Christ the King Cathedral School
Required Summer Reading Program
Students entering 12th Grade
2016-2017
Imagine a football player who never picks up a ball or lifts any weights until
the first game of the fall. Imagine a dancer who never practices until the week
before the recital. Imagine a car mechanic who never practices putting a motor
together until a customer comes. Does the word “unsuccessful” come to mind?
Here at Christ the King High School, we know that students needs some time
to rest and relax for the summer. However, we also know that a student who stops
practicing the gains they have made in reading and thinking will lose the momentum
they have achieved in the past year. Therefore, we require summer reading of all
students entering grades 9 through 12 in the coming year as well as assignments
that will help students further prepare for college no matter their interests.
All students need to read two novels or nonfiction works over the summer
and complete the accompanying assignments by August 16, the first one-half day of
school in the fall. At that time there will be additional tests and writing
assignments using this summer work. If you read any additional novels from the
choice lists with additional assignments, you will receive extra credit.
12th grade Required Books Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis Additional Choices for Extra Credit: The Gospel of Luke in the New Testament The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 1 Assignments for 12th Grade Summer Reading--Out of the two required books, decide
which one to read and annotate for a test at the beginning of classes in August. For the other of
the two required books, choose three of the following activities out of the chart. These must be
complete and ready to turn in on the first day of class, August 16, which is a half-day. Remember
that as soon as school begins, you will also be taking a test over each book. Please note that
plagiarism will not be tolerated. Any paper or project that is copied or pasted so that it is
not your own will receive a zero.
From the chart below, you must pick three in a row. You must use the center box. Put your assignments on a poster board or a trifold. Make the poster board or trifold neat, colorful, and creative. Make sure that you put your name, title of your book, and author’s name.
Book Jacket Create a book jacket for your novel. It cannot be similar to the original jacket. See the directions on the next page to make sure you include all required elements. Alternate Ending Bridge Builder Make the following connections to your book. You need two connections for all three categories. Text to Self Text to Text Text to World Required Box Write an alternate ending to the novel. Your ending should be equivalent in length to the last chapter of your novel. Plot Diagram Create a plot diagram for the novel. Include the following on your diagram. Exposition Rising Action Climax Falling Action Resolution Conflict Theme Statement Protagonist , Antagonist Dialectical Journal Create a dialectical journal with fifteen entries. Make sure to include entries about the following literary devices. Theme, tone, imagery(more than one type), Conflict, and characterization Discussion Leader Questions Create ten questions that are at least level three or four. These are questions that would lead a discussion about the novel; answer five of the ten. Comic Strip Create a ten box comic strip that illustrates the main plot of the novel. Character Autopsy Create an autopsy of the protagonist or antagonist. Draw the character and include at least eight body parts and quotes to support your responses. Short Answer Question Respond to the following in an effective paragraph Explain the theme of the novel. Support your response with evidence from the novel. This must have 200 or more words following our guidelines. 2 1. Book Jacket
a. See this website for ideas.
b. http://homeworktips.about.com/od/englishhomework/ss/How-To-Design-ABook-Cover.htm
2.
3.
4.
5.
c. The following items must be included: summary of beginning,
middle, and end of book, paragraph about author, examples of
literary terms labeled and explained including simile, metaphor,
imagery of each type, symbol, and personification. You must also
include drawings or pictures.
Plot Diagram
a. Go to
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/plotdiagram/
b. Enter the parts of your book that would be in each part of the
plot.
c. Print
Comic Strip—This can be hand-drawn or computer produced.
Alternate Ending—This should be typed in comic sans ms of 12 with one
inch margins and double-spaced.
Dialectical Journal—
a. Follow double-column format with the quote and page number on
the left and your comments on the right.
b. Comments must be 30 or more words in sentences.
c. Entries should be from every chapter of the book.
d. Demonstrate depth of thinking in your comments.
e. Be sure to include all of the different elements somewhere in the
entries: Theme, tone, imagery(more than one type), Conflict, and
characterization.
Example:
The quality of mercy is not strained. (155)
When Portia says this in disguise to Shylock
and the court, it helps to develop the theme
that showing mercy to others can solve many
problems. Shylock has asked for an
impossible payment that he believes Antonio
owes him, but Portia says undeserved
forgiveness is what is important.
6. Character autopsy:
See directions on page 4.
3 A Character Autopsy
Procedure:
One group member lies on the butcher paper. The others outline the body in pencil
(so you don’t get markers on clothing and in case you need to erase any mistakes).
Then, trace the outline in marker so it will show. The drawing will be life size!
Find quotations/passages or use your own words to illustrate at least eight of the
following “body parts” for a post-reading autopsy of one of the major characters
from Antigone – Antigone, Creon, Ismene, or Haemon. Place these strategically on
the body outline. Write the line number(s) in parentheses after each quotation or
passage. (At least half of your body parts should be illustrated with quotations
from the text!) All members should sign the project. Neatness, color, artistic
effort, as well as the most appropriate quotations/passages will earn you the
highest points.
Body Parts:
o Head-Intellectual side: What are your character’s dreams? Visions?
Philosophies?
o Eyes- See the world through your character’s eyes. What fears affect him
or her?
o Ears- What do others say about the character?
o Mouth-Communication- What philosophy does he or she share/espouse?
What arguments/debates?
o Arms- Did the author embrace a stereotype or break away from one? Is
your character a stereotypical (stock) character, or does he or she go
against preconceptions?
o Wrists- In what ways is your character bound by historical restraints? How
does the time period affect his or her behavior?
o Hands- What are the character’s actions? What does he or she do, and
what are the effects on others?
o Heart- What is your character’s motivation? Love? Pride? Faith? Justice?
Does the character struggle with a moral dilemma?
o Right Leg- Strengths and virtues: What is one of your character’s virtues?
o Left Leg- Weakness: What is one of your character’s flaws?
o “Wings”- Is your character dynamic? How did he or she change over the
course of the play?
4 7. Bridge Builder
a. Your job is to build bridges between the events of the book and
other people, places, or events in school, the community, or your
own life.
b. Look for connections between the text, yourself, other texts, and
the world.
c. In the table, put a quote from the text with the page number.
d. Choose which type of connection to make and then write that
connection and why it is important in the third column.
e. Your explanation should be 30 or more words in sentences.
f. You will need to find six connections, two for each type.
g. The connections should come from the beginning, middle and end
of the book.
h. Use the chart provided on a later page to answer these questions.
i. Here is one example:
Information from
Type of connection
Explanation of connection
text
The quality of mercy
• Text to Self
This connects with the world
is not strained.
• Text to Text
right now because in Nigeria
(155)
• Text to World 300 girls have been
kidnapped. It would be
difficult to have mercy on
the kidnappers. However,
the first priority is finding
the girls. We do not seem
to have a plan to save these
real life people who need
our mercy.
8. Discussion Leader Questions
a. Your job is to develop a list of questions you think a discussion
group should discuss about the book.
b. Use your knowledge of levels of questions to create thoughtprovoking literal, interpretive, and experience questions. These
are explained on a later page of the handout.
c. Try to create questions that encourage your group to consider
many ideas. (cont.)
5 d. When we have a discussion group in the fall, you will help your
group explore these important ideas and share their reactions. You
will be in charge of leading the day’s discussion. You will need ten
questions, and these must be higher levels of either level 3 or
level 4.
e. Write out answers for five of the questions in paragraph form.
If they are higher level questions, they cannot be adequately
answered in a sentence. Explain your answers and use text
evidence in them.
9. Short answer question:
a. In a paragraph of 200 or more words, tell what one possible
theme for this book might be. (Remember: A theme is the
author’s message about life on this planet. It is not a word. Here
is an example of a theme. People often get hurt from
carelessness.)
b. Be sure to include text evidence, meaning direct quotes from the
book that are blended into sentences.
c. This must have a thesis and a conclusion.
d. Follow all the conventions of English.
6 Levels of Questions
Level One Questions (Text Explicit) Readers
can point to one correct answer right in the
text. Words found in these questions include:
•
•
•
•
defining
observing
describing
naming
*listing
*noting
*reciting
*identifying
Level 1 statement
•
•
•
•
Level Two Questions (Text Implicit)
Readers infer answers from what the text
implicitly states, finding answers in several
places in the text. Words found in these
questions include:
Level 2 Statement
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
analyzing
*sequencing
grouping
*inferring
synthesizing
comparing/contrasting
Level Three Questions (Experience
Based: Hypothesis/Prediction)
Readers use the text to predict future
actions or to infer hypothetical
situations or responses.
• If
• What if
• Predicting
Level Four Questions (Experience
Based: Analysis and Evaluation)
Readers think beyond what the text
states. Analysis and Evaluation occur
based on prior experience. Words found
in these questions include:
• Evaluating
• Judging
• Applying
Define irony. (English)
Identify the starting date of the American
Revolution. (History)
Define tangent. (Math)
Define photosynthesis. (Science)
•
Compare and contrast Mr. Frank and Mr.
Van Daan in Anne Frank: Diary of a Young
Girl. (English)
Analyze the causes of the American
Revolution. (History)
Compare the square root of 49 to the
square root of 64. Which is greater? (Math)
Diagram and order the stages of
photosynthesis. (Science)
Level 3 Statement
•
•
•
•
If Anne Frank had lived, predict what
she would be doing now. (English)
Predict what may happen to the economy
on the present course. (History)
If the number is doubled, predict what
will happen to the graph. (Math)
Predict the possible outcomes of the
experiment. (Science)
Level Four Statements
•
•
•
Evaluate how effective the writer uses
character development to show the
theme in Frankenstein.
Judge whether the author’s use of
imagery contributes to the setting or
the characterization in My Antonia.
Apply your knowledge of Catholic
teaching on social justice to the ideas in
The Pearl.
7 Bridge Builder
Information from Text
Types
•
•
•
of Connections
Text to Self
Text to Text
Text to World
•
•
•
Text to Self
Text to Text
Text to World
•
•
•
Text to Self
Text to Text
Text to World
•
•
•
Text to Self
Text to Text
Text to World
•
•
•
Text to Self
Text to Text
Text to World
•
•
•
Text to Self
Text to Text
Text to World
Explain the connection
8 Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
THINGS FALL APART tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a “strong man” of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first of these stories traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society. The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, and which elevates the book to a tragic plane, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world through the arrival of aggressive, proselytizing European missionaries. These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized, and they are modulated by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. THINGS FALL APART is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to the modern African experience as seen from within. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a classic masterpiece of religious satire that entertains
readers with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of
Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below." At once wildly comic, deadly
serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account
of temptation—and triumph over it—ever written.
9 The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
In a poor, remote section of Southern Mexico, the paramilitary group, the Red Shirts have taken control. God has been outlawed, and the priests have been systematically hunted down and killed. Now, the last priest is on the run. Too human for heroism, too humble for martyrdom, the nameless little worldly “whiskey priest” is nevertheless impelled toward his squalid Calvary as much by his own compassion for humanity as by the efforts of his pursuers. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce,
evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry
with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from
garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a
suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of
three decades in postcolonial Africa.
**Please note:
These books are available online at places like Amazon.com for pennies if one chooses to
purchase a used book. They will also be available at Barnes and Noble in town. Students may
borrow these books from the public library or from past students. Things Fall Apart is
available online for free. Please contact me at any time during the summer with questions at
my school email address: [email protected] ****Book descriptions are from Amazon.com.
10 ***Please note also:
If a student chooses to read one of the extra credit books, they must also complete two of
the activities from the graphic organizer to receive the extra credit. I will give the extra
credit to help the student’s grade at the end of the first nine weeks in whatever area I would
determine to be most appropriate. This would also be dependent on the effort put into the
assigned activities. Those taking dual credit classes in the fall will need to complete this
reading as well. There is no dual credit English available in the Spring, so this will be part of
your grade at that time. It is still due at the beginning of the year.
Time Management
In order to complete these assignments in a timely manner, here is a proposed
schedule to read these materials.
1. If you read one chapter a day of Things Fall Apart beginning on
June 20th, you will complete the 25 chapters by July 15. (These
chapters are extremely short.)
2. If you read two letters a day of The Screwtape Letters beginning
on July 16, you will complete all 31 letters by August 1.
3. On August 1, start working on your project for one of the books
so that it will be complete by the time school begins.
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