jack use in their fight at the end and how is the choice of weapon symbolic? Describe the ironic nature of the rescue. Who is to blame for what happened on the island? Why does Ralph cry at the end of the novel? Why had he never cried before? A Separate Peace - John Knowles 1. Ironically, it seems as though Gene and Finny s friendship improves after the accident. Why does knocking Finny out of the tree seem to benefit their friendship? Who would be the better friend, Gene or Finny? How might their friendship be different if Finny had never fallen out of the tree? 2. How has Gene changed? How has Finny changed? Are they still in competition with each other? Does Gene still envy Finny? Can friends compete against each other without sacrificing their relationship? Explain. 5
Summer Reading Questions (continued) 3. Gene wants to tell Finny the truth about his actions in the tree. Why is this important to him and who will it help more, Gene or Finny? How is Leper Lepellier s reaction to leaping from the tree different from that of the others? 4. How and why do real life traumatic experiences have the ability to change Gene and Finny, and his or her relationships with others? 5. Colors. Pick one of the following colors and explain how it can represent a bigger idea: white, grey, green (olive or army), or blue? 6. Why after 15 years, does Gene return to the school? 7. A novel s theme gives insight into the meaning of events. Tell how Gene s statement that peace had deserted Devon illuminates the theme of the novel. 8. What does Mr. Ludsbury have to say about Gene training for the 1944 Olympics? 9. In an allegory, characters stand for other people or for abstract ideas and qualities. What qualities do Gene and Finny respectively represent? 10. What was ironic about Gene s part in the war? How do the other boys react to this decision? 11. When and why did Finny start believing wars were real? Then what happened that made him confirm his belief? 12. What about the novel s conclusion was satisfying? Disappointing? 13. A Separate Peace belongs to the genre of Bildungsroman, in which the main character matures over times. Choose another story of this genre and compare and contrast the two. Perhaps, Jane Eyre? A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith 1. Francie observes more than once that women seem to hate other women ("they stuck together for only one thing: to trample on some other woman"), while men, even if they hate each other, stick together against the world. Do you find this to be an accurate portrayal of society? Why do you think this to be true? By including this in her novel, what commentary do you think Smith is making on the differences between men and women and how they behave socially? 2. Those were the Rommely women...they were all slender, frail creatures with wondering eyes and soft fluttery voices. But they were made out of thin visible steel. Explain truth/falsity of this passage. 3. Katie is a very practical and intelligent mother. Explain the truth/falsity of this statement. 4. Characterize the relationships between women. How are they different for the relationships between men and men? Or men and women 5. The women in the Nolan/Rommely clan exhibit most of the strength and, whenever humanly possible, control the family's destiny. In what ways does Francie continue this legacy? 6. Could it be argued that the main character of the book is not Francie but, in fact, Brooklyn itself? What case could be made for this? What is the Tree of Heaven and how is it described? What do we know about it? Why is it special? 7. How do you define Sacrifice? In this novel, who sacrifices and how? 8. What are the examples of faith? How is the faith challenged? What role does religion play in the lives of the characters? 6
Summer Reading Questions (continued) 9. How does poverty impact the characters? 10. Having studied bildungsroman novels during your academic career, how can A Tree Grows in Brooklyn be categorized as such? What about this story and its protagonist make it a Coming of Age tale? What choices/experiences help Francie to grow up and see the world differently than she had before? 11. How has Francie changed from the beginning of the book? How is it apparent? Do you think that Francie notices the change(s)? 12. What in the world changes over the course of the novel? How does it impact the characters? Which characters have become cynical? How? Why? 7