Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. • The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.
• No and Me by Delphine de Vigan. • Barefoot Heart by Elva Trevino Hart.
Summer Reading 2012-2013 English 9 Regents and Honors Required Reading – Read BOTH: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Choice Reading - Choose ONE:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Uglies by Scott Westerfeld The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh No and Me by Delphine de Vigan Barefoot Heart by Elva Trevino Hart
All of these books are available through the Erie County Library System or can be purchased at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Borders, or your local bookstore. If you borrow these books, please be aware that you MUST have the choice books with you during the first two weeks of school. You will need To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men for up to one month after school begins. There are assignments for each book assigned attached to this sheet. Please look up any words in the directions (and in the books) that you do not know so that you can successfully complete each assignment. If you have any questions about the books or the following assignments, please e-mail me at
[email protected]
Required Reading – English 9 To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men You are expected to write a formal ESSAY on one of these novels during the first month of school, so read carefully and make your own observations as you read. You will have assignments for both books, so read them carefully. Take note of passages that show how people fear those who are different from them by underlining or highlighting in the book or marking passages with Post-It Notes (this is called annotating). Make note of other quotations that you like, you think are interesting, or that you find confusing. You must bring the copy you have annotated (the markings in your book) to class with you the first month of school. There are no exceptions. Please be prepared to share your annotated comments in class.
If you find issue with writing in the book, perhaps you are borrowing it from a sibling, the library, or it is a collector’s edition, etc. then you must use post-it notes or loose leaf paper. If you are using an e-reader, you can take notes right on the reader if it allows you to do so, but if you find this to be a distraction or too time consuming, use a separate sheet of paper to make note of the page number and observation.
In addition to your annotations, please take a few notes on the following and bring them to class:
What is your favorite part of the book? Least favorite? Which characters do you like the most? Why? What themes or ideas do you see throughout the book? What do you think the titles means?
Choice Reading Assignment- English 9
The Book Thief, Uglies, The Language of Flowers, No and Me, or Barefoot Heart Choose one of these novels to read and complete the assignment below. The books are quite different but share certain characteristics; each is a coming-of-age novel where the protagonist struggles to overcome something negative in their life. I have included a synopsis for each book. They are all very engaging, so choose whichever sounds the best to you. A girl who copes with being Jewish during the Holocaust by stealing books? A futuristic society which forces all teenagers to have plastic surgery so that no one is “ugly”? A girl who grows up in foster care and discovers she has a special talent for healing with flowers? A 13 year-old who lives on the streets with the homeless to complete a class project? A young Mexican girl whose family are migrants and struggle each day just to eat and find shelter? Your assignment is to write an essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion to discuss the struggles the main character faces, how they work to overcome the problem, and if the character was successful. There will be a TEST on your book the first Monday of the school year.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Historical Fiction, The Holocaust With Death as narrator, Markus Zusak's haunting novel follows Liesel Meminger, The Book Thief, through the fear-filled years of Nazi Germany. The story opens as the ten-year-old girl takes her first book shortly after her younger brother's death. Both children were en route to the foster home of Hans and Rosa Hubermann in a Munich suburb. Despite Rosa's sharp tongue and Hans's lack of work, their home is a loving refuge for the nightmare-ridden girl. It also becomes a hideout for Max, a young Jewish man whose father saved Hans's life. Liesel finds solace with her neighbor Rudy and her creative partnership with Max. Accompanied by Rudy, the girl copes by stealing food from farmers and books from the mayor's wife. There are also good moments as she learns to read and plays soccer, but Hans's ill-advised act of kindness to a Jewish prisoner forces Max to leave their safe house. The failing war effort and bombing by the Allies lead to more sacrifices, a local suicide and, eventually, to great losses. Reading books and writing down her experiences save Liesel, but this novel clearly depicts the devastating effects of war. Narrator Allan Corduner defines each character with perfect timing. He's deliberate as the voice of Death, softly strong as Liesel, and impatient, but not unkind, as Rosa. With richly evocative imagery and compelling characters, Zusak explores behind-the-lines life in World War II Germany, showing the day-to-day heroism of ordinary people. Relevant for class discussions on wars both past and present.
The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, Science Fiction Scott Westerfeld projects a future world in which a compulsory operation at sixteen wipes out physical differences and makes everyone pretty by conforming to an ideal standard of beauty. The "New Pretties" are then free to play and party, while the younger "Uglies" look on enviously and spend the time before their own transformations in plotting mischievous tricks against their elders. Tally Youngblood is one of the most daring of the Uglies, and her imaginative tricks have gotten her in trouble with the menacing department of Special Circumstances. She has yearned to be pretty, but since her best friend Shay ran away to the rumored rebel settlement of recalcitrant Uglies called The Smoke, Tally has been troubled. The authorities give her an impossible choice: either she follows Shay’s cryptic directions to The Smoke with the purpose of betraying the rebels, or she will never be allowed to become
pretty. Hoping to rescue Shay, Tally sets off on the dangerous journey as a spy. But after finally reaching The Smoke she has a change of heart when her new lover David reveals to her the sinister secret behind becoming pretty.
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Fiction, Mystery The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past. The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what’s been missing in her life, and when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.
No and Me by Delphine de Vigan, Fiction Winner of the 2008 Prix de Libraries (Booksellers’ Prize), this moving French import begins when 13-year-old Lou, a ferociously shy and intelligent Parisian, declares an unusual class project: “I’m going to follow the journey of a homeless girl.” Her teacher’s enthusiasm forces Lou to follow her idea through, and in a train station she meets 18year-old No. Lou feels like an outsider even at home, where “sadness clings to the walls” after her baby sister’s sudden death and her mother’s subsequent breakdown. With No she finds a surprising, true friendship, and she convinces her parents to allow No to move in. Writing in Lou’s strong, convincing voice, de Vigan poses the largest existential questions about meaning, purpose, and the possibilities and limits of saving another life. Subtle, authentic details; memorable characters (including Lou’s older friend, Lucas); and realistic ambiguities in each scene ground the story’s weighty themes, and teens will easily recognize Lou’s fragile shifts between heartbreak, bitter disillusionment, and quiet, miraculous hope.
Barefoot Heart by Elva Trevino Hart, Nonfiction, Memoir Hart's expressive and remarkably affecting memoir concerns her childhood as the daughter of Mexican immigrants who worked as migrant workers to feed their six children. In 1953, when she was only three, her parents took the family from Texas to work in the fields of Minnesota and Wisconsin for the first time, only to find that in order to comply with the child labor law they had to leave the author and her 11-year-old sister to board in a local Catholic school, where they pined for the rest of the family. Hart remembers other years when the entire family participated in the backbreaking field labor, driven mercilessly by Apa (her father), who was determined to earn enough money to allow all his children to graduate from high school. Apa not only achieved his goal but was able to save $2000 so that Hart could enter college, a step that led to her earning a master's degree in computer science. This account is not, however, an ordinary memoir of triumph over adversity. Instead, Hart eloquently reveals the harsh toll that poverty and discrimination took on her family.
