9TH GRADE SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT
CANYON HIGH SCHOOL 2016
FOCUS ON CHARACTER
Welcome to 9
th
grade Honors English at Canyon High School!
If you are unsure about your acceptance in honors, contact your counselor via email (go to
www.canyonhighcowboys.org to find your counselor)
All 9th grade Honors students in English must complete a summer reading assignment in order to
remain in the honors program. This is not an assignment to be taken lightly, as it will be the basis
for your first assignments in honors English when school begins.
Please follow the steps below in order to complete the assignment to the best of your ability. We
recommend that you purchase the novel that you choose to read this summer, so you may underline,
highlight or further mark up your book as you read—also known as annotating. Books are available
at Barnes and Noble, or online at Amazon.com.
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU READ THIS WHOLE PACKET!
STEP ONE Novel Selection:
With your parent/guardian’s approval, you will select a novel that meets the following
requirements:
 Fiction
 NOT turned into a movie
 300+ pages
 Grade-level appropriate
 School appropriate
 You CANNOT select the following books because they are part of the required high
school curriculum:
-Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
-To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
-Lord of the Flies by William Golding
-Night by Elie Wiesel
-Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
STEP TWO Preparing to Read:
While you actively read your selected novel, you will be reading it as a critic in order to create a
book review. What is a book review you ask?
A book review is a description, critical analysis, and an evaluation on the quality, meaning, and
significance of a book--not a retelling. It should focus on the book's purpose, content, and
authority. A critical book review is not a book report or a summary. It is a reaction paper in which
strengths and weaknesses of the material are analyzed. It should include a statement of what the
author has tried to do, evaluate how well (in the opinion of the reviewer) the author has succeeded,
and present evidence to support this evaluation (LAVC.com).
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STEP THREE Active Reading:
Please read and annotate your novel, record on a separate sheet of paper along with the page
number (aka parenthetical citation), and bring it to class the first day of school.
1. Annotating:
a. Interact with the text: As thoughts, feelings or reactions come to you during
your reading, write them down!!!
b. Question the text: if you find something is inconsistent, or problematic, note it
and possibly a solution.
c. Mark up the text: underline key lines or passages; identify some of your favorite
quotes and write/annotate next to these selections.
d. Identify major plot elements: this could be at the end of a chapter, or next to
certain paragraphs where you summarize key ideas.
e. **Identify characters and character development: characters are one of the most
important elements of a story, and it is important to note the unique qualities and
traits for major characters.
-Also, if you can make a connection to another character that you have read
about, note this, it is sometimes intentional
2. Please type your annotations (you will need to submit online as well as in person) and
number each annotation and identify which type of annotation with the assigned letter
above.
****You need to have at least 100 annotations = roughly 1 every other page****
STEP FOUR Online Submission:
1. Go to turnitin.com
2. Create an account using your school Google email address:
a. studentID#@my.hartdistrict.org
Ex: [email protected]
***make sure you input it correctly***
b. Make your password something you WILL NOT FORGET because we won’t have
access to change it
3. Enroll in my class:
a. Class ID#: 12637836
Password: honors
4. Title and submit your annotations to the assignment: “Summer Reading Assignment”
a. If you do your assignment on Google, you can do an import/upload
b. If you do it on a processor program like Microsoft Word, you can copy and paste into
the blank space.
WHAT TO BRING THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL:
1. Your typed annotations
2. This information packet
3. Novel, if you purchased it
***The book review is NOT due the first day; it will be completed during the 1st week of school***
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ASSIGNMENT:
Please contact Mrs. Hanks @ [email protected], giving ample time for response as
email will not be checked daily—this means don’t wait until the last minute!