SUMMER READING
BOOK'S NOTES
What are the books assigned?
Assigned Text:
Everyone will read Watership Down by Richard Adams, an epic adventure complete with anthropomorphism, much like Animal Farm. As you read, mark passages or even sentences that interest you. You will want to flag them as you will return to them after completing the novel.
Summer Assignment for Watership Down, due on the first day of class: Look back at the passages or sentences that you marked. Select three to five that you think are critical for understanding the text. Write about each of the quotations you have chosen in one of the following ways, adapted from Carol Jago’s With Rigor for All.
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Analyze a word and/or image from the quote. Explain how the word’s denotation and connotation reveal or reinforce the meaning of the passage, or explain how the image’s sensory details reveal or reinforce the point the quote illustrates.
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Explain how the information in the quote relates to a significant action, characterization, or idea from the text. In other words, point out an important connection that you made while reading or rereading this section of the text.
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Discuss the symbolism of an object or an allusion (literary or historical) in the quotation.
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Identify and explain the significance of a notice and note signpost.
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Analyze Adams’ use of figurative language in a specific passage in the text.
Choice Text:
Take the time to select a book you will enjoy from the attached list. Talk with your parents and friends. Read the annotations on the attached list, and preview the opening pages of the books that interest you. You will complete several assignments on the text you choose from this list during the first week of school. Because you will read the book in the summer and complete assignments when school begins, you will want to do the things good readers do in order to remember what they have read. Some of the strategies you might choose include the following:
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Write a short summary at the end of each chapter in order to help you find information for assignments when school starts.
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Write brief, personal responses to important events in the text.
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Identify significant passages in the book.
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Annotate the text.
Please note that these are suggestions to help you be successful. These are not required assignments. You may choose other strategies that work better for you.
For the Novels:
Donnelly, Jennifer. A Northern Light.