Middle College
Summer Reading 2008We like to believe that a healthy and curious mind does not shut off in June and shift back into gear in August. To keep your minds engaged, you must read a novel, one that relates to our first unit in junior or senior English.
You can check out the book from your local library or purchase the book from a bookstore or on-line.
Below you will find your class reading selections and assignment and the themes to consider when reading the novel. The assingments for both seniors and juniors are due the first day of school, August 13, and will represent the first major assignment of the fall semester. Students are encouraged to take notes as they read.
Both seniors and juniors: e-mail English teacher Jennifer Fraser at fraserjen@aol.com if you want to discuss the novel, or you have questions.
Middle College Juniors The junior English course ties in with American History and is focused on The American Character: What is the image of an American and where in literature has that image developed? The first unit deals with the idea of Americans as vitally connected to the land. (Recall the words to "America, the Beautiful" if you want an example.)
Read one of the books below and answer the following questions, using your personal opinions and supporting your responses by including two quotations from the book:
• How is "nature" portrayed: kind, neutral, hostile?
• What is the relationship between man and nature: Man as Caretaker? Man as Dominator? Man as Respectful Equal?
• What message is the author implying about the best relationship one can attain between himself and the environment?
Book Choices Shooting the Boh - Tracy Johnston ("A poignant and entertaining memoir of a woman's wild ride…while descending the Boh River of central Borneo.. and what it means to be an adventurer.")
Into the Wild - John Krakauer ("Terrifying…Eloquent…A heart-rending drama of human yearning… A young man from a well-to-do family hitchhikes to Alaska, gives $25,000 to charity, abandons most of his possessions…and invents a new life for himself in the Denali Wilderness…."
A Sudden Country - Karen Fisher (A vivid and revelatory novel based on actual events of the 1847 Oregon migration, A Sudden Country follows two characters of remarkable complexity and strength in a journey of survival and redemption. James MacLaren, once a resourceful and ambitious Hudson’s Bay Company trader, has renounced his aspirations for a quiet family life in the Bitterroot wilderness. Yet his life is overturned in the winter of 1846, when his Nez Perce wife deserts him and his children die of smallpox. In the grip of a profound sorrow, MacLaren, whose home once spanned a continent, sets out to find his wife. But an act of secret vengeance changes his course, introducing him to a different wife and mother: Lucy Mitchell, journeying westward with her family.—Amazon.com)
- Endurance - Alfred Lansing ("In the summer of 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton set off aboard the Endurance bound for the South Atlantic. The goal of his expedition was to cross the Antarctic overland, but more than a year later, and still half a continent away from the intended base, the Endurance was trapped in ice and eventually was crushed. For five months Shackleton and his crew survived on drifting ice packs in one of the most savage regions of the world before they were finally able to set sail again in one of the ship's lifeboats. Alfred Lansing's Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage is a white-knuckle account of this astounding odyssey.")
Middle College Seniors The major theme of the first semester is self-analysis: Who Am I? The factors we explore are the genetic, cultural, and experiential components that have created you. The readings below represent the individual on a quest for self-knowledge.
Read one of the books below and answer the following questions:
• What is the quest the protagonist goes on and what does he/she achieve?
• What stages do we all go through that the protagonist experienced?
Answer the following question and use at least three quotations from the book to support your opinions.
• What advice can the modern young person draw from another's quest?
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (“Narrated by a 15-year-old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions.” --Amazon.com)
Life of Pi - Yann Martel (“Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker…After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination.” --Amazon.com)
Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood (Great story of young girl's passage to womanhood - and the sweet revenge of escaping the destructive social cliques that we all encounter.)
On The Road - Jack Kerouac (The most famous of Kerouac's works, is not only the soul of the Beat movement and literature, but one of the most important novels of the century. Like nearly all of Kerouac's writing, the novel is thinly fictionalized autobiography, published in 1957, filled with a cast made of Kerouac's real life friends, lovers, and fellow travelers.
Boy's Life - Robert R. McCammon Yes, long, but if you like fantasy and reality mixed in, this is a good read. " A mixture of joy and wonder, magic and horror; mysterious and poignant, …" Lots of people say, "Best book I 've ever read."
This is the poem that introduces the novel.
We ran like young wild furies,where angels feared to tread.
The woods were dark and deep. Before us demons fled.
We checked Coke bottle bottoms to see how far was far.
Our worlds of magic wonder were never reached by car.
We loved our dogs like brothers, our bikes like rocket ships.
We were going to the stars,to Mars we'd make round trips.
We swung on vines like Tarzan, and flashed Zorro's keen blade.
We were James Bond in his Aston, we were Hercules unchained.
We looked upon the future and we saw a distant land,
where our folks were always ageless, and time was shifting sand.
We filled up life with living, with grins, scabbed knees, and noise.
In glass I see an older man, but this book's for the boys.
5/8/08
(Assignments are due August 13)