WEST HEMPSTEAD UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT

WEST HEMPSTEAD HIGH SCHOOL

                                                           400 NASSAU BOULEVARD

WEST HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK  11552

(516) 390 - 3255

 

THOMAS J. LEE                                                                                                                                           CAROL EISENBERG, Ed.D.

         Principal                                                                                                                                                       Superintendent of Schools

 

MARY SKINNER

Director of English and Library Services

 

 

 

 

June 2007

The following is a list of summer 2007 Honors mandatory reading selections and assignments by course:

 

                             9HI    The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel

                                      Read and complete Literature Review Sheets.

 

                             10H   To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

                                      Read and complete Literature Review Sheets.

         

                             11H and 11AP

                                      Short Stories by E.A. Poe

                                      The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

                                      Students read BOTH and complete writing assignment.

                                               

                             12HC Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

                                      The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

                                      Students read BOTH and complete writing assignment.

 

                             12AP All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

                                      Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

                                      Students read BOTH and complete writing assignment.

 

         

 

          Regents level students may choose one of the mandatory selections if they so           desire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEST HEMPSTEAD UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT

WEST HEMPSTEAD HIGH SCHOOL

                                                           400 NASSAU BOULEVARD

WEST HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK  11552

(516) 390 - 3255

 

THOMAS J. LEE                                                                                                                                               CAROL EISENBERG, Ed.D.

         Principal                                                                                                                                                         Superintendent of Schools

 

MARY SKINNER

Director of English and Library Services

                                                                                                            May 2007

 

Dear Parents and West Hempstead High School students,

 

            Attached is a list of the Honors and AP Summer Reading selections.  These readings and assignments are mandatory (no choice involved) and will be collected on the first day of class.  All students will be tested on Monday, September 10th.

 

            All regents level students are encouraged to choose a book/books of their own choice to read over the summer months.  For those who would like to start off the year with extra credit, you are asked to complete one or more of the Individual Summer Reading Projects.  The assignments will be collected by your English teacher on the first day of class. 

 

            The Honors Booklist and Honors assignments and Regents level assignments will be available for you to download during the summer from the District Website – www.whufsd.com.

 

            This year, all mandatory selections and regular selections will be available for purchase at our Book Fair on Thursday, May 24th and May 25th in the high school library.  The books will be discounted 20% with no tax (cash or checks made out the CASH ONLY).  Students will visit the Fair during English class and it will also be open during students’ lunch periods and after school on Thursday, 5/24. 

 

            In addition, the lists and assignments will be faxed to West Hempstead Public Library, Island Park Public Library, Barnes and Noble and Borders.

 

            Parents are expected to support our program by making sure their child gets a copy of the book, reads it, completes the assignment/s, and hands them in on time.

 

            “Tis the good reader that makes the good book.”

                                                                                                Ralph Waldo Emerson

            Enjoy the summer.

 

                                                                                                Sincerely,

 

 

                                                                                                Mary Skinner

                                                                                                Director of English & Library Services


                                              LITERATURE REVIEW SHEET

                                                                                                                Name:__________________________

                                                                                                                                                                        Teacher: ________________________

                                                                                                                                                                        Period: ______________

 

            TITLE AND AUTHOR____________________________        Genre: _____________________

 

Character Name

Character

Traits

Evidence from book

Theme/s

Evidence of theme/s

Conflicts in book

Evidence of Conflicts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LITERATURE REVIEW SHEET

                                       Page 2

                                                                   NAME: ___________________________

                                                                                                                                        TEACHER: _______________________

            TITLE AND AUTHOR:   ____________________________                                      PERIOD: _____________________

 

 

Literary Elements found in story (setting, theme)

Examples of elements significance of particular element

 

Literary Devices (irony, symbols, motifs, simile, metaphor, images, allusions, etc.)

Examples of Devices and their Significance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Summer Reading / Writing Assignment for 11H and 11AP:

 

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

 

1.      Briefly characterize Huck, Tom, Pap, and Jim.

 

2.      Explain briefly how the setting affects Huck Finn’s behavior:

            A).  on land

            B).  on the river

 

3.      Identify and briefly discuss a theme from the novel.

 

4.      Discuss and provide examples of Huck and Jim’s evolving relationship.

 

5.      Discuss how the novel ends the way it began.

 

Poe’s Short Stories

            Read “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Masque of Red Death,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Black Cat,” and “The Cask of Amontillado.”

 

1.      Identify, list and define all unfamiliar vocabulary words from each story.

 

2.      List the following for each story:

A.     Characters

B.     Setting

C.    Point of View

D.    Theme

E.     Foreshadowing/Symbolism/Irony

 

ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENT FOR 11AP :

1.      After you have read Huck Finn and answered the questions, return to the text to

      examine Twain’s style of writing.  Since a writer’s style is defined as the unique

      way an author presents his ideas through his use of diction (word choice), syntax

      (grammatical structure), imagery, organization, and content, find evidence of the

      following and explain how EACH contributes to Twain’s style:

A.     Dialogue

*B. Tone (author’s attitude)

C.  Imagery

D.  Organization (author’s structure of the novel)

E.  Humor

 

2.      Do the same for “The Cask of Amontillado” using the following:

A.     Narration

B.     Organization

C.    Imagery

 

*Example:  Twain’s tone in Huck Finn is satiric – ironic (type of writing based on ridicule that

criticize society).

 

 

 

 

Evidence:  “Next Sunday we all went to church . . .  The men took their guns along . . . . The Shepherdsons done the same.  It was some pretty ornery preaching – all about brotherly love . . .  but everybody said it was a good sermon . . . “

 

Twain’s Style :  In Huck’s voice as narrator, Twain is ridiculing the role or religion in man’s life.  By saying, “the men took their guns” to church, listened to a sermon on “brotherly love: (which they said was “good”), then promptly became involved in a shootout between the families.  How could a good sermon about brotherly love result in violence and death?  Here, Twain shows that the influence of religion is merely a veneer by juxtaposing love with violence, while his use of irony emphasizes religion’s inability to influence people bent on destruction.  Twain’s humor might be subtle, but his message hits the reader with a hammer:  Religion is merely window dressing; it preaches instead of educating its followers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

English 12AP                                                                                                           Mrs. Scully

Summer Reading Assignment                                                                           Summer 2007

 

The novels I am assigning this summer are Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.

 

Assignment:

1.       Read both works thoroughly.  Enjoy them.  Read them at the beginning of the summer and, then, read them both again at the end of August.  The second reading should be a

      close reading.  Since you know the story already, the second reading gives you an

      opportunity for analysis.  Your goal is study closely the writer’s craft.

 

      Consider the following:  To understand tone is to understand meaning.  If you

      misunderstood the author’s tone, you have misunderstood the author’s meaning.

 

      Carefully look at diction, imagery, syntax, figurative language, symbols and motifs

      the author uses and develops in order to set tone.

 

2.       For All the Pretty Horses find and identify 2 passages that you remind of Huck Finn.

      Take notes on the selections you have made.  Focus on what elements in them seem

      somehow connected to Huck Finn and explain why.

 

3.       Answer the following questions for Wuthering Heights carefully.  You are expected to

      cite the novel to support your answers.

 

Questions:

1.      In the first two chapters, Lockwood tries to read the residents of Wuthering Heights,

      trying to decipher their relationships and personalities, etc.  Focusing on two of these

      attempts, consider what Lockwood’s perceptions suggest abut his abilities to read a

      situation.  Given that he is the narrator, how does the opening set us up as readers of           the novel?

 

2.      What is the effect of filtering Heathcliff and Catherine’s story through Lockwood’s and

      Nelly Dean’s accounts?

 

3.      Analyze the scene which precedes the ghost’s arrival at the casement window.  Why does the ghost appear to Lockwood and not to Heathcliff?

 

4.      How do each of the members of the family respond to Heathcliff when he first enters into Earnshaw family?  Describe his early relationship with Mr. Earnshaw, Catherine and Hindley.

 

5.      Why are there so many eruptions of violence in the novel?  What do these repetitions of

      violence suggest?  Discuss two scenes in detail.

 

6.      Consider all the triangulated relationships in the novel.  What do they suggest about the

      structure of desire?

 

7.      How does the isolation and location of the novel’s northern Yorkshire setting influence the tone and events of the story?  Are there symbolic elements to the tone and events of the           story?

 

 

 

 

 

8.      What are the symbolic elements to the descriptions of the houses and their landscapes?

 

WHAT TO EXPECT:

·        On the first day of school, there will be a short answer test on both novels.

 

·        On the second day of class in September, you will be required to write an essay, on

            demand, using All the Pretty Horses.  This essay will be taken from a former AP exam.

            This will give me an idea of your writing and will help us to evaluate your writing goals                       as well as your understanding of the novel.  Then, we will compare and contrast several

            passages from All the Pretty Horses to passages from Huck Finn.

 

·        After our work on the McCarthy novel, we will begin a unit study on Wuthering Heights.

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Summer Reading Assignment   English 12H / 12HC

 

Using either Frankenstein or The Kite Runner, write an essay demonstrating how the protagonist evolves during the course of the novel.  Be sure to include specific examples to demonstrate each character’s metamorphosis.