Lakewood Summer Literacy Initiative 2013 For Students Entering Grades 9‐12 Instructions: 1. Preview the appropriate book list for your grade-level and the keystone assignments.
2. Read 3 books: At least 1 of your 3 books MUST be Nonfiction. Remember that these lists are only
suggested titles. Please feel free to add any books that interest you. The staff at the public library will also
have many wonderful suggestions for you.
 Don’t forget to complete any pre-reading activities you choose before you read.
3. Select and complete one keystone assignment for each book. You may not complete the same keystone
assignment more than once. Be sure that you choose a keystone assignment appropriate to your book
selection.
4. All students must complete the Self-Evaluation rubric after completion of your 3 keystone assignments.
5. Completed assignments should be given to your English Language Arts teacher on the first day of
school.
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Hours: Monday - Thursday 9-9, Friday & Saturday 9-5, Sunday 1-5 (September - May)
Keystone Assignments
Grades 9-12
1.
Create and present a Power Point Presentation based on one of the following: For Fiction: The
protagonist’s development throughout the novel, the significance of setting to the plot of the
novel, theme throughout the novel and its significance to the protagonist, or conflict and its ability
to change the protagonist/antagonist; For Nonfiction: The essential points of the author’s
argument or explanation, a comparison of two texts on the same topic, or an evaluation of the
author’s argument.
2. Utilizing library and internet resources, create a pictorial essay on the setting (time, place, and
atmosphere) of the novel or on the topic of your Nonfiction selection. Each photo should depict a
theme of the era or an important point about the topic. There must be a written caption stating
the particular theme/topic of the photo, as well as the name of the photographer, the date of the
photo, and an original title (your own title). Thematic examples include: home life, gender
relations, race relations, economic decline, etc. Nonfiction Topic examples include: Benjamin
Franklin’s life, World War II military innovations, how to be a successful teenager, global
warming, etc. Pictorial essays should include 10-12 photos of various themes well organized and
compiled with the appropriate caption information. Creativity and presentation count!
3. While reading, keep a blog that documents your experience as a reader, which includes your
thoughts and feelings about the work, the conclusions you make throughout the text, the
connections you utilize to authenticate the text, or any other idea that strikes you. Please note that
the purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your thought processes as you read and respond
to a novel or Nonficiton piece, which requires frequent and consistent reflection and blog entries.
In addition, the blog must be authentic and online, so internet access is preferable. To begin your
blog, go to www.wordpress.com and remember that your new English Language Arts teacher will
need access to your blog in order to assess your work! 4. Write a book review precisely following the parameters included here. Please note that all book
reviews must be typed in font Times New Roman 12, headed appropriately, titled, and the entire
document must follow MLA Style. For help with MLA Style, visit
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/.
5. Write a research paper on one of the social issues found in your novel of choice or on a topic
related to the subject of your Nonfiction selection. Research papers must have an appropriately
qualified, argumentative thesis statement, and they must be 3-5 double-spaced typed pages,
appropriately headed, and use font Times New Roman 12. The research paper must be formatted
in MLA Style, including any citations used when referencing another work in summary,
paraphrase, or direct quote. A Works Cited page must be appear as the last page of the document.
For more information, visit http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/.
6. Write a critical essay in response to one of the following topics: For Fiction: The protagonist’s
development throughout the novel, the significance of setting to the plot of the novel, theme
throughout the novel and its significance to the protagonist, or conflict and its ability to change
the protagonist/antagonist; For Nonfiction: The essential points of the author’s argument or
explanation, a comparison of two texts on the same topic, or an evaluation of the author’s
argument. Please note that all essays must be 2-5 pages, typed in font Times New Roman 12,
double-spaced, headed appropriately, titled, and the entire document must follow MLA Style. For
help with MLA Style, visit http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/.
7. Meeting of the Minds (Group Project—Minimum of four students. Completion of this keystone
assignment as described below requires reading two books and therefore counts as 2 keystone
activities): In order to complete this keystone activity, each member of your group must read A
Gathering of Old Men or a comparable title with the same theme AND a biography on one of the
figures listed below. One of the main themes of A Gathering of Old Men is racism in America. As
racism continues to be an issue in American society, your job is to investigate one historical or
contemporary figure and understand his or her views on the given topics having to do with racism and race
relations. You will compose a 2-3 page written summary of your figure’s key ideas and accomplishments
and you will participate in a debate as your character. In this way, your class will be able to compare and
contrast various points of view on the topic of race relations and see how these opinions and ideas have
been represented historically, as well as how they are represented today.
You must choose one of the following persons on which to complete your research:
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thomas Jefferson
Malcolm X
Abraham Lincoln
Colin Powell
Eleanor Roosevelt
Oprah Winfrey
Bill Clinton
Debate Topics
(Both questions answered and discussed as your figure. Two figures must oppose the other two figures):
A. Considering the racist views set forth in A Gathering of Old Men, should the novel be
read in schools? Why or why not?
B. What in the novel is particularly objectionable? Why?
*Students must be prepared to offer rebuttal of other arguments.
Paper Topics (written as your character) (choose 1 topic on which to write your paper):
A. What do you see as your personal responsibility regarding race relations?
B. What is racism? Is it simply segregation and/or hate crimes, or is it more complex?
Explain.
C. Do/Did you participate in any activities to further your own community, but not society
as a whole? Do you consider this racism?
D. Have you experienced racism first hand, as either the racist or as the victim of
racism? How did these events change your view of race relations?
**All papers must include a summary of your figure’s key ideas and accomplishments.
The Writing Components for Essays and Research Papers
Thesis Statement
 Tells what you will prove
 Tells how you will prove it
 Offers a plan of development (three or more examples)
 Last sentence of the introduction paragraph
Topic Sentences
 Support/prove thesis statement
 Tell what the paragraph will discuss
 Must be the writer’s ideas! No quotes, paraphrases, or summaries as topic sentences!
 First sentence of body paragraphs
Detail Sentences
 Support/prove topic sentences
 Sentences of body paragraphs (after topic sentences)
 SPECIFIC evidence!
 Great place for quotes, paraphrases and summaries!
 Note: All quotes, paraphrases, and summaries must be introduced, explained, and applied to the writer’s
argument!
Conclusion
 Restate thesis statement
 Summarize topic sentences
 Concluding remarks
 Last paragraph of essay
Introduction
 Introduce author and work (if applicable)
 Introduce topic of paper
 Discuss significance of topic (if applicable)
 Provide brief summary of the literary work (if applicable)
 Provide thesis statement (last sentence)
 First paragraph of essay
How to Write a Book Review
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, evaluates how well (in the opinion of the reviewer)
the author has succeeded, and presents evidence to support this evaluation.
Book reviews are highly personal and reflect the opinions of the reviewer. However, all book reviews must address
the following in some manner. Book reviews must be AT LEAST two typed pages.
The following are standard procedures for writing book reviews; they are suggestions, not formulae that must be
used.
1. Write a statement giving essential information about the book: title, author, first copyright date,
type of book, general subject matter, special features (maps, color plates, etc.), price and ISBN.
2. State the author’s purpose in writing the book. Sometimes authors state their purpose in the
preface or the first chapter. When they do not, you may arrive at an understanding of the book’s
purpose by asking yourself these questions:
a. Why did the author write on this subject rather than on some other subject?
b. From what point of view is the work written?
c. Was the author trying to give information, to explain something technical, to
convince the reader of a belief’s validity by dramatizing it in action?
d. What is the general field or genre, and how does the book fit into it? (Use
outside sources to familiarize yourself with the field, if necessary.) Knowledge of
the genre means understanding the art form. and how it functions.
e. Who is the intended audience?
f. What is the author's style? Is it formal or informal? Evaluate the quality of the
writing style by using some of the following standards: coherence, clarity,
originality, forcefulness, correct use of technical words, conciseness, fullness of
development, fluidity. Does it suit the intended audience?
g. Scan the Table of Contents, it can help understand how the book is organized
and will aid in determining the author's main ideas and how they are developed chronologically, topically, etc.
g. How did the book affect you? Were any previous ideas you had on the subject
changed, abandoned, or reinforced due to this book? How is the book related to
your own course or personal agenda? What personal experiences you've had relate
to the subject?
h. How well has the book achieved its goal?
i. Would you recommend this book or article to others? Why?
3. State the theme and the thesis of the book.
a. Theme: The theme is the subject or topic. It is not necessarily the title, and it is
usually not expressed in a complete sentence. It expresses a specific phase of the
general subject matter.
b. Thesis: The thesis is an author’s generalization about the theme, the author’s
beliefs about something important, the book’s philosophical conclusion, or the
proposition the author means to prove. Express it without metaphor or other
figurative language, in one declarative sentence.
Example
Title: We Had it Made
General Subject Matter: Religious Intolerance
Theme: The effects of religious intolerance on a small town
Thesis: Religious intolerance, a sickness of individuals,
contaminates an entire social group
4. Explain the method of development-the way the author supports the thesis. Illustrate your
remarks with specific references and quotations. In general, authors tend to use the following
methods, exclusively or in combination.
a. Description: The author presents word-pictures of scenes and events by giving
specific details that appeal to the five senses, or to the reader’s imagination.
Description presents background and setting. Its primary purpose is to help the
reader realize, through as many sensuous details as possible, the way things (and
people) are, in the episodes being described.
b. Narration: The author tells the story of a series of events, usually presented in
chronological order. In a novel however, chronological order may be violated for
the sake of the plot. The emphasis in narration, in both fiction and non-fiction, is
on the events. Narration tells what has happened. Its primary purpose is to tell a
story.
c. Exposition: The author uses explanation and analysis to present a subject or to
clarify an idea. Exposition presents the facts about a subject or an issue as clearly
and impartially as possible. Its primary purpose is to explain.
d. Argument: The author uses the techniques of persuasion to establish the truth
of a statement or to convince the reader of its falsity. The purpose is to persuade
the reader to believe something and perhaps to act on that belief. Argument takes
sides on an issue. Its primary purpose is to convince.
5. Evaluate the book for interest, accuracy, objectivity, importance, thoroughness, and usefulness to
its intended audience. Show whether the author's main arguments are true. Respond to the
author's opinions. What do you agree or disagree with? And why? Illustrate whether or not any
conclusions drawn are derived logically from the evidence. Explore issues the book raises. What
possibilities does the book suggest? What has the author omitted or what problems were left
unsolved? What specific points are not convincing? Compare it with other books on similar
subjects or other books by the same as well as different authors. Is it only a reworking of earlier
books; a refutation of previous positions? Have newly uncovered sources justified a new approach
by the author? Comment on parts of particular interest, and point out anything that seems to give
the book literary merit. Relate the book to larger issues.
6. Try to find further information about the author - reputation, qualifications, influences,
biographical, etc. - any information that is relevant to the book being reviewed and that would help
to establish the author's authority. Can you discern any connections between the author's
philosophy, life experience and the reviewed book?
7. If relevant, make note of the book's format - layout, binding, typography, etc. Are there maps,
illustrations? Do they aid understanding?
8. Check the back matter. Is the index accurate? Check any end notes or footnotes as you read from
chapter to chapter. Do they provide important additional information? Do they clarify or extend
points made in the body of the text? Check any bibliography the author may provide. What kinds
of sources, primary or secondary, appear in the bibliography? How does the author make use of
them? Make note of important omissions.
9. Summarize (briefly), analyze, and comment on the book’s content. State your general
conclusions. Pay particular attention to the author's concluding chapter. Is the summary
convincing? List the principal topics, and briefly summarize the author’s ideas about these topics,
main points, and conclusions. Use specific references and quotations to support your statements. If
your thesis has been well argued, the conclusion should follow naturally. It can include a final
assessment or simply restate your thesis. Do not introduce new material at this point.
Some Considerations When Reviewing specific genres:
Fiction (above all, do not give away the story)
Character
1.From what sources are the characters drawn?
2.What is the author's attitude toward his characters?
3.Are the characters flat or three-dimensional?
4.Does character development occur?
5.Is character delineation direct or indirect?
Theme
1.What is/are the major theme(s)?
2.How are they revealed and developed?
3.Is the theme traditional and familiar, or new and original?
4.Is the theme didactic, psychological, social, entertaining, escapist, etc. in purpose or intent?
Plot
1.How are the various elements of plot (e.g., introduction, suspense, climax, conclusion) handled?
2.What is the relationship of plot to character delineation?
3.To what extent, and how, is accident employed as a complicating and/or resolving force?
4.What are the elements of mystery and suspense?
5.What other devices of plot complication and resolution are employed?
6.Is there a sub-plot and how is it related to the main plot?
7.Is the plot primary or secondary to some of the other essential elements of the story (character,
setting, style, etc.)?
Style
1.What are the "intellectual qualities" of the writing (e.g., simplicity, clarity)?
2.What are the "emotional qualities" of the writing (e.g., humor, wit, satire)?
3..What are the "aesthetic qualities" of the writing (e.g., harmony, rhythm)?
4.What stylistic devices are employed (e.g., symbolism, motifs, parody, allegory)?
5.How effective is dialogue?
Setting
1.What is the setting and does it play a significant role in the work?
2.Is a sense of atmosphere evoked, and how?
3.What scenic effects are used and how important and effective are they?
4.Does the setting influence or impinge on the characters and/or plot?
Biography
1.Does the book give a "full-length" picture of the subject?
2.What phases of the subject's life receive greatest treatment and is this treatment justified?
3.What is the point of view of the author?
4.How is the subject matter organized: chronologically, retrospectively, etc.?
5.Is the treatment superficial or does the author show extensive study into the subject's life?
6.What source materials were used in the preparation of the biography?
7.Is the work documented?
8.Does the author attempt to get at the subject's hidden motives?
9.What important new facts about the subject's life are revealed in the book?
10.What is the relationship of the subject's career to contemporary history?
11.How does the biography compare with others about the same person?
12.How does it compare with other works by the same author?
History and other Nonfiction
1.With what particular subject or period does the book deal?
2.How thorough is the treatment?
3.What were the sources used?
4.Is the account given in broad outline or in detail?
5.Is the style that of reportorial writing, or is there an effort at interpretive writing?
6.What is the point of view or thesis of the author?
7.Is the treatment superficial or profound?
8.For what group is the book intended (textbook, popular, scholarly, etc.)?
9.What part does biographical writing play in the book?
10.Is social history or political history emphasized?
11.Are dates used extensively, and if so, are they used intelligently?
12.Is the book a revision? How does it compare with earlier editions?
13.Are maps, illustrations, charts, etc. used and how are these to be evaluated?
Poetry
1.Is this a work of power, originality, individuality?
2.What kind of poetry is under review (epic, lyrical, elegiac, etc.)?
3.What poetical devices have been used (rhyme, rhythm, figures of speech, imagery, etc.), and to what
effect?
4.What is the central concern of the poem and is it effectively expressed?
Note: The books on the following list are only suggestions. Please feel free to add any
books that are appropriate for your interests, grade-level, and reading level. The staff at
the public library will also have many wonderful suggestions for you!
Suggested Reading Grades 9-12
Adventure Land Author Bruchac, Joseph
Title Wolf Mark Grade‐Level
9 Reading Level
7 ‐ 12
Cypess, Leah Mistwood 9
6 ‐ 9
Yancey, Richard 9 9 ‐ 12
Investigating History Bowers, Rick Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp (any book in Alfred Kropp series) Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Agency that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement 9 7 ‐ 10
Crowe, Chris 9 7 ‐ 12
Nelson, Peter 9 9 ‐ 12
No Joke Nonfiction Aronson, Marc 9 8 ‐ 12
Covey, Sean 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide 9 7 ‐ 12
Kurlansky, Mark
World Without Fish 9 6 ‐ 9
Stone, Tanya Lee Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us 9 7 ‐ 10
Sports Center Draper, Sharon Tears of a Tiger
9 7 ‐ 10
Headley, Justina Chen Girl Overboard
9 9 ‐ 12
Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Spice, Magic, Slavery, Freedom, and Science Summary When Lucas King's covert‐ops father is kidnapped and his best friend Meena is put in danger, Luke's only chance to save them‐‐a skin that will let him walk as a wolf‐‐is hidden away in an abandoned mansion guarded by monsters. Brought back from the Mistwood to protect the royal family, a girl who has no memory of being a shape‐shifter encounters political and magical intrigue as she struggles with her growing feelings for the prince. The last descendant of Sir Lancelot, teenage misfit Alfred Kropp is drawn back into the OIPEP to battle a group of demons bent on freeing themselves from the confines of an ancient relic. In 1956, at the height of the civil rights era, the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was created to counter the movement for racial integration. Bowers, a career journalist, chronicles 10 years of the commission's propaganda campaigns, bribery, and its collection of files on 87,000 citizens and organizations including freedom riders and protest marchers. Using archival photographs and primary sources, Crow describes how the Mississippi murder of fourteen‐year‐old Emmett Till contributed to the Civil Rights Movement. Recalls the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis at the end of World War II, the Navy cover‐up and court martial of the captain, and how a young boy helped the survivors set the record straight 55 years later. Chronicles the human pursuit of sugar to satisfy our collective sweet tooth. The book describes this history in terms of ages, beginning with the Age of Honey, through the Age of Sugar and its slave‐supported "factory" plantation method of production; and into a period of science and freedom, when enslaved workers claimed their human rights and production of sweeteners shifted from the field to the lab. Being a teenager is both wonderful and challenging. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, author Sean Covey applies the timeless principles of the 7 Habits to teens and the tough issues and life‐changing decisions they face. The alarming true story of what's happening to the fish, the oceans and our environment. It tells how and why the fish we most commonly eat, including tuna, salmon, cod and swordfish, could become extinct within fifty years. It is a call to action. During her unparalleled fifty‐year history, Barbie has been the doll that some people love and some people love to hate. There's no question she's influenced generations, but to what end? Acclaimed nonfiction author Tanya Lee Stone takes an unbiased look at how Barbie became the icon that she is, and at the impact that she's had on our culture (and vice versa). The death of high school basketball star Rob Washington in an automobile accident affects the life of his close friend Andy, who was driving the car, and many others in the school. After a snowboarding accident, Syrah Cheng, a billionaire's daughter, must rehabilitate both her knee and her self‐esteem while forging relationships with those who accept her for who she is. Deuker, Carl Payback Time 9 7 ‐ 10
The End of the World As We Know It Maberry, Jonathan Rot and Ruin (any book in Benny Imura series) 9 9 ‐ 12
Pfeffer, Susan Beth Life as We Knew It (or sequel: The Dead and the Gone) 9 6 ‐ 12
Westerfeld, Scott Leviathan (any book in Leviathan series) 9 7 ‐ 10
Not Middle School Anymore Dessen, Sarah That Summer 9 9 ‐ 12
Koss, Amy Goldman McNamee, Graham Side Effects 9 6 ‐ 8
Acceleration 9 9 ‐ 12
Myers, Walter Dean Lockdown 9 7 ‐ 10
Zarr, Sara Sweethearts 9 8 ‐ 12
We’re At War Anderson, Laurie Halse Chains (or sequel: Forge) 9 7‐10
Bruchac, Joseph
Code Talker 9 6 ‐ 9
Dogar, Sharon Annexed 9 8 ‐ 12
Venkatraman, Padma Climbing the Stairs 9 6 ‐ 9
Ernest Hemingway Farewell To Arms
10 Adult
Overweight, somewhat timid Mitch reluctantly agrees to be the sports reporter for the Lincoln High newspaper because he is determined to be a writer, but he senses a real story in Angel, a talented football player who refuses to stand out on the field‐‐or to discuss his past. In a post‐apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen‐year‐old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter. Sixteen‐year‐old Miranda describes her
struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. The Dead and the Gone describes the same event from the viewpoint of Alex Morales, who must take care of his sisters in the chaos of New York City. In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen‐year‐old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically‐
engineered beasts. During the summer of her divorced father's remarriage and her sister's wedding, fifteen‐
year‐old Haven comes into her own by letting go of the myths of the past. Everything changes for Isabelle, not quite fifteen, when she is diagnosed with lymphoma. Stuck working in the lost and found department of the Toronto Transit authority for the summer, seventeen‐year‐old Duncan finds the diary of a serial killer and sets out to stop him. Teenage Reese, serving time at a juvenile detention facility, gets a lesson in making it through hard times from an unlikely friend with a harrowing past. Jennifer Harris, years after being the tormented outsider on the playground, has reinvented herself into Jenna Vaughn, a popular girl with what seems to be the perfect life. When a childhood friend re‐enters her life, she is forced to confront the most traumatic event of her past and question who she really is. After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War. After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue. Everyone knows about Anne Frank and her life hidden in the secret annex ‐‐ but what about the boy who was also trapped there with her? In this powerful and gripping novel, Sharon Dogar explores what this might have been like from Peter's point of view. In India, in 1941, when her father becomes brain‐damaged in a non‐violent protest march, fifteen‐year‐old Vidya and her family are forced to move in with her father's extended family and become accustomed to a totally different way of life. An American ambulance officer serving on the Austro‐Italian front deserts to join an English nurse after the retreat of Caporetto. On and Off the Field Myers, Walter Dean Kick 10
7 ‐ 12
Coy, John Crackback 10 8 ‐ 11
A Day in the Life of… Myers, Walter Dean Greatest: Muhammad Ali 10 9 ‐ 12
Runyon, Brent Burn Journals 10 6 ‐ 12
Shields, Charles I Am Scout: Biography of Harper Lee 10 7 ‐ 12
Are You Afraid of the Dark? Bodeen, S.A. Gardener 10 7 ‐ 10
Riggs, Ransom Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 10 8 ‐ 12
Ryan, Carrie Forest of Hands and Teeth (or any book in Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy) 10 9 ‐ 12
Smith, Alexander Gordon Lockdown (or any book in Escape from Furnace series) 10 6 ‐ 9
Criminal Minds Beaudoin, Sean You Killed Wesley Payne 10 9 ‐ 12
Black, Holly White Cat (or any book in Curse Workers series) 10 9 ‐ 12
Lockhart, E. Disreputable History of Frankie Landau‐Banks 10 9 ‐ 12
Soto, Gary Afterlife 10 7 ‐ 10
Volponi, Paul Black And White
10 9 ‐ 12
Told in their separate voices, thirteen‐year‐old soccer star Kevin and police sergeant Brown, who knew his father, try to keep Kevin out of juvenile hall after he is arrested on very serious charges. Miles barely recalls when football was fun after being sidelined by a new coach, constantly criticized by his father, and pressured by his best friend to take performance‐enhancing drugs. An illustrated biography of boxing great Muhammad Ali that addresses his politics, his fight against Parkinson's disease, and the dangers of boxing. The true story of Brent Runyon, who at 14 set himself on fire and sustained burns over eighty percent of his body, and was forced to spend months in painful rehabilitation while attempting to understand his life. This riveting portrait reveals the life story of Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most widely read novels in American literature. When high school sophomore Mason finds a beautiful but catatonic girl in the nursing home where his mother works, the discovery leads him to revelations about a series of disturbing human experiments that have a connection to his own life. After a family tragedy, Jacob feels compelled to explore an abandoned orphanage on an island off the coast of Wales, discovering disturbing facts about the children who were kept there. Mary's village is surrounded by a fence. Outside the fence is the Forest of Hands and Teeth, full of the zombie‐like Unconsecrated. Mary, no longer content to live by the rules of the Sisterhood that govern the village, is forced to seek what lies beyond. When fourteen‐year‐old Alex is framed for murder, he becomes an inmate in the Furnace Penitentiary, where brutal inmates and sadistic guards reign, boys who disappear in the middle of the night sometimes return weirdly altered, and escape might just be possible. When hard‐boiled, seventeen‐year‐old private investigator Dalton Rev transfers to Salt River High to solve the case of a dead student, he has his hands full trying to outwit the police, negotiate the school's social hierarchy, and get paid. When Cassel Sharpe discovers that his older brothers have used him to carry out their criminal schemes and then stolen his memories, he figures out a way to turn their evil machinations against them. Frankie Landau‐Banks attempts to take over a secret, all‐male society at her exclusive prep school, and her antics with the group soon draw some unlikely attention and have unexpected consequences that could change her life forever. A ghost story with a twist. Dead for no good reason, East Fresno HS senior Chuy lives on as a ghost after his brutal murder in the restroom of a club where he went to dance. Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently after committing a crime together and getting caught. Girl Talk Altebrando, Tara Dreamland Social Club 10 7 ‐ 12 Han, Jenny Summer I Turned Pretty 10 7 ‐ 10
Woodson, Jacqueline If You Come Softly (or sequel: Behind You) 10 7 ‐ 10
Military Missions Kopelman, Jay From Baghdad with Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava 10 Adult
Opdyke, Irene 10 9 ‐ 12
Reinhardt, Dana
In My Hands: Memories Of A Holocaust Rescuer Things a Brother Knows 10 9 ‐ 12
Sepetys, Ruta Between Shades of Gray 10 7 ‐ 12
The History of the U.S. Armstrong, Thomas M. Autobiography of a Freedom Rider: My Life as a Foot Soldier for Civil Rights 10 Adult
Sedgwick, Marcus Revolver 10 7 ‐ 10
Swanson, James
Chasing Lincoln's Killer 10 7 ‐ 12
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell 10 9 ‐ 12
William Faulkner They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group The Unvanquished 11 Adult Jane, her twin brother Marcus, and their father have been on the road since her mother's departure years ago, but when they inherit a house on Coney Island, Jane not only begins to find a home, she learns much about her mother, too. Belly spends the summer she turns sixteen at the beach just like every other summer of her life, but this time things are very different. After meeting at their private school in New York, 15‐year‐old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with peoples' reactions. During his tour of duty in Iraq, Lt. Colonel Jay Kopelman of the U.S. Marines suffered the emotional ravages common for those involved in the bloody battle for Fallujah. Breaking the strict military rules forbidding pets, Kopelman and his comrades adopted an abandoned puppy left behind after the battle in the dangerous red zone. The dog (named Lava) befriended the marines and journalists, and was eventually smuggled out of Iraq. Recounts the experiences of the author who, as a young Polish girl, hid and saved Jews during the Holocaust. Although they have never gotten along well, seventeen‐year‐old Levi follows his older brother Boaz, an ex‐Marine, on a walking trip from Boston to Washington, D.C. in hopes of learning why Boaz is completely withdrawn. In 1941, fifteen‐year‐old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life. Civil Rights Movement veteran Armstrong presents this memoir of his involvement in the Freedom Rides in the early 1960's and history of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1961, a diverse group of young, socially conscious intellectuals boarded Greyhound buses and trains bound for the deep South. These individuals, known as Freedom Riders, sparked the beginning of the non‐violent Civil Rights Movement. Finland, 1910: Fifteen‐year‐old Sig is shocked to see a hole in the frozen lake outside his family's cabin and to find his father's corpse nearby. Sig's sister and stepmother go for help, leaving Sig alone with Einar's body in the cabin. Soon after, an armed stranger barges in, demanding a share of Einar's stolen gold from when the two men knew each other during the Alaska Gold Rush. This book recounts the twelve‐day pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth, covering the chase through Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. It describes Abraham Lincoln as a father, husband, and friend and examines the impact of his death on those close to him. Documents the history and origin of the Ku Klux Klan from its beginning in Pulaski, Tennessee, and provides personal accounts, congressional documents, diaries, and more Set in Mississippi during the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Sartoris family, who with their code of personal responsibility and courage, stands for the best of the Old South's traditions. …And the People In It Aronson, Marc Witch‐Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials 11 9 ‐ 12
Partridge, Elizabeth John Lennon: All I Want Is The Truth 11 9 ‐ 12
Kuklin, Susan 11 10 ‐ 12
Ballers Myers, Walter Dean No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row Game 11 8 ‐ 12
Pena, Matt de la Ball Don’t Lie 11 7‐12
Generation Next Condie, Allyson Matched (or any book in Matched trilogy) 11 9 ‐ 12
Doctorow, Cory Little Brother 11 8 ‐ 12
Pearson, Mary 11 8 ‐ 12
Gore, Guts, and More Clare, Cassandra Adoration of Jenna Fox (or sequel: The Fox Inheritance) Clockwork Angel (or any book in The Infernal Devices series) 11 6 ‐ 12
Jones, Frewin Faerie Path (or any book in Faerie Path series) 11 9 ‐ 12
Yancey, Richard Monstrumologist (or any book in Monstrumologist series) 11 9 ‐ 12
Kids in Crisis Brown, Jennifer Bitter End 11 9 ‐ 12
Johnson, Angela
First Part Last 11 6 ‐ 12
Werlin, Nancy Rules Of Survival
11 9 ‐ 10
What happened in Salem? Sifting through the facts, myths, half‐truths, misinterpretations and theories the book presents a vivid narrative of one of the mysteries of American history. Presents a biography of musician John Lennon, chronicling his life and times from his troubled childhood in Liverpool, England, through his career, writing, recording, and performing as a member of the Beatles. Takes readers into American prisons and allows inmates sentenced to death as teenagers to speak for themselves. If Harlem high school senior Drew Lawson is going to realize his dream of playing college, then professional, basketball, he will have to improve at being coached and being a team player, especially after a new‐‐white‐‐student threatens to take the scouts' attention away from him. 17‐year‐old Sticky lives to play basketball at school and at Lincoln Recreation Center in Los Angeles and is headed for the pros, but he is unaware of the many dangers‐‐including his own past‐‐that threaten his dream. All her life, Cassia has never had a choice. The Society dictates everything: when and how to play, where to work, where to live, what to eat and wear, when to die, and most importantly to Cassia as she turns 17, who to marry. When she is Matched with her best friend Xander, things couldn't be more perfect. But why did her neighbor Ky's face show up on her match disk as well? Marcus and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are arrested and use their tech skills to fight back. In the not‐to‐distant future, seventeen‐year‐
old Jenna wakes up from a serious accident and begins to suspect that she isn't who she used to be. When sixteen‐year‐old orphan Tessa Fell's older brother suddenly vanishes, her search for him leads her into Victorian‐era London's dangerous supernatural underworld, and when she discovers that she herself is a Downworlder, she must learn to trust the demon‐killing Shadowhunters if she ever wants to learn to control her powers and find her brother. Anita, an ordinary sixteen‐year‐old girl, is transported from modern‐day London to the realm of Faerie where she discovers that she is Princess Tania, the long‐lost daughter of King Oberon and Queen Titania. In 1888, twelve‐year‐old Will Henry chronicles his apprenticeship with Dr. Warthrop, a scientist who hunts and studies real‐life monsters, as they discover and attempt to destroy a pod of Anthropophagi. When seventeen‐year‐old Alex starts dating Cole, a new boy at her high school, her two closest friends increasingly mistrust him as the relationship grows more serious. Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter. Seventeen‐year‐old Matthew recounts his attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the grip of their emotionally abusive mother. Leading Ladies Dessen, Sarah Along for the Ride
11 9 ‐ 12
Donnelly, Jennifer Revolution 11 8 ‐ 12
Headley, Justina Chen North of Beautiful
11 9 ‐ 12
Not So Happily Ever After Anderson, Laurie Halse Wintergirls 11 9 ‐ 12
Forman, Gayle If I Stay (or sequel: Where She Went) 11 10 ‐ 12
Scott, Elizabeth Love You, Hate You, Miss You 11 9 ‐ 12
The Clock is Ticking Green, John Paper Towns 11 9 ‐ 12
Stratton, Allan Borderline 11 8 ‐ 11
The Real World Gray, Theodore 11 9 ‐ 12
Greenberg, Paul
Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food 11 Adult
Pollan, Michael Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals 11 Adult
George Orwell 1984 12 Adult
World Literature Cather, Willa My Antonia 12 Adult
When Auden impulsively goes to stay with her father, stepmother, and new baby sister the summer before she starts college, all the trauma of her parents' divorce is revived, even as she is making new friends and having new experiences such as learning to ride a bike and dating. An angry, grieving seventeen‐year‐old musician facing expulsion from her prestigious Brooklyn private school travels to Paris to complete a school assignment and uncovers a diary written during the French revolution by a young actress attempting to help a tortured, imprisoned little boy‐‐Louis Charles, the lost king of France. Terra, a sensitive, artistic high school senior born with a facial port‐wine stain, struggles with issues of inner and outer beauty with the help of her Goth classmate Jacob. Eighteen‐year‐old Lia comes to terms with her best friend's death from anorexia as she struggles with the same disorder. In a coma following a horrific automobile accident, seventeen‐year‐old Mia, a gifted cellist, relives moments from her life as she tries to decide if she can live with all she has lost. How do you survive after killing your best friend? Sixteen‐year‐old Amy sorts out conflicting emotions about her best friend Julia's death in a car accident for which she feels responsible. One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears. Despite the strained relationship between them, teenaged Sami Sabiri risks his life to uncover the truth when his father is implicated in a terrorist plot. The photographs in this book are the most complete representation available of every single element in the universe. Based on five years of research. An award‐winning writer and lifelong fisherman takes a culinary journey, exploring the history of the fish that dominate our menus‐‐‐salmon, sea bass, cod and tuna‐and examining where each stands at this critical moment in time. Go undercover in the supermarket. Delve behind the scenes of your dinner ‐‐ by the time you've digested the last page you'll have put together the fascinating (and sometimes disturbing) puzzle of what's on your plate and how it got there. Winston Smith, a worker at the Ministry of Truth in the future political entity of Oceania, puts his life on the line when he joins a covert brotherhood in rebelling against the Party that controls all human thought and action. My Antonia is the unforgettable story of an immigrant woman's life on the Nebraska plains, seen through the eyes of her childhood friend, Jim Burden. The beautiful, free‐spirited, wild‐eyed girl captured Jim's imagination long ago and haunts him still, embodying for him the elemental spirit of the American frontier. Paton, Alan Cry, the Beloved Country 12 Adult
And the Winner Is… Efaw, Amy After 12 9 ‐ 12
King, A.S. Please Ignore Vera Dietz 12 10 ‐ 12
Stork, Francisco X. Marcelo in the Real World 12 9 ‐ 12
Cool Story Crutcher, Chris Deadline 12 10 ‐ 12
McCormick, Patricia Purple Heart 12 9 ‐ 12
Pena, Matt de la We Were Here
12 7 ‐ 12
Deeply Disturbed Edwards, Kim Memory Keeper’s Daughter 12 Adult
Giles, Gail Shattering Glass
12 9 ‐ 12
Easy Breezy Beach Reads Dessen, Sarah What Happened to Goodbye 12 8 ‐ 12
Johnson, Maureen Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes 12 9 ‐ 12
Na, An Wait For Me 12 9 ‐ 12
Hidden History Frickle, Jim and Ahearn, Charlie 12 Adult
Dwyer, Jim Yes Yes Y'all: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip‐
Hop's First Decade 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers 12 Adult
Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo travels to Johannesburg on an errand for a friend and to visit his son, Absalom, only to learn Absalom has been accused of murdering white city engineer and social activist Arthur Jarvis and stands very little chance of receiving mercy. In complete denial that she is pregnant, straight‐A student and star athlete Devon Davenport leaves her baby in the trash to die, and after the baby is discovered, Devon is accused of attempted murder. When her best friend, whom she secretly loves, betrays her and then dies under mysterious circumstances, high school senior Vera Dietz struggles with secrets that could help clear his name. Marcelo Sandoval, a 17‐year‐old boy on the high‐functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work in the mailroom of his father's corporate law firm. Given the diagnosis of one year to live, high school senior Ben Wolf decides to fulfill his greatest fantasies and figure out his life's legacy. While recuperating in a Baghdad hospital from a traumatic brain injury sustained during the Iraq War, eighteen‐year‐old soldier Matt Duffy struggles to recall what happened to him and how it relates to his ten‐year‐old friend, Ali. Haunted by the event that sentences him to time in a group home, Miguel breaks out with two unlikely companions and together they begin their journey down the California coast hoping to get to Mexico and a new life. Dr. David Henry, forced to deliver his own twins during a snowstorm in 1964 with only a nurse to help him, makes a decision that has far‐reaching effects: his infant daughter is born with Down Syndrome and he orders the nurse to take the baby to an institution. Rob, the charismatic leader of the senior class, provokes unexpected violence when he turns the school nerd into Prince Charming. Following her parents' bitter divorce as she and her father move from town to town, seventeen‐year‐old Mclean reinvents herself at each school she attends until she is no longer sure she knows who she is or where she belongs. When 17‐year‐old Ginny receives a packet of mysterious envelopes from her favorite aunt, she leaves New Jersey to criss‐cross Europe on a scavenger hunt that transforms her life. Approaching her senior year of high school, Mina is stifled as much by the California heat as by working at the family business, taking care of her little sister, and dealing with her mother's impossible expectations, until she falls in love with a man who offers a way out. This history of the beginnings of hip‐hop in 1970's New York City is a lavishly illustrated homage to the many artists who contributed to the birth of what soon became and remains today a world wide cultural institution. Tells of the men and women who saved themselves and others in the final minutes before the World Trade Towers collapsed on September 11, 2001, with testimonies from workers in the buildings, police and fire personnel, a construction manager, and a window washer. Levitt, Steven D. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything 12 Adult
Zinn, Howard 12 Adult
Living My Life Clercq Zubli, Rita La Fontaine de People's History of the United States: 1492‐
Present Disguised: A War Memoir 12 9 ‐ 12
Danalis, John Riding the Black Cockatoo 12 9 ‐ 12
Gantos, Jack Hole in My Life
12 8 ‐ 12
Maraniss, David 12 Adult
Murray, Liz 12 Adult
Weird Worlds Marillier, Juliet Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard Wildwood Dancing (or sequel: Cybele's Secret) 12 9 ‐ 12
Ness, Patrick Knife of Never Letting Go (or any book in Chaos Walking trilogy) 12 8 ‐ 12
Roth, Veronica Divergent (or any book in Divergent series) 12 9 ‐ 12
Werlin, Nancy Impossible (or sequel: Extraordinary) 12 7 ‐ 11
Unconventional ideas about how economic, social, and moral incentives affect real situations. These include what motivates teachers as well as sumo wrestlers to cheat and whether good parenting or genetics contributes more to child outcomes. Presents the history of the United States from the point of view of those who were exploited in the name of American progress. With the Japanese army poised to invade their Indonesian island in 1942, Rita la Fontaine’s family knew that they and the other Dutch and Dutch‐Indonesian residents would soon become prisoners of war. Fearing that twelve‐
year‐old Rita would be forced to act as a "comfort woman" for the Japanese soldiers, the family launched a desperate plan to turn Rita into "Rick". All through his growing‐up years, John Danalis's family had an Aboriginal skull on the mantelpiece; yet only as an adult after enrolling in an Indigenous Writing course did he ask his family where it came from and whether it should be restored to its rightful owners. This is the compelling story of how the skull of an Aboriginal man, found on the banks of the Murray River more than 40 years ago, came to be returned to his Wamba Wamba descendants. The true story of Jack Gantos's early life, when his involvement in an ill‐advised drug smuggling plot led to years in federal prison, where he finally began to realize his dream of becoming a writer. A biography of major league baseball player Roberto Clemente, chronicling his childhood in Nicaragua, his eighteen distinguished seasons, his charity work, and his tragic death. The stunning memoir of a young woman who
at age 15 was living on the streets but survived to make it to Harvard. Murray's story was featured in the Lifetime Original Movie "Homeless to Harvard." Five adventurous sisters. Four dark creatures. Three magical gifts. Two forbidden lovers. One enchanted frog. Cross the threshold into the Wildwood, and enter a land of magic, daring, betrayal and true love. Pursued by power‐hungry Prentiss and mad minister Aaron, young Todd and Viola set out across New World searching for answers about his colony's true past and seeking a way to warn the ship bringing hopeful settlers from Old World. In a future Chicago, sixteen‐year‐old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all. When seventeen‐year‐old Lucy discovers her family is under an ancient curse by an evil Elfin Knight, she realizes to break the curse she must perform three impossible tasks before her daughter is born in order to save them both. Name__________________________________________Date___________Period____
Self-Evaluation Rubric
Directions: For each indicator, circle the box that best describes your summer reading and keystone assignment
experience.
Indicator
Great Job!
4
Good Work
3
Okay
2
Keep Working
1
Rate yourself
on the texts you
read.
Rate yourself
on the activities
you completed.
I read the
entirety of three
or more texts.
My keystone
activities are
wonderful!
I read most of the
three texts.
I read some of
the texts.
I read a few
pages.
My keystone
activities are
good.
I’m mostly
happy with my
keystone
activities.
Rate yourself
on your
understanding
of the texts.
I understood
everything
perfectly!
I understood
most of the texts.
I understood a
few parts of the
texts.
I started my
keystone
activities, but did
not complete the
work.
I understood
very little of the
texts.
Missing
Information
0
I did not read
a text.
I did not
complete any
keystone
activities.
I did not read
a text.