Your assignment this summer is to read three books. For each of the books, the way you interact with the text and the way you prepare for the fall will be slightly different. In each case, the primary goal is to enjoy your reading. With that in mind, we’ve tried both to provide choice and to select works that are challenging and interesting and that will provide opportunities for discussion and further work in the fall.
To the extent possible, we recommend that you buy the books so that you can annotate them thoroughly. Margin notes give you a “road map” through the text, solidify your thinking, keep you reading actively, and make for easier reference when discussing text. (Recall, insight, synthesis). Sticky-notes can also work, though not as easily, if you don’t buy the books.
We expect that your thinking and writing will be based on your own thorough reading of the books, NOT on outside sources or study aids. Do NOT consult any secondary sources. Use of them will be considered cheating. You might have questions, you might be challenged, but that’s part of the process.
Please read the following and prepare as indicated. Please limit your written responses to no longer than 1,000 words each.
1. Your book from the Junior/Senior SUMMER READ list.
Be prepared to participate in a discussion group with juniors, seniors, and faculty the first week back. Go to this link to find your book: http://yhssummerread2010.wikispaces.com/Home+%26+Project+Info
Find the titles of the books you listed as first, second, and third choice, and find your name under one of those titles.
2. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving Yes, this book is long, but stick with it! It takes a little while to unravel, but it’s worth the wait.
a. Annotate thoroughly as you read. Make special note of recurring images and ideas. Write questions. Mark passages whose language or images or ideas strike you as particularly compelling.
b. Imagine that at a summer party you have run into a YHS graduate, who also took AP Lit and Comp. You have just finished reading A Prayer for Owen Meany. The graduate tells you that he/she felt that the novel was too long and too complicated, with too many “ridiculous stories” in it. He/she feels unsatisfied with the ending. You feel a need to defend the novel, which you loved and saw as very “deliberate” on Irving’s part. Write a dialogue between you and this YHS graduate where you discuss these aspects of the novel.
3. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
a. Annotate thoroughly as indicated above
b. Imagine the final scene of The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. What happens to Ryuji, to Norobu and the other boys, to Fusako? Using imagery, dialogue, detail, description, and figurative language, create the scene that we don't see in the book--you can choose a pessimistic or an optimistic ending. Try to stay true to Mishima’s style and voice in the novel.
GUIDANCE ON ANNOTATION IS BELOW:
Step 1: As you read, look for places where a passage in the novel seems significant for some reason:
1. a key conflict
2. a moment when the protagonist is irrevocably changed for better or worse
3. a moment that is particularly suspenseful
4. a moment when the character (major or minor) has to make a choice about his/her
life or the lives of those around him/her
5. a moment where the writer is spending time to observe and carefully walk the
reader through the setting
6. you have a strong emotional reaction to the passage as a reader
7. a moment where the imagery seems to be connected in some way due to a
sense (taste, touch, smell, sight, sound). For example, there might be lots of
images of light, or visual images that make a pattern (birds, waves, violent
animals, armlessness)
8. a moment where the writer has used a simile or metaphor to compare a character,
scene, or setting to something quite unusual or startling (a comparison that
makes you uncomfortable or a comparison that seems beautiful)
9. a moment where the word choices (diction) the writer is using are similar—they
are words that have lots of emotional connotations (either negative or positive)
10. a passage you just like because it scared you, made you laugh, cry, stop and think
Step 2: Underline the passages above. For each chapter, look for 3-5 significant places such as those described above.
Step 3: Take notes right in the margins of the book! Yes, WRITE all over your book. Make a note to yourself about what you see in the passage. Then, at the end of the chapter, jot down some notes about plot (key events you want to remember) and some other notes about one or two of the passages you noted in part one.
Step 4: (Advanced—optional) On a separate piece of paper, start to pull some of these things together—how do these word choices, images, etc. connect to what seems to be the theme or deeper meaning in the novel? Ask yourself, why does the writer create “this conflict” or “this particular image” in the novel—what do you think he/she is trying to show you? Do this for every other chapter (or every third chapter for longer novels).
WHY ANNOTATE?
1. These notes will help you review in May when the AP exam is looming over and you have a lot to go over before the exam begins.
2. It will help you begin thinking about the novels a little bit differently—it will start you on the road to real analysis that we will be asking you to do next year.
3. Close reading gives you a deeper understanding of texts—helps you to appreciate the real work that writers do to create a meaningful story.
4. We will be giving you a grade for your annotations.
SUMMER READING 2010
Mrs. Walsh and Mrs. O'NeillYour assignment this summer is to read three books. For each of the books, the way you interact with the text and the way you prepare for the fall will be slightly different. In each case, the primary goal is to enjoy your reading. With that in mind, we’ve tried both to provide choice and to select works that are challenging and interesting and that will provide opportunities for discussion and further work in the fall.
To the extent possible, we recommend that you buy the books so that you can annotate them thoroughly. Margin notes give you a “road map” through the text, solidify your thinking, keep you reading actively, and make for easier reference when discussing text. (Recall, insight, synthesis). Sticky-notes can also work, though not as easily, if you don’t buy the books.
We expect that your thinking and writing will be based on your own thorough reading of the books, NOT on outside sources or study aids. Do NOT consult any secondary sources. Use of them will be considered cheating. You might have questions, you might be challenged, but that’s part of the process.
Please read the following and prepare as indicated. Please limit your written responses to no longer than 1,000 words each.
1. Your book from the Junior/Senior SUMMER READ list.
Be prepared to participate in a discussion group with juniors, seniors, and faculty the first week back. Go to this link to find your book: http://yhssummerread2010.wikispaces.com/Home+%26+Project+Info
Find the titles of the books you listed as first, second, and third choice, and find your name under one of those titles.
2. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Yes, this book is long, but stick with it! It takes a little while to unravel, but it’s worth the wait.
a. Annotate thoroughly as you read. Make special note of recurring images and ideas. Write questions. Mark passages whose language or images or ideas strike you as particularly compelling.
b. Imagine that at a summer party you have run into a YHS graduate, who also took AP Lit and Comp. You have just finished reading A Prayer for Owen Meany. The graduate tells you that he/she felt that the novel was too long and too complicated, with too many “ridiculous stories” in it. He/she feels unsatisfied with the ending. You feel a need to defend the novel, which you loved and saw as very “deliberate” on Irving’s part. Write a dialogue between you and this YHS graduate where you discuss these aspects of the novel.
3. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
a. Annotate thoroughly as indicated above
b. Imagine the final scene of The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. What happens to Ryuji, to Norobu and the other boys, to Fusako? Using imagery, dialogue, detail, description, and figurative language, create the scene that we don't see in the book--you can choose a pessimistic or an optimistic ending. Try to stay true to Mishima’s style and voice in the novel.
GUIDANCE ON ANNOTATION IS BELOW:
Step 1: As you read, look for places where a passage in the novel seems significant for some reason:
1. a key conflict
2. a moment when the protagonist is irrevocably changed for better or worse
3. a moment that is particularly suspenseful
4. a moment when the character (major or minor) has to make a choice about his/her
life or the lives of those around him/her
5. a moment where the writer is spending time to observe and carefully walk the
reader through the setting
6. you have a strong emotional reaction to the passage as a reader
7. a moment where the imagery seems to be connected in some way due to a
sense (taste, touch, smell, sight, sound). For example, there might be lots of
images of light, or visual images that make a pattern (birds, waves, violent
animals, armlessness)
8. a moment where the writer has used a simile or metaphor to compare a character,
scene, or setting to something quite unusual or startling (a comparison that
makes you uncomfortable or a comparison that seems beautiful)
9. a moment where the word choices (diction) the writer is using are similar—they
are words that have lots of emotional connotations (either negative or positive)
10. a passage you just like because it scared you, made you laugh, cry, stop and think
Step 2: Underline the passages above. For each chapter, look for 3-5 significant places such as those described above.
Step 3: Take notes right in the margins of the book! Yes, WRITE all over your book. Make a note to yourself about what you see in the passage. Then, at the end of the chapter, jot down some notes about plot (key events you want to remember) and some other notes about one or two of the passages you noted in part one.
Step 4: (Advanced—optional) On a separate piece of paper, start to pull some of these things together—how do these word choices, images, etc. connect to what seems to be the theme or deeper meaning in the novel? Ask yourself, why does the writer create “this conflict” or “this particular image” in the novel—what do you think he/she is trying to show you? Do this for every other chapter (or every third chapter for longer novels).
WHY ANNOTATE?
1. These notes will help you review in May when the AP exam is looming over and you have a lot to go over before the exam begins.
2. It will help you begin thinking about the novels a little bit differently—it will start you on the road to real analysis that we will be asking you to do next year.
3. Close reading gives you a deeper understanding of texts—helps you to appreciate the real work that writers do to create a meaningful story.
4. We will be giving you a grade for your annotations.