English III Summer Reading Assignment The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier
Assignment: This is NOT GROUP work. Anything you turn in is assumed to be your own words and ideas – a determination that it is
not will be considered Academic Dishonesty, an Honor Code Violation which will result in a “0” and a referral. Further, your
assessment is to be based on the novel, not an alternate, i.e. Spark notes, a film version etc.
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Dialectical Reading Journal – You will be expected to complete a Dialectical Journal as you read through the novel. Every 60
pages (this should give you 4 entries) you should find a passage that you believe is interesting, profound, or just amusing and
write at least a page on your thoughts. Connect the quote to the other parts of the novel, to movies, to songs, to your own
ideas. There are no right or wrong answers – just practice connecting one thing to another. You are expected to provide
textual evidence as support.
o A Dialectical Journal is a conversation between you and the story.
o Find a passage that is interesting and write it down in the journal. Note the page number.
o Respond to the passage.
o Connect to your own experiences.
o Disagree with earlier entries.
o Possible ways to start:
 I really don't understand this because. . .
 I really like/dislike this idea because. . .
 This idea/event seems to be important because. . .
 I think the author is trying to say that . . .
 This passage reminds me of a time in my life when . . .
 If I were (name of character), at this point I would . . .
 This part doesn't make sense because . ..
 This character reminds me of (name of person) because . .
Your assignment is to be typed, in MLA Format (TNR 12, 1: margins, double-spaced, heading upper left – Name, English III,
Date). Create the organizer like the sample below ( do not use the same passage). Upon your return to school you will be
expected to upload this to Vericite.
Name
Instructor
English III
Date
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Passage
Analysis/Connection
A woman stood in front of a table, turned towards a mirror
This passage illustrates how Griet is of a different social class
on the wall so that she was in profile. She wore a mantle of rich
and yearns to move her station – but is unable to. The woman in
yellow satin trimmed with white ermine, and a fashionable five- the painting is obviously of higher class through the use of the
pointed red ribbon in her hair. A window lit her from the left,
color white (purity) and yellow (opulence). This reminds me of
falling across her face and tracing the delicate curve of her
how sometimes at school we are all pre-occupied with being
forehead and nose. She was tying a string of pearls around her
part of the “cool” group. We want to be accepted and allow
neck, holding the ribbons up, her hands suspended in the air.
ourselves to be judged based on material possessions. This is
Entranced with herself in the mirror, she did not seem to be
also illustrated in the film Mean Girls – Rachel McAdams’
aware that anyone was looking at her. Behind her on a bright
character judges her classmates based on their status and
white wall was an old map, in the dark foreground the table with possessions.
the letter on it, the powder-brush and the other things I had
dusted around. Page 36
***Note: entries should include passages organized as follows: Pages 1-60, 61-120, 121-180, 181-232. Analysis should illustrate an
understanding of the passage in context (so don’t just pick 4 random passages and you have no idea what they mean because you
really didn’t read!)