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Pembroke Pines Charter High School
Summer Reading List
AICE General Paper: 2015-2016
Directions: Choose ONE novel. Please do NOT select a book/s you have read previously. See
assignments that follow.
Autobiographies/Memoirs
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian by Sherman Alexie
Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring
Home the Lost Children of Nepal
by Conor Grennan
Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
Lucky Man: A Memoir by Michael J. Fox
Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s
by John Elder Robison
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy
Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda
Santiago
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
Fiction
The Wave by Todd Strasser
Non-Fiction
Outcasts United: An American Town, a
Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to
Make a Difference by Warren St. John
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by
Rebecca Skloot
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in
America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Summer work is a requirement for all Jaguars, including Cambridge students. You will be reading,
annotating, and analyzing a book of your choice, plus you will complete a current events assignment.
General Paper is not a college-preparatory course; it IS a college course. Remember, by being in the
Cambridge program, you receive TWO bonus points for your GPA, and you have the potential to receive an
AICE diploma, which affords you more scholarship opportunities. That power also results in more
responsibility and oftentimes, more work. Please understand this and convey it to your parents, as opposed
to whining about it.
Annotation Guidelines
You will need a highlighter, pencil, a copy of your own text and sticky notes. While annotating, pay close
attention to your own thoughts, feelings, and reactions to what is happening in the novels. They are
legitimate and should be noted.
1. A yellow highlighter allows you to mark exactly what you are interested in. Equally
important, the yellow line emphasizes without interfering. While you read, highlight
whatever seems to be key information. At first, you will probably highlight too little or too
much; with experience, you will choose more effectively what to highlight.
2. A pencil is better than a pen because you can make changes. Even geniuses make mistakes,
temporary comments and incomplete notes. While you read, use marginalia—notes in the
margin—to mark key material. Marginalia can include check marks, question marks, stars,
arrows, brackets, and/or written words and phrases. If you are familiar with text coding,
then use that system.
3. Inside the front cover of your book, keep an orderly, legible list of “key information” with
page references. Key information in a novel might include themes, passages that relate to
the book’s title, characters’ names, important quotes, scenes, passages, chapters, and
maybe key definitions or vocabulary. Remember that key information will vary according
to genre and the reader’s purpose, so make your own good plan for reading.
4. Sticky notes are great tools. You can address lengthier ideas and issues simply by writing
them on the sticky notes and placing those notes on the page. Smaller sticky notes that
allow you to flag particular lines or paragraphs in a text are helpful too. It’s important to
put chapter references or page numbers on your sticky notes in case they lose their
stickiness and/or fall out.
[See example below.]
Your annotations for the book will be randomly spot checked in the first week
of school. Note: The number and quality of annotations will reflect your level
of intellectual engagement with the text.
www.openculture.com
After annotating your selected novel,
choose three passages (not lines, but
multiple paragraphs) that impressed you
as significant and re-type them. Choose
from the beginning, middle, and end of
the book.
Skip a line after each excerpted passage,
and in a detailed, analytical paragraph of
your own (aim for an eight to ten
sentence analysis), examine what makes
that passage important, interesting,
profound, illuminating, disturbing, etc.
Consider answering one or both of the
following questions: How did the passage
resonate with you and why? Why is the
passage significant to theme/s or
character development? Do NOT
summarize the excerpt!
Type this assignment in 12 point Times
New Roman font, double-spaced with one
inch margins. Place it in a pocket folder.
The excerpt analyses will be graded according to the Pre-AICE Rubric outlined below for a total of 20
points. Print a copy of this rubric and place it in the pocket of your folder for submission.
Possible
Content and Structure
Earned
13-15
Reveals insightful reading; relevant points developed with ingenuity. Your own ideas are well developed
and communicated.
10-12
Reveals thorough reading; Some well-developed ideas with starting points. Inconsistent
analysis.
7-9
Passage selected satisfactorily; does not reflect detailed picture; few opportunities taken to
develop or interpret.
4-6
Some reference to text with brief, straightforward development; lacks originality.
1-3
General answers with little specific references; insubstantial and/or repetitive details.
0
Possible
sustained
Rarely relevant; little material
Quality of Writing
5
Well sequenced; clear tone; enhanced and wide range of personal language.
4
Orderly sequenced sentences; mostly clear information with some effective personal language.
3
Some well-sequenced sentences; fairly clear information with appropriate language.
2
Occasionally well-sequenced sentences; simple language.
1
Sentences lack clarity; only adequate language.
Earned
AICE General Paper
Summer Reading Assignment #2, 2015
http://www.wsj.com/articles/year-in-review-top-news-stories-of-2014-1419977543
http://magazines.scholastic.com/news/2014/12/2014-Year-in-Review
Using one of the above links, preview the important events of 2014. Choose five (5) significant
events to highlight in the chart below. First, decide if the event is a threat (T), challenge (C), or
boon (B) to . . . individuals / society / world by placing an X in the appropriate column. Then give
reasons for your decisions. Add this chart to your pocket folder for submission.
Events
T
C
B
Reasons
Once you have completed the chart, choose one event on which to focus for the last assignment.
Examine the selected event by addressing a minimum of three bullet points that follow. Rather
than answer each bulleted section separately, incorporate your responses to these prompts in a
cohesive, comprehensive analysis. Type on a separate sheet of paper (12’ Times New Roman Font,
Double-Spaced, 1” margins.) Place a copy in the pocket folder with your other summer work and
save it as a word document too, so that you can submit it through Turnitin.com during the first
week of school.
Evaluate Your Thinking
(based on Paul Elder’s 1997, 2004 Reasoning Model)







How did you interpret the events? What inferences / conclusions did you make?
o Is your interpretation based on information that is accurate, sufficient and relevant?
What concepts did you need to clarify?
o How did you clarify them?
o Explain your new understanding of those concepts.
What were some of your assumptions?
o Were your assumptions true?
o Are they based on evidence that was sufficient, accurate and relevant?
Do you think you had sufficient information?
o What information did you have?
o How can you obtain more information?
 Was your information accurate and directly relevant?
Whose point of view were you taking?
o Did you consider other points of view? Why or Why not?
o What other points of view are there?
 Were their points of view different? Why?
What are the consequences and implications of your reasoning?
o What would be the consequences and implications on society if others think likewise—e.g.
individuals, government, society?
 Did you consider both negative and positive consequences?
 Did you consider the implications?
 Do you think you have made enough effort to consider the consequences and
implications?
What do you think is the purpose of this exercise?
o What is the question at issue?
If you have difficulty understanding these questions, you may explore the models below, using the
following link. http://www.criticalthinking.org/ctmodel/logic-model1.html
Because much of our classwork will be grounded in current events, it is important that you stay
abreast of the news over the summer. Please use the following sources to do so on a weekly basis:
~ Wall Street Journal: wsj.com ~ Time: time.com ~ National Geographic:
nationalgeographic.com ~ National Public Radio: npr.org ~ Science Daily: sciencedaily.com
~ Smithsonian: smithsonian.com
You will be graded according to the Pre-AICE Rubric outlined below for a total of 20 points.
Print a copy of this rubric and place it in the pocket of your folder for submission.
Possible
Content and Structure
13-15
Reveals insightful reading; relevant points defended with ingenuity.
10-12
Reveals thorough reading. Relevant points defended logically.
7-9
Does not reflect detailed reading; few opportunities taken to develop or interpret.
4-6
Insufficient reading; some reference to text in reasons; lacks originality.
1-3
Insufficient reading; insubstantial reasons.
0
Possible
Earned
Rarely relevant; little material
Quality of Writing
5
Well sequenced; clear tone; enhanced and wide range of personal language.
4
Orderly sequenced sentences; mostly clear information with some effective personal language.
3
Some well-sequenced sentences; fairly clear information with appropriate language.
2
Occasionally well-sequenced sentences; simple language.
1
Sentences lack clarity; only adequate language.
Earned