English 9 Honors

Summer Reading List

Objective: Students will choose two novels and study them for characterization, conflict, and
theme. Students will also keep dialectical journals in order to practice selecting important
passages from the text and analyzing them in-depth.

Directions: Please choose two books from the list below. At least one of the books you
choose must be marked by an asterisk (*).

The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Of Mice and Men by J ohn Steinbeck

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens*
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton*
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte*
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte*
The Iliad by Homer*
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut*
A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J . Gaines*
Animal Farm by George Orwell*

English 9 Honors
Instructions for Summer Reading Assignment

1. Read: Select two titles from the attached Summer Reading List. Read the novels
completely and carefully, noting passages that you think have an important thematic
message or are otherwise significant.

2. Dialectical Journal: For each book, complete a minimum of 15 entries in a dialectical
journal (please do each journal separately). See the following page for instructions and a
model. Your entries should be approximately two full pages if typed, more if hand-written.

3. Theme Reflection: After you have read each novel, write a reflection on its major themes.
Write approximately one page for each novel, focusing on two important themes that you
found in that novel. What is the writer is trying to say about life, people, or the world we
live in? How does the writer communicate the theme? (Think about specific characters,
conflicts, what characters learn and how they change, etc.)

4. Theme Connection: When you have completed your theme reflections, find a current
events article (may be from a print or online source) that somehow connects to one of the
themes that you discussed in one of your novels. Then, write one detailed paragraph on
how the article connects with the theme in your book and what other similarities you see
between the article and book. Be sure to cut out, print, or photocopy this article and turn it
in with your assignment. Please note that this is the only part of the assignment that you
need to complete for only one book, not both.

5. Please turn in your summer reading assignment on the first day of school. If you have
English Term 2, the assignment is still due on the first day of school. English 9 Honors
students: please turn your assignment in to Ms. Antonopoulos in room HN 2. DATA
English 9 Honors students: please turn your assignment in to Ms. Lagomarsino in room
HN12. We recommend retaining a copy of your own for reference.

Note: You may buy your summer reading novels or check out a copy from the school or local
library.
English 9 Honors
Dialectical Journal

As you read, keep a dialectical journal in which you record your reactions, questions,
predictions, connections, or insights about the book. What can you write about to make your
comprehension (understanding), analysis (making meaning), and reading strategies stronger?
Choose passages that you think are important or that you have interesting questions about (for
example, questions that require the reader to think, not just to look up the answers). When
responding to each passage, avoid basic interpretation (summarizing what is being said or done);
instead, focus on higher-level thinking, such as explaining how or why this is important,
connecting the passage to real-world events or your own life, or asking questions that would
promote an interesting discussion on the book.

Divide your paper into two columns similar to the model below. You may type or hand-write
your journal neatly.

Book Title: _________________________ Author: ____________________________

Passage Response
[This is where you quote directly from the
book. Find a quotation on which you
have something to say. If you cant say
much about it, it probably isnt juicy
enough. Remember to use quotation
marks and provide the page number of the
quotation.]
[The response should be longer than the quotation
usually a short paragraph. Here, talk about your
reactions, questions, predictions, connections, or
insights about the quotation. Please DO NOT
summarize what happens. You should provide
something I dont already know from reading the
quotationyour response!
1. [Example from The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd] The bees came the
summer of 1964, the summer I turned
fourteen and my life went spinning off
into a whole new orbit, and I mean whole
new orbit despite everything that
happened that summer, I remain tender
toward the bees (1-2).
It seems like the author is using bees as a metaphor
for the narrator, which might explain the title of the
book. Whatever happens to the bees probably
represents something that happens to the narrator, so
the bees barging into her life at the age fourteen
means that there will be a great change in her life.
The phrase a whole new orbit hints at something
shes never experienced before, and the fact that she
talks about remaining tender toward bees despite
all that happened that summer means whatever
happened was probably negative. I wonder if it has
something to do with her family because this girl is
only fourteen and mostly likely lives with them.