English III Summer Reading Assignment
Due No later than the first Friday of school.
Your Task:
Choose ONE of the following books to read this summer:
Option 1 The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Option 2 Trigger by Susan Vaught
Option 3 Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
Option 4 Unwind by Neil Shusterman
Option 5 Every Day byDavid Levithan
Option 6 Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Please complete the following regarding your book:
Enjoyable Elements
-3 elements you liked about the book with text evidence to support your opinions.
Literary Elements
- 3 literary element you noticed in the book and explain why you think these literary elements are
important with text evidence to support your opinions. .(authors writing style, use of
description, the author’s use of tone, diction, similes/metaphors, how the story relates to
history/world around you)
***There is a list of literary devices and definitions in this packet
Theme
- Explain the message or theme(s) of the book with text evidence to support your opinions.
Evaluations
-Discuss anything you would have changed in the book with text evidence to support your opinion.
(i.e. conflict you didn’t like, a character’s decision, the author’s decision in ending the
book or a character’s role)
Recommendations
-Discuss whether or not you would recommend this book to others. Explain your opinion and provide
textual evidence to support your opinions, (i.e. a meaningful quote that sums up your
view of the book)
Formatting Your Assignment:
Assignments may be typed or handwritten but each of the five sections should be labeled and numbered.
If you will be typing, please use Font Type: Times New Roman Font Size: 12 Spacing Doubled Spaced
** Assignment may be turned in to www.turnitin.com, please make sure your work is original as this site will
check for plagiarism. You will risk a failing grade and RAC if you copy from friends or from the internet.
Accessing a copy of a book:
1. Purchase a book at a retail store (1/2 price books, Barnes & Noble, Books-A- Million, etc.)
2. Check out a book at your local library
Garland Library: https://www.nmls.lib.tx.us/gov/lq/lib/default.asp
Rowlett Library: http://www.ci.rowlett.tx.us/index.aspx?nid=93
3. Find a digital copy of your book and read on your phone, iPad, Kindle, etc.
Here is an example of what your assignment should look like:
Megan Brown
Summer Reading 11
th
Book Title/Author: Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Enjoyable Elements:
1.
Little Bee, the main character in the novel, is a strong and resilient character that I admired. Little Bee
recounts her experiences “it was hard to become Little Bee. I had to go through a lot of things. They kept me in
prison and I had to train myself to think in a certain way, and to be strong and speak your language you people
speak.”
2.
The relationship between Little Bee and her sister Nkiruka demonstrated the power of family, which I
found to be both pure and sincere. Even in Little’s Bee’s most precious memories, Nkiruka’s love for her sister
is evident, in their village “I watched Nkiruka swinging back and for, back and fro…Nikiruka would get down
from the swing sometimes and pick me up in her arms and give me little pieces of soft uncooked dough to
squeeze between my chubby fingers.”
3.
Little Bee also discusses the simplicity and purity of the girls in her village. This contrast helped me to
understand the devastation that consumed her community. As Little Bee tells her story, she knows that if she
told this story in her village that the “girls back home would whisper between them. They would giggle behind
their hands. Then, just as I getting back to my story about the morning they let me out of the immigration
detention center those girls would interrupt me again.”
Literary Elements: Symbolism and Imagery
1.
As Little Bee recounts her experiences, she uses color symbolism to help explain her views about the
current state of her life and her future. Gray, is a color we generally consider to be a mix of black and white,
more importantly a combination of what is unclear or even undecided. Even Little Bee recognizes this
uncertainty “I am a born again citizen of the developing world and I will prove to you that the color of my life is
gray.” However this uncertainty does not demolish her hope.
2.
The color yellow also symbolizes Little’s Bee’s thoughts on her future. When Little Bee and the other
girls are released from the detention center, they are given clear plastic bags that hold all of their belongings.
Little Bee notices that one of the girls only has an empty yellow sari bag in her plastic bag. “Why do you carry
that bag, girl, if there is nothing in it?" I could see her [yellow] sari through it so I decided she was holding a
bag full of lemon yellow. That is everything she owned when they let us girls out." This quote is very
significant because yellow symbolizes hope. Little Bee also shows the reader that she finds beauty in the
smallest things she is moving from survival to a sense of hope for the future.
3.
Movement was an important element that establishes the idea of not only the literal voyage that Little
Bee and the other characters take, but also emotional journey that each character experiences. The trip from the
detention center to London, the ocean, the plane trip back Nigeria. All of the settings demonstrate the crossing
of boundaries which are similar to the mental and cultural boundaries that all the characters cross.
Theme
A major theme in this novel is hope, for all of the characters, their experiences, pain, and survival establish the
need for a brighter future, especially for the thousands of refugees that Little Bee represents. Quote to illustrate
Evaluations:
The only concept I didn’t like was Sarah’s son Charlie, he was very young and wore a batman costume that he
refused to take off. “ From the spring of 2007 until the end of that long summer when Little Bee came to live
with us, my son removed his batman costume only bath times. I ordered a twin costume I substituted while he
splashed in the suds, so that I could at least wash the boy sweat and grass stains out of the first.” Frankly I
wanted this character to mature as the novel progressed but he simply didn’t until the very end. I knew that the
idea symbolized his innocence and refusal to face the tragedies in his life, but as I read, I found the costume
annoying.
Recommendations
I would definitely recommend this book to others but with a few stipulations:
1. The book is very dramatic and at times extremely violent, if you don’t do well with those kinds of
themes this may not be the book for you.
2. The beginning of the novel uses an analogy about the English pound, if you don’t know what that is
look it up, its key to understanding why Little Bee compares herself to an English pound
3. You must be open-minded, this book was suggested to me, I wouldn’t have picked it up on my own,
but It was the most thought-provoking book I read this year
List of Literary Terms that you can use to discuss literary devices in the novel:
1.
Alliteration – repetition of the initial consonant sounds of words: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers”
2.
Allusion – a reference to something well-known that exists outside the literary work – the reference is
often indirect and relies on audience knowledge and understanding
3.
Antagonist- character that is the source of conflict in a literary work
4.
Characterization- The manner in which an author develops characters and their personalities. Direct
characterization=author description/Indirect characterization= character’s appearance, speech, thoughts,
actions and what other characters think of the character
Character Types:
Flat: one-dimensional or one-sided
Round: multidimensional
Static: character remains unchanged emotionally or psychologically throughout
Dynamic: character undergoes emotional or psychological change
5.
Conflict - struggle between two or more opposing forces (person vs. person; nature; society; self;
fate/God. ETC…)
6.
Dialogue - direct speech between characters in a literary work
7. Diction - word choice to create a specific effect
8.
Figurative Language –language that represents one thing in terms of something dissimilar (non-literal
language). Includes simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and symbolism
9.
Flashback- the method of returning to an earlier point in time for the purpose of making the present clearer
10.
Foreshadowing- hint of what is to come in a literary work
11.
Hyperbole – extreme exaggeration to add meaning
12.
Idiom - a combination of words that has a meaning that is different from the meanings of the individual
words themselves. It can have a literal meaning in one situation and a different idiomatic meaning in
another situation. It is a phrase which does not always follow the normal rules of meaning and grammar.
13.
Imagery – language that appeals to the five senses
14.
Irony
15.
16.
Dramatic… when the reader or audience knows something a character does not
Situational… when there is a disparity between what is expected and what actually occurs
Verbal… when the speaker says one thing but means the opposite
Metaphor – an implied comparison between dissimilar objects without the use of like or as: “Her talent
blossomed”
Motif- a recurring feature of a literary work that is related to the theme
17.
Onomatopoeia – use of a word whose sound imitates its meaning: “hiss”
18.
Oxymoron – phrase that consists of two words that are contradictory: “living dead” or “jumbo shrimp”
19.
Paradox – a statement that seems contradictory but may reveal a truth….. ex. “She was alone in the
crowd”.
20.
Personification – figure of speech in which non-human things are given human characteristics
21.
Plot- The sequence of events in a literary work
22.
Protagonist- the main character in a literary work
23.
Setting- The time and place of a literary work
24.
Simile – a direct comparison of dissimilar objects, usually using like or as: “I wandered lonely as a cloud”
25.
Stereotype- standardized, conventional ideas about characters, plots and settings
26.
Suspense – technique that keeps the reader guessing what will happen next
27.
Symbol/symbolism – one thing (object, person, place) used to represent something else
28.
Theme – the underlying main idea of a literary work. Theme differs from the subject of a literary work in
that it involves a statement or opinion about the subject.
29.
Tone – the author’s attitude toward the subject of a work or toward the audience