English II Honors World Literature Summer Reading 2013
Two of the goals of English II Honors World Literature are to broaden your literary and cultural horizons and to
teach you how to articulate--in writing--strong individual responses to and analyses of literature.
Therefore, in addition to reading the nonfiction book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier from the
school-wide list, you will also read two other FANTASTIC novels for this class:
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Nectar in a Sieve, by Kamala Markandaya
While you are reading these novels, you are required to take notes—you may want to keep a reader’s journal,
noting important details, quotations, and your own questions and impressions as you read. If you buy the book,
I highly recommend annotating, or writing questions and responses on the text itself, as you read (sticky notes
can be helpful for this). These notes are for your benefit (and will be helpful in remembering specifics about the
novel for assignments in the fall and throughout the year), and though I will check them to evaluate your
reading process, the amount that you do is ultimately up to you.
ADDITIONALLY, this year we are going to try something new. Edmodo is a secure educational website that
provides free tools for teachers and students and allows for more online communication. This site has been
useful and popular with honors students before—it can even be accessed on your smartphone! To familiarize
yourself with this tool, you can submit your questions and impressions to the online class for discussion—and
respond to others.
I have made an Edmodo page for this class—English II Honors 2013-2014. If you go to www.edmodo.com, you
can sign-up for an account (with your parent/guardian’s knowledge and permission, of course). The group code
is qif8ab.
Once you have signed up, you can try out the tools on the page, including responding to the summer reading
assignment for one or more of the books. I will be monitoring and moderating this page over the summer, so it
may take a day for your post to show up (your parents may be relieved to know I review all content BEFORE it
goes public online). Also, after you have tried out the site, feel free to give your opinion using the “poll” tool.
In addition to any notes you take to help you comprehend and recall specific details for our beginning of the
year activities, you are REQUIRED to specifically address the following topics for each of the honors summer
reading novels:
1. Record your impressions of the setting of the novel. Where does the novel take place? What do you know
about this culture, country, or part of the world? What makes it different from the place you live? How
is the setting important to the story?
Use specific details from the novel to support your answer. To fully answer this question you must be
attentive to descriptive passages as you read. Think about the mood the authors create with these
descriptions of place. Jot down a passage (with page numbers) for each novel to support your own
description of the setting.
2. For each of the main characters, write a description and share your impressions of the characters. Did you
like the main character? Why or why not? Did you change your opinion of the main character from the
start to the end? Do you find them believable?
In your discussion, include at least three specific examples in which the character said or did something
that led to your opinion. Include appropriate page numbers in your discussion.
3. Identify an important passage (ex. a few sentences, a few lines of dialogue) from each novel. Choose
passages that you think are important: they might reveal an important aspect of a character’s personality,
a critical event in the plot, an insight into the theme of the novel, or a beautifully phrased description.
Write the full quote, enclose it in quotation marks, write the page number on which you found the
passage and then discuss why you chose the passage and its particular importance to the novel.
Use a different passage than your setting passage!
4. Upon your conclusion of each novel, write your final impressions of the story. Did you like the novel?
Did you think it was well-written and worthy of study? Why or why not?
Be open and honest about your opinion, but be able to defend yourself; you MUST therefore discuss
specific examples in support of your conclusions. Responses like, “I just didn’t like it” or “I thought it
was OK,” are not adequate responses.
Many students ask if there is a required length for these responses; my answer is: as long as you need it to be to
answer all parts of the questions completely. (So, don’t write me a novel unless you absolutely feel you must!)
Remember: This is my first impression of your reading and writing skills, so make sure it is an accurate
one by doing your best work.
Bring your notes and responses with you on the first day of school.
Responses may be NEATLY typed or legibly handwritten on loose paper (not a notebook or journal book) and
should be stapled together. Include the title and author of the novel at the top left of each section, and put your
name on the top right of each page.
These notes and responses will serve two purposes. They will demonstrate to me that you have carefully read
and considered the books, and they will provide you with some review material for future assessments and
discussions.
Keep in mind that if you do not read the novels assigned novels or complete the responses, you should not
expect to remain in the English II Honors World Lit. Class. The summer reading is a prerequisite for the class,
providing a valuable foundational experience upon which we will all build our reading and analytical skills.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to email me during the summer with any questions or
comments you might have at [email protected] or to share journals in an email to the
address above.
I will check my email several times a week (except for one week in mid-August when I’m away on vacation)
and will happily address any questions, concerns, or entertaining stories about summer vacations gone awry.
Have a great summer!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Gillespie
(Room 4231)