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High School Summer Reading Program

The SSIS high school English department will once again be encouraging students to read over the summer with a summer reading program. The intent of the summer reading program is two-fold. First we wish to support students in the continued development of their reading skills; and second, the completion of these novels will, from the first day of school, provide students and teachers with an immediate basis for discussion and analysis of a common literary work.

The students will not be expected to write a formal essay or answer questions during the summer. This reading project is not meant to be labor intensive, rather the focus of summer reading is to allow the students to read and respond to the text in their own manner. Students will however be expected to complete a double-entry readers’ journal – the purpose of which is to guide the reader in understanding the novel. This will help students recall their personal impressions as they read and will form the basis of some of our discussions and work upon return to school.

The six essential questions shown below have been selected to guide students and focus reading. These questions are relevant to all novels and are therefore the same for all grade levels 9 – 12. The questions will be used as a starting point for both class discussion and written assignments at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. Students are not expected to write extended essays for these questions but should make relevant journal entries as they read.

The demands of Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition) require that students read 3 novels over the summer break. .

The following essential questions should be applied to all high school novels:

1. How does the writer create mood, atmosphere, and character through language in the novel?
2. How does the setting, both time and place, impact the audience and the understanding of the novel?
3. What influences in your own cultural context might possibly explain your reactions to a novel?
4. How are the values of a society or culture reflected in this literary work?
5. How should an individual confront change and adversity?
6. Is there evidence in the novel that the author’s gender has influenced his or her writing? How would the novel be different if the gender of the main character(s) was reversed?