Language Arts Homework
Due: Friday, February 17th
1. To kick off our Love to Read Month, let’s begin with letters of appreciation to our
favorite authors! Remember the “Thank You to Jack London” letter we read in class this
week. In it, the author thanked Jack London for writing Call of the Wild. It didn’t matter
that Jack London had passed away before the letter was written because it was meant
to honor him.
● Think of an author that you admire. If you are having trouble, just think of a book that
you enjoyed, and we can look up the author’s name.
● Introduce yourself to the author and perhaps tell them a little bit about yourself (your
interests, hobbies, favorite subjects at school, etc.)
● Thank them! Be specific: let the author know what you appreciate about their writing;
maybe they write descriptive action scenes, or it could be that they use figurative
language when creating the setting.
● Your letter must be at least two full paragraphs in length!
2. Our next Shakespeare lines come from the comedy Twelfth Night. In it Orsino, the Duke
of Illyria, believes that he is in love with a Countess. He is not truly in love, but he is
consumed with the idea of being in love and enjoys wallowing in his sadness. In this
scene, he loudly speaks of his love and compares it to music.
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
Act I, Scene I of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare