Created by the 10th grade English team
Honors English 10 – Summer Reading Assignment
All Blake students entering Honors English 10 in the fall will complete these readings and related assignments.
Completed assignments are due on the second day of school.
Required READINGS:
1. “Depression” pamphlet from the National Institute of Mental Health (free online)
2. Excerpt from Fluffy: A Journey Through Depression by Michael John-Ryder (provided)
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Buy a copy to read and mark up, or get a copy from your library, or arrange
before summer break begins to sign out one of the limited number of English Department copies available for
students to borrow until next fall. As you read, use sticky notes or other placeholders to mark passages that stand out
to you as pivotal, enlightening, intriguing, or revealing.
Required ASSIGNMENT:
Having learned a little about depression from the NIMH pamphlet and the Fluffy excerpt, and having read The
Catcher in the Rye, use the enclosed worksheets to explore and reflect upon portions of The Catcher in the Rye.
Choose three passages to analyze:
 a passage from Holden Caulfield’s time at Pencey Prep,
 a passage from Holden’s stay in New York before he goes to see Phoebe, and
 a passage from after Holden meets up with Phoebe.
For each passage, complete the appropriate worksheet, either typing your work or writing neatly and legibly by
hand.
Copy each chosen passage onto the supplied worksheet. You could retype the passage, or scan or
photocopy the text from the book and paste that securely on the worksheet.
Annotate the passage: Underline or highlight key words or phrases. Note character development
including explorations of personality traits and motives. Note patterns and literary devices Salinger employs. You
might discover allusions, diction (deliberate and remarkable word choices), figurative language (metaphors,
symbolism, irony and other constructions whose sense requires a reader to interpret the words other than literally),
foreshadowing, imagery (language that appeals to a reader’s senses or sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste),
motifs, repetition, etc.
Reflect on the passage: write a “What I Think” paragraph. This is a place to share your ideas and
questions about that passage with your teachers. It is not an essay or a formal piece of writing, but rather a place
for you to engage with the text.
After analyzing your three chosen passages, use the remaining worksheet to write a paragraph looking at the
passages as a whole. How do these three passages together speak to your understanding of Holden’s depression
and Salinger’s theme in The Catcher in the Rye?
Suggestion:
You will find it to your advantage to read as much as possible over the summer. You should certainly read books you enjoy,
but also you should read books that are challenging for you. This will better prepare you for English 10 and for the
increasingly challenging texts you will read in the coming year.
For more information on summer reading, please e-mail:
[email protected]
(The NIMH pamphlet on depression is available at
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml )
The following is just a single bite of a memoir in which the author explores his experience with clinical depression.
Excerpt from
Fluffy: A Journey Through Depression
by Michael John-Ryder
The Beginning
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me,
your rod and your staff, they comfort me,” – Psalm 23:4
I’ve walked this earth for over 40 years and been fortunate to be blessed with good health, but in 2011, I
suffered an episode of acute reactive depression. My cards were dealt and this was my time.
The valley of death just about sums up what it’s like to have depression. It’s a desolate, uncompassionate
place, full of darkness and despair. The landscape is rocky, haunted by thoughts that torture you, and the dark
shadows are home to creatures that trick you into decisions you would never ordinarily make.
The onslaught can be surgical or like a wave of shock and awe. The attack is relentless and can last days,
weeks or even months. The injuries are severe, and for some, fatal. Unlike Psalm 23:4, there’s no rod to guide
you; the fear of evil is constant and for many, the path can be lonely.
I’m not entirely sure how it all started. From what I’ve been told, reactive depression is caused by the stress
of an event or a series of events. They could have happened recently, or a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far
away and just need a trigger to start the process of emotional nuclear fission.
It crept up on me by stealth, a potent cocktail of a difficult and stressful job, not switching off from work,
trying to move house when we actually didn’t want to, not spending enough quality time with my family, and
as I’ve only recently come to realise, my constant drive to improve myself without considering the costs.
Other things that may have driven a nail in the coffin of depression: the sudden death of my mother and
father while I was just a boy. I was recently told, “losing your parents is one of the hardest things to recover
from.” I don’t think I’ve ever faced up to it, let alone attempted to seek closure.
Finally, the inevitable milestone of turning 40, but I’m pretty certain that was coincidental, as I never worry
about things I can’t control, and the aging process is as old as time itself, but let’s throw that one in for good
measure.
From the onset, I decided to write a diary, with the hope of understanding why this was happening to me. I
wrote down my thoughts, actions, dreams and fears.
My story is presented in A to Z, but can be read in no particular order. This is my journey through the
valley of depression. You’re not alone.
A is for Anti-Depressants
Prozac, Citalopram, Venlafaxine, Phenelzine, so many names parlayed with so many unknowns, but all
with the same stigma of being an anti-depressant. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would one day
cash in my personal order, my one out of tens of millions of prescriptions served up every year in the U.K.
Reading the enclosed leaflet, printed in the smallest font known to man, the one thing that jumps out above
everything else are the side effects: nausea, blurred vision, dizziness, diarrheoa, dry mouth, insomnia,
abnormal erection, loss of appetite to name but a few. I wasn’t sure which of the last two concerned me more.
I recall sitting at the breakfast bar, looking down at a two-week supply of pills which are conveniently
marked with the days of the week. Just staring at them for what seemed like hours, unsure of what to do. They
might be dished out like candy these days but for someone who knew next to nothing about them, the thought
of filing my body with medicine that changes how the brain works and perhaps the plumbing in the trouser
department, was frankly terrifying.
However, the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the one, and down the hatch they went.
Also, I was on my knees.
B is for Bed
If there’s one small nugget of advice I can give anyone contemplating serving up a plate of depression, it is
get a decent bed. Seriously, you’re going to be spending a lot of time in it. There’s something about being
horizontal and cocooned in a duvet that seems to take the pain away. It soothes and protects, hides you from
the evils of the world, but, unfortunately, it never lasts.
Fact is, after a while, the bed becomes you nemesis. It constantly invites you in and wants to consume the
lifeblood within your body. Once your head hits that pillow, you’re powerless to escape its clutches. When the
lights go on and you can’t sleep, things go from bad to worse. You bed becomes the playground for your
thoughts, a merry-go-round of repetitive stories and scenarios. Fiction becomes fact, nightmares become
reality, the line between truth and lies becomes blurred….
[End of excerpt.]
If you enjoyed how Mr. John-Ryder’s book began, feel free to continue all the way to “Z is for Zopiclone.” You could
check out a copy of Fluffy: A Journey Through Depression (© 2012 Bigflares Publishing in the U.K.) from your local
library, or purchase a copy from a bookstore or from an online retailer like Amazon.com.
Last name: _____________________________ First name: ___________________ Period: ___ Date: ___/___/_____
Honors English 10 summer reading – Blake HS English
Worksheet #1: The Catcher in the Rye passage from Holden’s time at Pencey Prep
Copy the passage here…annotate in the text and in the space at right
Paragraph: “What I Think:”
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…attach another sheet of paper if you need more room to finish your paragraph.
Last name: _____________________________ First name: ___________________ Period: ___ Date: ___/___/_____
Honors English 10 summer reading – Blake HS English
Worksheet #2: Catcher in the Rye passage from Holden’s time alone in New York
Copy the passage here…annotate in the text and in the space at right
Paragraph: “What I Think:”
______________________________________________________________________________
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…attach another sheet of paper if you need more room to finish your paragraph.
Last name: _____________________________ First name: ___________________ Period: ___ Date: ___/___/_____
Honors English 10 summer reading – Blake HS English
Worksheet #3: Catcher in the Rye passage from after Holden meets Phoebe
Copy the passage here…annotate in the text and in the space at right
Paragraph: “What I Think:”
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…attach another sheet of paper if you need more room to finish your paragraph.
Last name: _____________________________ First name: ___________________ Period: ___ Date: ___/___/_____
Honors English 10 summer reading – Blake HS English
Worksheet #4: Reflect on all three Catcher in the Rye passages
Consider your three chosen passages as a whole. How do these three passages together speak to your understanding of
Holden’s depression and Salinger’s theme in The Catcher in the Rye? Answer in a thoughtful paragraph:
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…attach another sheet of paper if you need more room to finish your paragraph.