Summer Reading Assignments by Grade and Class All Bishop students must complete the following summer reading assignment(s) prior to the start of school in August. Bishop prepares students for online coursework by utilizing Moodle for this assignment. Moodle instructions and the questions are located at the end of this document. Credit is issued for completion by the deadline. The rubric is on Moodle. There is no written assignment to turn in when school resumes. Students in courses that require reading more than one book must answer all 12 questions for both books (with the exclusion of AP English Language and Composition). Incoming 9th Grade English and Honors English 9 English 9 To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out." Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8‐year‐old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus‐‐three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up. Like the slow‐moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well‐‐in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard‐won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. ‐‐Alix Wilber (Amazon.com) Honors English 9 (2 books) To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (see above) AND choose ONE of the following: Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt “When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.” So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression‐era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank’s survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig’s head for Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near‐starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors—yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance, and remarkable forgiveness. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family." But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear, and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When Mildred attempts suicide, and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that tell of her father, Jacob, and his twelve sons. Told in Dinah's voice, Anita Diamant imagines the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood‐‐the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of the mothers‐‐Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah‐‐the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through childhood, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's lives. Incoming 10th Grade English and Honors English 10 English 10 Book Options (select one) Honors English 10 (2 books) Book Options (select two) Lord of the Flies, by Golding William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane‐wrecked on a deserted island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom‐dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition. ‐‐Jennifer Hubert – Slaughterhouse‐Five, by Vonnegut Slaughterhouse‐Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim’s odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we fear most. Red Scarf Girl, by Jiang In 1966 Ji‐li Jiang turned twelve. An outstanding student and leader, she had everything: brains, the admiration of her peers, and a bright future in China′s Communist Party. But that year China′s leader, Mao Ze‐
dong, launched the Cultural Revolution, and everything changed. Over the next few years Ji‐li and her family were humiliated and scorned by former friends, neighbors, and co‐workers. They lived in constant terror of arrest. Finally, with the detention of her father, Ji‐li faced the most difficult choice of her life. In the Time of Butterflies, by Alvarez The four Mirabel sisters were called the Mariposas, or butterflies. Dede, the only survivor, tells the story of courage that helps liberate the Dominican Republic from the dictator Trujillo. Girl with the Pearl Earring, by Chavalier Sixteen year‐old Griet is hired as a maid in the household of Delft painter Johannes Vermeer, where she becomes an assistant and muse to the famous artist. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Diamond Why do some societies become rich and powerful while others remain poor and powerless? Diamond contends that three elements, guns, germs, and steel, determined the course of history. Incoming 11th Grade American Literature and AP English Language and Composition American Literature Book Options (select one) East of Eden, by John Steinbeck Often described as Steinbeck's most ambitious novel, East of Eden brings to life the intricate details of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, and their interwoven stories. East of Eden, set in the Salinas Valley, revolves around the theme of good and evil, many times calling upon the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. A favorite of Bishop students, this work includes murder, intrigue, prostitution, romance, and sibling rivalry. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair One of the most important American realist works, The Jungle describes the heartbreaking experience of an immigrant family’s struggles in Chicago during the early 1900s. It is especially famous for its description of the appalling meatpacking industry that resulted in greater federal oversight of factory conditions that we benefit from today. The Jungle is as applicable today, in many ways, as it was nearly one hundred years ago. Soon to be a Hollywood film. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin AND The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison The Awakening, a realist novella, is one of the first feminist works to receive wide recognition, though it was initially controversial and harshly criticized. Set in New Orleans and Grand Isle, amid the Creole culture, the story traces the awakening of Edna Pontellier to her entrapment by society. Forbidden romance? A great summer read. Toni Morrison, America’s most celebrated African‐American female author and Pulitzer Prize Winner, explores one young girl’s painful self‐loathing in The Bluest Eye. Heartbreaking. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison In Song of Solomon, Morrison tells of a young black man’s journey from isolated self‐absorption to a contributing, caring part of his family and culture. The story spans several generations, including the beginning Civil Rights Movement, and incorporates elements of the supernatural. Highly recommended and a favorite of students and Ms. Combs alike. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger If you’re suffering from teen angst, you will undoubtedly relate to Holden Caufield, the protagonist in this classic teen novel. Nobody impresses Holden. He’s over school. He’s over just about everything. Set in the Northeastern U.S., Holden drops out of his Ivy League prep school and takes off on an adventure in N.Y.C. The brilliance of this novel is in the details. A Dr. Reiken favorite. AP English Language and Composition (3 books) Everyone reads: The Autobiography of Malcolm X Everything’s an Argument, by Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz, and Walters, 2010, chapters 1‐5 (ISBN: 9780312538613) Choose one of the following: Nickel and Dimed in America: On Not Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich Our sharpest and most original social critic goes "undercover" as an unskilled worker to reveal the dark side of American prosperity. Nickel and Dimed reveals low‐rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity ‐‐ a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate stratagems for survival. Read it for the smoldering clarity of Ehrenreich's perspective and for a rare view of how "prosperity" looks from the bottom. You will never see anything ‐‐ from a motel bathroom to a restaurant meal ‐‐ in quite the same way again. Outlier: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"‐‐the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high‐achievers different. His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band. Brilliant and entertaining, Outliers is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate. Scratch Beginnings: M, $25, and the Search for the American Dream, by Adam Shepard What can you get with $25 and a dream? Adam Shepard graduated from college feeling disillusioned by the apathy around him and was then incensed after reading Barbara Ehrenreich's famous work Nickel and Dimed—a book that gave him a feeling of hopelessness about the working class in America. He set out to disprove Ehrenreich's theory—the notion that those who start at the bottom stay at the bottom—by making something out of nothing to achieve the American Dream. Shepard's plan was simple. With a sleeping bag, the clothes on his back, and $25 in cash, and restricted from using his contacts or college education, he headed out for Charleston, South Carolina, a randomly selected city with one objective: to work his way out of homelessness and into a life that would give him the opportunity for success. His goal was to have, after one year, $2,500, a working automobile, and a furnished apartment. Scratch Beginnings is the earnest and passionate account of Shepard's struggle to overcome the pressures placed on the homeless. His story will not only inspire readers but will also remind them that success can come to anyone who is willing to work hard—
and that America is still one of the most hopeful countries in the world. Superfreakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything with such questions as: What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common? Did TV cause a rise in crime? Can eating kangaroo meat save the planet? Levitt and Dubner show the world for what it really is—good, bad, ugly, and, in the final analysis, superfreaky. Incoming 12th Grade World Literature and AP English Literature and Composition World Literature: Les Miserables, by Vicor Hugo A favorite of readers for nearly 150 years, this stirring tale of crime, punishment, justice, and redemption pulses with life. Featuring such unforgettable characters as the quintessential prisoner of conscience Jean Valjean, the relentless police detective Javert, and the tragic prostitute Fantine and her innocent daughter, Cosette, Hugo’s epic novel sweeps readers from the French provinces to the back alleys of Paris, and from the battlefield of Waterloo to the bloody ramparts of Paris during the uprising of 1832. AP English Literature and Composition (2 books) Everyone reads: A Farewell to Arms, by Hemingway In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the 'war to end all wars'. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded and twice decorated. Out of his experience came A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway's description of war is unforgettable. He recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteer, and the men and women he meets in Italy, with total conviction. But A Farewell to Arms is not only a novel of war. In it Hemingway has also created a love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion. AND choose one of the following: Jane Eyre, by Bronte An orphan girl's progress from the custody of cruel relatives to an oppressive boarding school culminates in a troubled career as a governess. Jane's first assignment at Thornfield, where the proud and cynical master harbors a scandalous secret, draws readers ever deeper into a compelling exploration of the mysteries of the human heart. Pride and Prejudice, by Austen Pride and Prejudice, the story of Mrs. Bennet's attempts to marry off her five daughters is one of the best‐
loved and most enduring classics in English literature. Excitement fizzes through the Bennet household at Longbourn in Hertfordshire when young, eligible Mr. Charles Bingley rents the fine house nearby. He may have sisters, but he also has male friends, and one of these—the haughty, and even wealthier, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy—irks the vivacious Elizabeth Bennet, the second of the Bennet girls. She annoys him, which is how we know they must one day marry. The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and Darcy is a splendid rendition of civilized sparring. As the characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, Jane Austen's radiantly caustic wit and keen observation sparkle. Moodle accounts have been established for all students at Bishop for their required summer reading / forum discussion groups. To log onto Moodle you can: 
Go to the school website (www.bishopdiego.org) ‐> Quick Links ‐> Moodle OR 
Type the URL directly into your browser: https://moodle.bishopdiego.org Your user name is the your current school logon (u 2 0 _ _ _ _ _ ) If you have forgotten your password, please contact Mrs. Verhasselt (805‐967‐1266, ext. 104) and have her reset it. You need to change the email address to a personal account. If you do not current have a personal email account, one will need to be established. Many free email account options are available (i.e., Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) Students with no internet access during the summer months should plan on visiting their local public library. Summer Reading Questions: to be completed on Moodle prior to the start of school (These do not apply to AP English Language and Composition; see Moodle assignments for this course.) 1. Discuss facts/inferences pertaining to the main character. (To facilitate this, you may want to create two columns. In the left, indicate your impressions and in the right, copy sections from the text –using quotations marks and page numbers – that help validate your impressions.) You do not need to turn in your columns, but you should have a significant amount of insightful information on the protagonist. 2. Isolate and discuss the significance of a “flat” character. Use one of the stereotypical characters or a character who doesn’t change or grow throughout the text, but one whose behavior may result in some simple but important cause and effect in the text. 3. Describe the predominant setting and discuss its relevance to the text’s action or meaning. 4. Look at the sentence structure (syntax) and diction (word choice) the author has chosen and discuss the overall tone (author's attitude toward the topic) and style of the text. In particular, look at key literary devices and discuss their significance to the rest of the text (symbols, imagery, simile, metaphor, etc.). 5. Isolate and discuss a conflict both generally (man v. man, man v. society, man v. himself, man v. nature, man v. supernatural, etc.) and specifically. 6. Isolate and discuss a motif (recurring topic, idea, or image). Look for patterns in the text like the predominance of green plants or a ticking clock in several scenes. These patterns usually mean something. 7. Isolate and discuss a theme your text develops. Ask yourself: what is a main idea of the text? For example, in the search for truth and self‐understanding, knowledge can bring its own destruction. Also, look for a more general theme… “Truth will out.” 8. Discuss the narrator – first or third person? Discuss whether the narrator’s perspective is limited to what he sees or whether he has total knowledge of the thoughts, pasts and even futures of the characters. Then discuss the effects the narrator’s perspective has on the rest of the novel. Also evaluate the psychic distance of the narrator. Ex.: Is he telling the story of his youth from an emotionally detached adult perspective? 9. Discuss the title; how is it relevant, revealing, etc.? 10. Discuss the portrayal of stereotypes in the text. 11. Discuss the ending. Was it suitable or ambiguous? Explain. 12. Summarize the plot; causes and effects. The Moodle summer courses will be available beginning on June 10, 2013. By the end of the summer, you must have completed all 12 questions; however you do not have to address them in this order. Be sure to label your answers in Moodle. Responses must be approximately 5 sentences and include concrete details/quotes and commentary/explanation. Know that the weekly windows in Moodle close and you cannot post responses to previous weeks. Not posting within one or more weeks does not impact your score. It is intended to keep you on track for completing the assignment on time.