Christ the King Cathedral School Required Summer Reading Program Students entering 9 th Grade 2015-2016 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 the first day classes meet which will be August 17 for one-half day. 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. 9 th grade Required Novels Left to Tell by Immaculee Illabagiza A Separate Peace by John Knowles Additional Choices for Extra Credit: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 1
Assignments for 9 th Grade Summer Reading For each book that you read, choose two of the following activities. These must be complete and ready to turn in on the first day of class in August. 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. Choose one from this column for each book: 1. Create a Power Point for the book with the required slides listed in the direction page that is attached. 3. Create a collage with the required information listed in the direction page that is attached. Choose another from this column for each book: 2. Complete the literary elements graphic organizer attached with these paper. 4. Write the letters as described on the direction page for the letter writing project. 1. Power Point Project Directions a. Create a Power Point for your novel with 10 or more slides. You may choose any background, theme, or font for your Power Point that you think best represents the book. b. Your ten slides must include the following: i. Title of book and author ii. One slide for each major character with an image or symbol to represent them. Be ready to explain why this image or symbol fits with this character. This slide must have a sentence identifying the character and what the symbol says about the character. iii. One slide for each chapter of the book. Each of these slides needs to state in one sentence the main occurrence of the chapter. Use clip art. iv. One slide that explains the message of the book for people in today s world. c. Be ready to present your Power Point in class. (That means save it on a flash drive to bring it to school!) 2. Literary Elements Graphic Organizer Project Fill in the graphic organizer on the next page. Bring it to school and be ready to write an essay using this organizer. 2
Literary Elements Graphic Organizer For By Name of Element Setting = Time and Place Example (Give actual sentences from the book that show the element. Put quotation marks around them and include the page number from the book in parentheses after the quote.) a. Quote about the place b. Quote about the time Explanation (Tell how this element helps the reader understand the book.) Why are the time and place important in this book? Conflict is the struggle between two opposing forces. Character vs. character conflict vs. Quote that shows this: How does this conflict get resolved? Character vs. Nature Conflict vs. Quote that shows this: How does this conflict get resolved? Character vs. Self Conflict (The character must make a big decision.) Climax (What is the most important moment in the story?) vs. self when they have to decide Quote that shows this: Quote from the climax: How does this conflict get resolved? How was this the most important moment? 3
Plot is all the events that happen in a literary work. Quote from the beginning of the book: What is the first thing that happens that shows there will be a problem? Plot #2 Quote from the middle of the book: What things have happened since the beginning of the book? Plot #3 Quote from the end of the book: What happens to solve the problems, or are the problems still there? Theme is the message the author has about life on this planet. Quote that shows this message: What do you think is the message the author has? Why? 3. Collage Directions: a. A collage is a poster with many pictures and words covering it that tell about the subject. They sometimes even overlap. b. Start saving pictures and drawings from online or various newspapers or magazines that might be used to tell the story of your book. c. Using a large poster board, lay out all the pictures and words on the poster before beginning to glue them on. d. Be prepared to explain your collage to the class when school begins. e. The following information must be in the collage: i. Title of the book and author ii. Pictures for each character in the book and/or symbols for them. Be ready to explain your choices. 4
iii. One picture, cartoon, or drawing for each chapter of the book that will show what the chapter is about. Be ready to explain your choices. iv. One picture, cartoon, drawing, or symbol that would represent the message the author has about life. Be ready to explain your choices. 4. Letter Writing Project Directions a. Choose two characters from your book. b. Write three letters from the first character to the second. One letter should talk about the beginning of the book, the next should talk about the middle of the book, and the third should talk about the end of the book. Each letter should have 100 or more words. They may ask the second character questions. c. Write three letters from the second character to the first character. One letter should talk about the beginning of the book, the next should talk about the middle of the book, and the third should talk about the end of the book. Each letter should have 100 or more words. They may answer the questions of the first character and/ or ask the other character questions. Below is a sample letter. Please use it as a pattern to write your letters. June 19, 2014 Dear Tom Sawyer, I can t believe how hot it is here, Tom. I wish you had done everything the teacher told you, and then you might be here right now to go fishing with me. I was walking down the street last week, and I saw that you were running down the street to talk to me. However, I was so frustrated about everything going on around here, I just ran off. Aunt Polly keeps telling me to be polite. I try and I try, but somehow things don t seem to go just right. At least when you were here, I knew that I wasn t the only one in trouble. When are you coming home, Tom? Yours truly, Huck Finn 5
Summaries of the Books 1. Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans. Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them. It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family s killers. 2. A Separate Peace by John Knowles Set at a boys boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world. 6
3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens In what may be Dickens's best novel, humble, orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman and one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of "great expectations." In this gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, the compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered Miss Havisham, an eccentric jilted bride. I pray that God forgive them... 4. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (35 th Anniversary Edition) Corrie Ten Boom stood naked with her older sister Betsie, watching a concentration camp matron beating a prisoner. Oh, the poor woman, Corrie cried. Yes. May God forgive her, Betsie replied. And, once again, Corrie realized that it was for the souls of the brutal Nazi guards that her sister prayed. Both woman had been sent to the camp for helping the Jews. Christ s Spirit and words were their guide; it was His persecuted people they tried to save at the risk of their own lives; it was His strength that sustained them through times of profound horror. Here is a book aglow with the glory of God and the courage of a quiet Christian spinster whose life was transformed by it. A story of Christ s message and the courage woman who listened and lived to pass it along with joy and triumph! 7
5. The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum. **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. Please contact me at any time during the summer with questions at my school email address: cholley@ctkcathedralschool.org ***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. Time Management In order to have the summer reading complete by the beginning of school, you need to plan your time carefully. 1. IF you read one chapter a day of Left to Tell beginning July 1, you will complete it by July 23. 2. If you read one chapter a day of A Separate Peace beginning July 24, you will complete it by August 4. 3. From August 4 until school begins on August 17, you would then be able to complete the assigned project for one of the books. Remember that you will take a test over both. 8