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Swampscott High School English Department
Expectations for Summer Reading 2014
CUT ME
OUT!!!!
How to Read
Philosophy
The Swampscott High School English Department presents its
summer reading selections for the 2014-2015 school year in
accordance with Swampscott High School’s Mission Statement
and Academic Expectations which state: "The mission of
Swampscott High School is to prepare students to succeed in a
diverse and evolving global society by promoting academic and
personal excellence…” and, “Students will communicate
effectively through multiple forms of expression and solve
problems through analytical and critical thinking.” Summer
reading plays a vital role in maintaining students’ close reading
skills and allows students to prepare for the challenges of the
upcoming curriculum.
Expectations
1) Purchase a copy of the required text for your English
class. If you cannot purchase the required book, please
contact Joanna Ganci, Department Chair of English at
[email protected] as soon as possible.
You are not required to purchase the other summer
reading texts; however, it is a good idea to buy them if
you can.
2) Bring the summer reading text to class on the first day
of school with specific annotation assignment for your
grade. Your teacher will instruct you on the first day on
how you will be tested.
3) Annotate your text either by writing in it or using sticky
notes. You will mark your book for the specific literary
device assigned to your book.
4) Assessments will take place in the first few days of
English class. Your teacher will assess you through
critical reading, writing, thinking, and speaking.
5) Complete a creative project on the list provided and
hand it in the first day of school.
Be an active reader
and annotate (mark
your book) as you
read!
You annotate by
underlining, circling,
and writing in the
margins or on sticky
notes.
“Some books are to
be tasted, others to be
swallowed, and some
few to be chewed and
digested: that is, some
books are to be read
only in parts, others
to be read, but not
curiously, and some
few to be read wholly,
and with diligence
and attention.” Sir
Francis Bacon
Resources:
Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Used Book Superstore (Danvers), The Spirit of 76’ Bookstore, The
Swampscott Public Library
Swampscott High School English Department
My Responsibilities
for Summer Reading:
TAKING HONORS
BRINGING
ANNOTATED
REQUIRED TEXT
TO CLASS ON THE
FIRST DAY
BRINGING ONE
CREATIVE
ASSIGNMENT FOR
SECOND CHOICE
TEXT ON THE FIRST
DAY
BRINGING THIRD
CHOICE TEXT TO
CLASS FIRST DAY
FOR GUIDED
DISCUSSION
My Responsibilities
for Summer
Reading:
TAKING CP1
BRINGING
ANNOTATED
REQUIRED TEXT
TO CLASS ON
THE FIRST DAY
BRINGING ONE
CREATIVE
ASSIGNMENT FOR
SECOND CHOICE
TEXT ON THE FIRST
DAY
X
My Responsibilities
for Summer
Reading:
TAKING FOUNDATIONS
BRINGING
ANNOTATED
REQUIRED TEXT
TO CLASS ON
THE FIRST DAY
BRINGING ONE
CREATIVE
ASSIGNMENT FOR
SECOND CHOICE
TEXT ON THE FIRST
DAY
X
SWAMPSCOTT HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER READING LIST FOR JUNIORS: 2014
The Swampscott High School English Department presents its summer reading selections for the 2014-2015 school year in accordance with Swampscott High School’s
Mission Statement and Academic Expectations which state: "The mission of Swampscott High School is to prepare students to succeed in a diverse and evolving global
society by promoting academic and personal excellence…” and, “Students will communicate effectively through multiple forms of expression and solve problems
through analytical and critical thinking.” Summer reading plays a vital role in maintaining students’ close reading skills and allows students to prepare for the
challenges of the upcoming curriculum. Students taking 130 must read the required text plus two additional choice books from the list provided. Students taking 131
must read the required text and one additional choice book from the list. Please see the page entitled “Expectations for Summer Reading” for more information.
American Studies students have their own lists and assignments. If you are taking that course, please see Mr. Franklin for details. AP Langauge and Composition
students have a specific assignment and need to contact Mr. Kohut for details.
REQUIRED: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward: A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch's
father is growing concerned. A hard drinker, largely absent, he doesn't show concern for much else. Esch and her three brothers are stocking food, but there isn't much to
save. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pitbull's new litter. Meanwhile, brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child's play
and short on parenting.
CHOICES:
The Chosen by Chaim Potok: The odyssey of two young men journeying from boyhood to manhood, set against the background of the conflicts and traditions
of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan: An instant bestseller, this startlingly original debut novel tells the emotionally honest and intensely moving story of several
generations of Chinese-American women and their families, illuminating the special mysteries of the bonds between mothers & daughters
The Color of Water by James McBride: As an adult, James McBride finally persuaded his mother to tell her story – a story of a rabbi’s daughter, born in Poland and
raised in the South, who fled to Harlem, married a black man, founded a church, and raised twelve children.
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines: In late 1940's Louisiana, a poor, uneducated black youth is convicted of murder for his unwitting role in a liquor store
holdup and the ensuing shoot-out.
Plainsong by Kent Haruf: Kent Haruf reveals a whole community as he interweaves the stories of a pregnant high school girl, a lonely teacher, a pair of boys
abandoned by their mother, and a couple of crusty bachelors farmers.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: Sylvia Plath’s autobiographical novel about a young woman on the brink of madness and suicide.
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud: Frank Alpine, a drifter, participates in the robbery and beating of a poor Jewish grocer. Feeling guilt, Frank is drawn back to
the store to seek forgiveness. He begins to work at the store and falls in love with the grocer’s daughter. However, Frank has great difficulty giving up his dishonest
ways, even when it costs him the daughter’s love.
Townie by Andre Dubus III: In this memoir Andre Dubus III tells stories about growing up in working class Massachusetts under the shadow of a famous and
distant father.
Bodega Dreams by Quinonez: This powerful, darkly funny debut novel brilliantly evokes the trials of Chino, a smart promising young man who finds himself over
his head in an urban underworld of switchblades and violence.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski: Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote
northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine,
Edgar's lifelong friend and ally. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home.
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb: In this extraordinary coming-of-age story, Wally Lamb invites us to hitch a ride on a journey of love, pain, and renewal with
the most heartbreakingly comical heroine to come along in years. Meet Dolores Price. She's thirteen, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood
goodbye.
The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore: This non-fiction explore questions about race, economics, and education and challenges readers to think about the variables
that lead us down a specific path in life.
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing,
adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy: McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of
wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh
stuck between their teeth
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Toole: Meet Ignatius J. Reilly, the hero of John Kennedy Toole's tragicomic tale, A Confederacy of Dunces. This 30-year-old
medievalist lives at home with his mother in New Orleans, pens his magnum opus on Big Chief writing pads he keeps hidden under his bed, and relays to anyone
who will listen the traumatic experience he once had on a Greyhound Scenicruiser bound for Baton Rouge.
Lush Life by Richard Price: Price (Clockers) turns his unrelenting eye on Manhattan's Lower East Side in this manic crescendo of a novel that explores the
repercussions of a seemingly random shooting. When bartender Ike Marcus is shot to death after barhopping with friends, NYPD Det. Matty Clark and his team first
focus on restaurant manager and struggling writer Eric Cash, who claims the group was accosted by would-be muggers, despite eyewitnesses saying otherwise.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer: The tragedy that took the lives of experienced mountain guides and novice climbers in a raging blizzard atop Mt. Everest in 1996 is
chronicled with clarity, poignancy, and brutal honesty by one who witnessed the even first-hand.
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Alborn: This novel is a magical chronicle of Mitch and Morrie’s time together, of a teacher’s gift to a student, and a heartfelt lesson
of life and the things that are of true value.
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card: Bean is in Battle School with Ender Wiggins and becomes his right hand, his strategist, and his friend. He is there with Ender
at the final battle. This is his story. A parallel novel to the best seller Ender's Game.
In Country by Bobby Ann Mason: Sam Hughes, a contemporary girl, searches to understand who her father was and what the Vietnam War that killed him was
about.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan: An instant bestseller, this startlingly original debut novel tells the emotionally honest and intensely moving story of several
generations of Chinese-American women and their families, illuminating the special mysteries of the bonds between mothers & daughters.
Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane: Private detectives Kenzie and Gennaro, who live in the same working-class Dorchester neighborhood of Boston where they
grew up, have gone to visit drug dealer Cheese in prison because they think he's involved in the kidnapping of 4-year-old Amanda McCready.
Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk: The consequences of media saturation are the basis for an urban nightmare in Lullaby, Chuck Palahniuk's darkly comic and often
dazzling thriller. Assigned to write a series of feature articles investigating SIDS, troubled newspaper reporter Carl Streator begins to notice a pattern among the
cases he encounters: each child was read the same poem prior to his or her death
Smashed: The Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Zailckas: This isn't just one girl's story of sneaking drinks in junior high, creeping out for night-long keg parties in
high school and binge-drinking weeknights and weekends through college—it's also a valuable cautionary tale. At 24 (her present age), Zailckas gave up drinking
after a decade of getting drunk, having blackouts and experiencing brushes with comas, date rape and suicide.
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult: Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for procedures that
become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used when a
kidney transplant is planned. Meanwhile, Jesse, the neglected oldest child of the family, is out setting fires, which his firefighter father, Brian, inevitably puts out.
Bleachers by John Grisham: With Bleachers John Grisham departs again from the legal thriller to experiment with a character-driven tale of reunion, broken high
school dreams, and missed chances. While the book falls short of the compelling storytelling that has made Grisham a bestselling author, it is nonetheless a diverting
novella that succeeds as light fiction.
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld: Curtis Sittenfeld's poignant and occasionally angst-ridden debut novel Prep is the story of Lee Fiora, a South Bend, Indiana, teenager who
wins a scholarship to the prestigious Ault school, an East Coast institution where "money was everywhere on campus, but it was usually invisible." As we follow
Lee through boarding school, we witness firsthand the triumphs and tragedies that shape our heroine's coming-of-age.
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Change: Many good books have been written about the history of hip-hop music and the
generation that nurtured it. Can't Stop Won't Stop ranks among the best. Jeff Chang covers the music--from its Jamaican roots in the late 1960s to its birth in the
Bronx; its eventual explosion from underground to the American mainstream--with style, including DJs, MCs, b-boys, graffiti art, Black Nationalism,
groundbreaking singles and albums, and the street parties that gave rise to a genuine movement.
House Rules by Jodi Picoult: Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like
many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject--in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he
keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do...and he's usually right. But then his town is rocked by a terrible murder and, for a change, the police come
to Jacob with questions.
Columbine by Dave Cullen: In this revelatory book, Dave Cullen debunks the myths and produces a profile of teen killers that burrows to the core of
psychopathology. He reveals two radically different killers: Eric Harris, the callously brutal mastermind, and Dylan Klebold, the quivering depressive who journaled
obsessively about love and attended the Columbine prom three days before opening fire.
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers: Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a successful Syrian-born painting contractor, decides to stay in New Orleans and protect his property while his
family flees. After the levees break, he uses a small canoe to rescue people, before being arrested by an armed squad and swept powerlessly into a vortex of
bureaucratic brutality.
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder: This compelling and inspiring book shows how one person can work wonders. In medical school, Paul Farmer found
his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Kidder’s magnificent account takes us
from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.”
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides: Eugenides's tantalizing, macabre first novel begins with a suicide, the first of the five bizarre deaths of the teenage daughters in the
Lisbon family; the rest of the work, set in the author's native Michigan in the early 1970s, is a backward-looking quest as the male narrator and his nosy, pals describe how
they strove to understand the odd clan of this first chapter.
Manhunt-The Twelve Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson: For 12 days after his brazen assassination of Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was at large, and
in Manhunt, historian James L. Swanson tells the vivid, fully documented tale of his escape and the wild, massive pursuit. Get a taste of the daily drama from this timeline of
the desperate search.
Where Men Win Glory by John Krakauer: In Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer reveals how an entire country was deliberately deceived by those at the very highest levels
of the US army and government. Infused with the power and authenticity readers have come to expect from Krakauer's storytelling, Where Men Win Glory exposes
shattering truths about men and war.
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien: They carried malaria tablets, love letters, 28-pound mine detectors, dope, illustrated Bibles, each other. And, if they
made it home alive, they carried unrelenting images of a nightmarish war that history is only just beginning to absorb. Since its first publication, this novel has
become an unparalleled Vietnam testament, a classic work of American literature, and a profound study of men at war that illuminates the capacity, and the limits,
of the human heart and soul.
Summer Reading Annotation for Thematic Idea and Thematic Statement
Incoming Junior Assignment
Thematic Idea: An abstract idea (can be expressed in one or two words) the author explores through the
plot and characters.
Thematic Statement: A complete, declarative statement that reveals what the author is trying to
communicate about the human experience through his/her literary work. A thematic statement answers
the question “What is this piece of literature ‘saying’ about _______________ (specific thematic idea)?”
in a complete sentence or two.
Definitions provided by Laying the Foundation
Assignment:
As you read Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, mark your text (annotate) for only thematic ideas and
statements. Identify thematic ideas and write thematic statements. By the end of the novel, you should
identify many thematic ideas and make many thematic statements.
See the sample annotation for 11th graders provided on this website.
Please also read the background sources provided for you in a separate handout.
Please contact Joanna Ganci, Department Chair at [email protected] with any questions about this
assignment.
Swampscott High School English Department
Jesmyn Ward
Sources on Salvage the Bones:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/11/16/142403954/salvage-the-bones-takes-top-fictionhonors-at-the-national-book-awards
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/08/30/jesmyn-ward-on-salvage-the-bones/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/jesmyn-wards-salvage-the-bones-reviewedby-ron-charles/2011/10/31/gIQAuLni3M_story.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/books/review/salvage-the-bones-by-jesmyn-ward-bookreview.html?_r=0
Sources on Hurricane Katrina:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremeevents/specialreports/Hurricane-Katrina.pdf
http://www.history.com/topics/hurricane-katrina
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/h/hurricane_katrina/index.html?inline=
nyt-classifier
Summer Reading Creative Options
English Department 2014
The English Department presents creative project choices for students in accordance with Swampscott High School’s
Mission Statement and Academic Expectations which state: "The mission of Swampscott High School is to prepare
students to succeed in a diverse and evolving global society by promoting academic and personal excellence…” and,
“Students will communicate effectively through multiple forms of expression and solve problems through analytical
and critical thinking.” Summer reading plays a vital role in maintaining students’ close reading skills and allows
students to prepare for the challenges of the upcoming curriculum.
Expectation: Students must complete a creative project from the list below for one non-required reading. This
project is due the first day of classes. If you have questions about the projects, please email Ms. Ganci
[email protected]
CHOICES:
Soundtrack --Your project will have:
1. A list of at least 10 songs each with explanations of connections to the themes, mood, character, and/or plot of the
novel that is at least a page. These explanations will cite specific examples/quotations from the text and from the song
in your analysis.
2. An attractive and visually relevant cover for your CD case.
Artistic Response --Your project will have:
1. A work of art in response to your book using charcoal, pastels, oil, ink, paper, etc.
2. A one-page reflection on why in the text inspired you to create this piece that includes specific examples from the text
in your reflection.
Graphic Novel --Your project will include:
1. A four-page comic book adaptation of a chapter or important scene from your novel that includes words and images.
2 A one-page explanation of why you choose this moment in the novel. Use specific details and evidence from the novel
in your explanations.
Film Adaptation --Your project will include:
1. Three important passages from the novel that you would include in your film version with explanations of why you
chose these moments and how they are connected to your thematic vision of the film.
2. A one-page explanation of your casting choices including images of actors you will cast.
Original Creative Writing --Your project will include:
1. Either a collection of shorter works that equal three – four pages OR a longer written piece that is a total of three – four
pages.
Swampscott High School English Department