Summer Reading

During the summer, select one of the following books from the list below and complete the reading project.

 

 

Reading Project

Select two of the following options to complete based on your novel of choice. This project will be due Friday, September 6, 2019.

1. Write a future letter from one of the characters in the book to another character in the book or another person. Touching Spirit Bear example: Write a letter from Cole to another teen going through Circle Justice.
2. For each chapter, write a 6-word summary. Choose your word carefully so they have a maximum impact! Single words, phrases, and sentences are all ok.
3. Rewrite the climax from the point of view of a different character -- not the protagonist. It can be the antagonist, another major character, or even a minor character.
4. Write the epilogue of the story -- 1 year, 10 years, or 20 years after the end. Describe what the main character is doing, what he or she has done since the end of the novel, what he or she is like, and what his or her interests are.
5. Write a series of letters, emails, or texts between yourself and a friend, discussing what happened in the book and what it made you think about. Include your feelings, your connections, and information from the book to drive your dialogue. 
6. Choose 10-12 characters from the book, and write a 2-3 sentence statement from them imagining how they would respond to a controversial statement. Touching Spirit Bear example: Juvenile delinquents, like Cole Matthews are incapable of change and will always be a danger to society. Answer as: Cole, Peter, Garvey, Edwin, Mom, Dad, Cole's lawyer, Peter's lawyer, Rosey, the guard, the Spirit Bear.
7. As a reporter, write an interview of the protagonist and another prominent character. Ask at least 10 thought-provoking questions that both characters will answer. Thought-provoking questions should be open-ended, not right-there yes or no questions.
8. Personify an object from the story, and have it summarize the novel from its own point of view. Touching Spirit Bear example: the Circle Justice feather, the totem Cole carved, Cole's ancestor rock, or the Spirit Bear could describe Cole's journey and change.

The Dialectical Journal 

Choose one of the novels below for this assignment. Parents: Please review your child's selection, as some of the literature contains adult language. If your child chooses a series, please have them pick up with the next novel they have not yet read. A dialectical journal is another name for a double-entry journal or a reader-response journal. A dialectical journal is a conversation between the ideas in the text and the ideas of the reader. In your journal, have a conversation with the text and yourself. Write down your thoughts, questions, insights, and ideas while you read your novel. 

 

Use the composition notebook that is required by the supply list for 7th grade language arts. 

1. Fold the page in half (leaving the pages in the journal -- do not tear out)
2. In the left column, write down parts of paragraphs from your book or quotes from your novel.
3. In the right column, write down your thoughts, commentary, and questions about the information in the left column.
    

 

An exemplary double-entry journal contains the following:

• Fifteen or more entries for the entire book.
• Each entry is two or more complete sentences that demonstrate full developed thoughts or connections about the text.
• Entries are from the entire book (beginning, middle, and end). This is indicated by page numbers. 
• No spelling errors.

Important: Entries will be evaluated on details, thoughtfulness, and variety in the type of entry (see chart below).

Sample Journal Entries

"Thanks. It's really nice." But the words sounded hollow, even to Brian. p. 8	Why does Bryan feel that way about getting a hatchet from his mom? If the words sounded hollow to Brian, he must not mean it. Why is he mad at his mom? (Asking questions)
"No roads, no trails, no clearings. Just the lakes, and it came to him that he would have to use a lake for landing. If he went down into the trees he was certain to die." p. 23	I can't imagine keeping my cool in a situation like this. I'd be on my cell phone panicking, and trying to land the plane. I guess it's important to keep your cool in crisis (reaction to text)
"Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man....and dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws."	What a great image the metaphor creates! The man, he walked heavily, lumbering along like a bear. It makes me think he is bulky and slow. Bears can be fierce and protective too. I wonder in what other ways the man will be like a bear? (literary technique - metaphor)

 

An inadequate response to text on the right side of an entry might be: I know how that feels. I have nothing too. (This connection is rather shallow. It needs more elaboration.)

Aim for a mix of comments about:

• the personal connections you make (to the character, setting, event)
• patterns you notice
• predictions you can pose
• commentary on important decisions made by characters, ideas expressed, or key events
• observations about the character
• what seems unusual
• recognition of a literary technique and ideas about its meaning and purpose
• what you think something means

Ideas for sentence beginnings in right column:

• Why did...
• Who is...
• If I were [the character], at this point, I would...
• This settings reminds me of...
• This doesn't make sense because...
• The idea/event seems to be important because...
• When the author does...it creates a tone that...
• The...symbolizes...and it...(the effect)
• With the...,the author creates an image of...that...
• This character reminds me of...because...
• What would happen if...
• Now I understand...
• The language makes me feel the author is...
• The details create/show...
• The...is compared to a...and it really makes me see how...

 

Bring your dialectical journal to class on the first day of school and be prepared to discuss your novel with your classmates.

It will not be long before we are back in school and you are participating in 8th grade American Studies. Please choose a book from the list below and read it over the summer. As you read, you will keep a Dialectical Journal. Your journal should be written in a Composition notebook (not a spiral).  The Comp Log you use for this assignment will count as one of the Comp Logs requested on the 8th Grade Supplies List.

Below is how to title each of your columns, an explanation of what to do in each column, and some examples from a Dialectical Journal about the novel Moby Dick. Your Dialectical Journal must have a minimum of 12 entries that are thorough and demonstrate effort and thoughtfulness.

Textual Evidence from Novel	My Response about the Meaning
The left column is for the specific quote to which you're reacting and the page number where you found it. Use complete sentences from the text here, and underline any particular words or phrases on which you want to comment.	The right column is for you to interpret what you're reading. Note that “dialectical” comes from a Greek word meaning “conversation,” which implies that you are, in a sense, talking with the text; this process is also referred to as close reading and explication. Use this space to comment, analyze, critique, and question. You should also use the Dialectical Journal as an opportunity to find things in the text that most interest you. An effective dialectical journal does all of these things. Do not use the Dialectical Journal as an excuse to complain about the book or call it “boring.” You may criticize it, but only when your criticisms are specific and substantive, such as an author's use of clichés, verbose language, or predictable plot devices. Also, do not refer to yourself in your comments through the pronouns “I” or “me’—your focus is on the text, not yourself.
Example Quotes: With the problem of the universe revolving in me, how could I—being left to myself at such a thought-engendering altitude,—how could I but lightly hold my obligations to observe all whale-ships’ standing orders, “Keep your weather eye open, and sing out every time.” p. 161 Beware of enlisting in your vigilant fisheries any lad’ with lean brow and hollow eye; given to unseasonable meditativeness; and who offers to ship with the Phaedon instead of Bowditch in his head. p.161 But while this sleep, this dream is on ye, move your foot or hand an inch; slip your hold at all; and your identity comes back in horror. Over Descartian vortices you hover. p.162	Example Responses: What “problem of the universe” is Ishmael referring to? He’s obviously introspective, but he hasn’t indicated any problem before this. Maybe “problem” actually means “mystery” here; this seems to fit better, given Ishmael’s natural curiosity about life and the world in general. Why isn’t he more concerned about his duty to the Pequod? Nathaniel Bowditch was a founder of modem maritime navigation who lived from 1773-1838. The Phaedo is a dialogue by Plato about the last few hours in the life of Socrates. Therefore, Ishmael is saying it’s a bad idea to hire any young sailor who has philosophy on his mind rather than sailing. Ishmael apostrophizes the reader here to make us feel and understand the danger of daydreaming while whale-watching up in the mast-head. “Descartian vortices” is an allusion to René Descartes, the French scientist famous for his contributions to geometry and cartography. It might be a reference to the long fall ifa person slips from the mast-head;: it could also be a reference to the vastness of the ocean.

 

Books	Author
Little Women	Louisa May Alcott
A Night to Remember	Walter Lord
The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers	Alexander Dumas
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass	Lewis Carroll
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes	Arthur Conan Doyle
Lost Horizon	James Hilton
The Hobbit	J.R.R. Tolkien
Treasure Island, Kidnapped, or The Mysterious Tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Robert Louis Stevenson
A Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in 80 Days, or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	Jules Verne
David Copperfield or Oliver Twist	Charles Dickens
Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, or Dandelion Wine	Ray Bradbury
The Ox-Bow Incident	Walter Van Tilburg Clark
The Red Badge of Courage	Stephen Crane
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman	Ernest Gaines
The Old Man and the Sea	Ernest Hemingway
The Kill a Mockingbird	Harper Lee
White Fang or The Call of the Wild	Jack London
The Member of the Wedding	Carson McCullers
Tom Sawyer	Mark Twain
Uncle Tom's Cabin	Harriet Beecher Stowe
Gone with the Wind	Margaret Mitchell
The Joy Luck Club	Amy Tan
Pride and Prejudice	Jane Austen
Jane Eyre	Charlotte Bronte
Rebecca	Daphne Du Maurier
The Hunchback of Notre Dame	Victor Hugo
Shane	Jack Schaefer
The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Thornton Wilder
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn	Betty Smith
Wuthering Heights	Emily Bronte
Daniel Defoe	Robinson Crusoe
Lord of the Flies	William Golding
Frankenstein	Mary W. Shelley
Dracula	Bram Stoker
All Quiet on the Western Front	Erich Maria Remarque
Gulliver's Travels	Jonathon Swift
The Time Machine	H.G. Wells
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings	Maya Angelou
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee	Dee Brown
The Story of My Life	Helen Keller
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin	Benjamin Franklin
Hiroshima	John Hersey
Profiles in Courage	John F. Kennedy
A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr.	Martin Luther King, Jr.