8th Grade English Summer Reading Assignment 2016
Part I: Core Novel
All students must read:
I Am Malala: How one Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young
Readers’ Edition) by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick
ISBN: 978 1 78062 2149
“In this young readers edition of Yousafzai's best-selling memoir, the Nobel Peace Prize winner
retells her experiences at home and at school and discusses the impact of the Taliban presence in
Pakistan. Her strong voice and ideals come across on every page, emphasizing how her surroundings
and supportive family helped her become the relevant figure she is today. Yousafzai highlights the
importance of school and how it was the only space where she felt empowered. . . .Yousafzai
effectively summarizes her story and her advocacy for girls' education, peace, and human rights.
Above all, she stresses that she doesn't want to be known as the girl shot by the Taliban but rather
as a young person who actively fought for education. “ School Library Journal
Assignment: You will also keep a dialectical journal of your response to I Am Malala as you read.
Detailed instructions for this assignment are included.
PART II: Select two choice novels from list
You will also read two novels from the following list. You will give a brief book talk about each one
of your selections during class the first week of school.
Choose TWO of the novels from this list to read in addition to the Core Novel:
The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
Football Genius by Tim Green
The Boy who Saved Baseball by John Ritter
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
True Grit by Charles Portis
1 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (challenge)
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Hobbit by J.R. R. Tolkien
Some questions to think about as you prepare for your book talk: (you may bring notes)
What was your overall response to the novel?
What did you like best about the book?
What, in your opinion, was the author’s greatest strength?
Would you recommend this book to a friend?
If you disliked the novel: why?
What, in your opinion, would make it a better book?
Comment on the author’s writing style. Did he or she use a lot of imagery? Short or long sentences?
What was the vocabulary level?
Was the tone serious or light-hearted? From whose point of view was the story written?
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2 ENGLISH 8: SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT
Dialectical journal directions for core novel:
Simply put, a dialectical journal is merely a double entry journal. The purpose of such a journal is to
identify and consider important passages of text. It should be used to think about, digest,
summarize, question, clarify, critique, and remember what is read. It is a way to take notes on what
is read using the actual text. In effect, you will be holding a discussion with yourself on key points,
asking questions, and reacting to particular phrases that drew your attention.
• Divide your paper into two columns:
Title the left-hand column “quotes”
Title the right-hand column “commentary”
• As you read your book, selectively highlight passages of interest to you.
Margin notes will also help you when you choose your passages. This step is part of your grade!
From these passages, choose one to five sentences that seem significant or meaningful to quote in
the left column.
•
Write the page number in parentheses after each quoted passage you select.
•
As soon as you take a note, move to the right-hand column and write freely
what your mind says about that quote. Listen to your own thoughts.
•
Write a quote; write a note. Continue as you read.
•
After three or four entries, stop and reflect on what you have discovered.
•
Your dialectical journal for I Am Malala must contain at least 18 entries (one for
every two chapters, including epilogue.
The types of entries may include reactions to events, characterization, relationships, or setting, or
any questions that come to your mind. You may also include personal reflections on the text or
connections that you have been able to make between what is happening in the work and your own
experiences. Further, you may want to comment on the author’s use of imagery, figurative language,
plot development, characterization or predictability. Finally, you may wish to interpret what the
author is trying to say in a particular passage.
3 Please read a few entries from the model student example on the following page to make
sure you understand the expected form and content of your journal for I Am Malala
Typed journals are preferred (standard font, 12 pt.; two column table)
•
TITLE YOUR JOURNAL AS FOLLOWS AT THE TOP OF YOUR FIRST PAGE:
Name
English 8
Date
Dialectical journal: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
STUDENT EXAMPLE:
Student X
DIALECTICAL JOURNAL: Uglies by Scott Westerfied
September 1, 2015
“Tally looked up at Dr. Cable’s cruel
beauty, . . .. She remembered all the tricks
Special Circumstances had played on her
today—how they’d kept her waiting for an hour
in the hospital, waiting and thinking she would
soon be pretty, the brutal flight here, and all the
cruel faces in the halls---and she decided”
(p.109).
I think that the cruel beauty of the Special
Circumstances people fits them well.
Tally can’t help but notice their beauty, but the
perfect faces cannot hide their coldness and
inhumanity. Tally wants to resist their questions
about Shay, but will she pay a price for her
decision?
“A shudder of relief and exhaustion went
through her. She had it now, an excuse to break
her vow. She’d made that promise to Peris, just
as real, before she’d ever met Shay. She had
known him for years, and Shay for only a few
months” (p.126).
Tally is trying to justify why she should give in.
She isn’t being that great of a friend to Shay.
Peris was kind to her when she had the
operation cancelled, and that was nice as a friend
who’s a “pretty,” but she is betraying Shay with a
huge secret. What for, anyways? Just so she can
be pretty? I think that’s really selfish.
“As the tributary climbed its way into the
mountains, the fields around her filled with
flowers. Soon the brilliant white bonnets were as
thick as grass, driving every other color from the
landscape” (p.168).
I think the white tiger orchids are a metaphor.
They look beautiful, but are actually bad,
messing up the whole ecosystem and destroying
other plants. I think the orchids represent the
city Tally lives in; the life there seems wonderful
because you get a makeover that transforms you
and makes you extremely beautiful, while a cold
government lies behind the glamour.
4 “Halfway around she reached a blackened patch
where the fire had already passed. The brittle
stems of flowers crunched under her shoes, and
the heat coming off the scorched earth stung her
eyes” (p.173).
“The Boss was an old ugly. Tally had spotted a
few (uglies) from a distance on the way in, but
had managed to turn her eyes away. But here
was the wrinkled, veined, discolored, shuffling,
horrific truth, right before her eyes. His milky
eyes glared at then as he berated whoever was on
the phone, in a rattling voice and waving at them
to go away . . .. ‘Pretty wild, huh? He’s like, forty!
Wait until you talk to him.’
Tally swallowed, trying to erase the image of his
sagging features from her mind. These people
were insane to tolerate that, to want it” (p.197).
REMINDER!
“Put the line from the text in quotes” (page).
The author uses vivid sensory imagery to paint a
contrast between the thick as grass landscape of
white flowers, and then a few pages later, the
blackened scorched earth that is left behind after
the orchids are burned to control their rapid
growth.
It was funny to see Tally’s horrified reaction to a
normal forty -year old man, thinking he was
completely ugly.
Later when she and Shay look through old
magazines and see what people used to look like,
she wonders how they could smile and laugh and
not be ashamed of their “deformities.” She is
glad that anorexia as a disease doesn’t exist
because no one has to worry about getting fat.
What problems would be solved if everyone was
beautiful and no one was overweight? What new
problems would be created?
Your comment should be your reaction,
question, challenge to the thought, or advance
the thought of the author. It should NOT
REPEAT or just RESTATE what the author
said.
•
Don’t forget to insert page numbers into your document!
•
Entries must be in chronological order.
•
DUE on the second day of class (Wednesday), August 19, 2015
•
This journal will be the basis of our class discussion of the book, and will count as a
test grade.
ALL ENTRIES MUST BE YOUR OWN ORIGINAL THOUGHTS, WORK AND
WRITING. ANY EVIDENCE OF PLAGIARISM OR LACK OF AUTHENTICITY WILL
RESULT IN a “0” ON THE ASSIGNMENT!
•
Your journal will be graded according to the following rubric.
5 Rubric for Dialectical Journals:
GRADE POINTS
Level 4
(90 – 100 points)
QUOTATIONS
AND PLOT DETAILS
INTERPRETATION
AND RESPONSE
Student copy of book reveals Thoughtful, fresh and insightful
evidence of effective
comments;
selective highlighting. (Step
avoids clichés
1)
Intelligent questions or
Well-chosen passages that
predictions
are specific and meaningful
Various literary elements are
Correctly formatted with
discussed throughout journal:
proper punctuation.
theme, point of view, setting,
Page number cited for each
figurative language, imagery,
quotation
author’s style, plot,
characterization, conflict, etc.
Journal contains at least 20
(Each response does NOT
entries with at least 18
have to include all)!
entries of excellent quality
Clear syntax and correct
grammar
Precise wording; rich and fluent
use of vocabulary
Writer’s voice is compelling and
authentic
Opinions are supported by
close examination of the text
Level 3
(80 – 89 points)
Some especially well-chosen
passages
Few, if any, punctuation
errors
Correctly formatted;
Page number cited for each
quote
Many interesting or insightful
comments, questions, or
predictions
Some discussion of various
literary elements.
Sentence structure is clear with
precise wording.
Journal contains 20 entries
Writer’s voice is fresh and
with at least 15 strong entries original
Opinions are relevant and
clearly based on a close reading
of the text
6 Level 2
(70 – 79 points)
Some selected passages
carelessly chosen or taken
out of context
Not enough quoted detail
Minor punctuation errors
Page citations incomplete
Comments lack depth; too
general or simplistic
Little discussion of literary
elements
Awkward sentence structure;
grammatical errors that
interrupt flow
Vague or confusing wording in
places
Attempts to support opinions
with textual evidence
Level 1
(60– 69 points)
Incomplete/vague quotes
Poorly selected quoted
passages
Errors in transcribing;
incorrect format
Several punctuation errors
Page citations missing or
incomplete
Comments too vague, brief,
general, or random
Little to no discussion of
literary elements
Meaning unclear due to poor
word choice; punctuation and
grammatical errors; run-ons,
fragments, misspelled words,
etc.
“Surface only” or trite
response/ Opinions lack
support or relevance
7