English I Honors Summer Assignment
Due: First day of class
You are to read two books during the summer.
Book I:
Read either The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini or Great Expectations by Charles
Dickens. As you read the selected novel keep a journal (take in depth notes) on the
choices the major characters make. What major life decisions does each character
make throughout the novel? How does each decision and choice affect each individual
character’s life, his/her destiny and the lives and destiny of others? Make sure you
write chapter numbers down for each incident and page numbers. Write down
important quotations from the novel that might help illustrate the nature of these
decisions and choices and their effects on various characters’ destinies. You must use
these characters:
For The Kite Runner: Amir, Hassan and Baba
For Great Expectations: Pip, Estella and Miss Havisham
On the first day of school, please bring your journal. I will ask you to bring the book
later in the week when we will begin a discussion about the novel. (You will eventually
use these journals to help you write an in-depth essay.) 30 pts. (Each choice/quote is
worth one point. This does not necessarily divide equally among the characters. For
instance- you might have 13 choices/quotes for Pip, 9 for Estella and 8 for Miss
Havisham. )
Book II:
Choose any work of non-fiction (biography, autobiography, memoir, history, etc. No
diaries! Please do not read Elie Wiesel’s Night.) As you read the book find at least ten
substantial passages from the text of the work that express the author’s purpose in
writing his or her work of non-fiction. The first day of school you should bring the book
with you and the passages (typed, with page numbers, your name, the book’s title and
author’s name on the paper.)You will eventually use these quotes as the foundation of
an oral presentation. 20 pts. (Each quote is worth 2 points)
If you have any questions over the summer, you can email either Mrs. Young at
fyoung@veronaschools.org or Mrs. Kobylarz at akobylarz@veronaschools.org.
See you in September! 
Synopsis and review for Great Expections:
This book is a classic. There are no timely reviews. See
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1493605852/ref=s9_psimh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIK
X0DER&pf_rd_s=center2&pf_rd_r=1QEGMBN58M2CS4VJK1NK&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846
for amazon customers’ reviews.
Kite Runner:
From Publishers Weekly
Hosseini's stunning debut novel starts as an eloquent Afghan version of the American immigrant
experience in the late 20th century, but betrayal and redemption come to the forefront when the narrator,
a writer, returns to his ravaged homeland to rescue the son of his childhood friend after the boy's parents
are shot during the Taliban takeover in the mid '90s. Amir, the son of a well-to-do Kabul merchant, is
the first-person narrator, who marries, moves to California and becomes a successful novelist. But he
remains haunted by a childhood incident in which he betrayed the trust of his best friend, a Hazara boy
named Hassan, who receives a brutal beating from some local bullies. After establishing himself in
America, Amir learns that the Taliban have murdered Hassan and his wife, raising questions about the
fate of his son, Sohrab. Spurred on by childhood guilt, Amir makes the difficult journey to Kabul, only
to learn the boy has been enslaved by a former childhood bully who has become a prominent Taliban
official. The price Amir must pay to recover the boy is just one of several brilliant, startling plot twists
that make this book memorable both as a political chronicle and a deeply personal tale about how
childhood choices affect our adult lives. The character studies alone would make this a noteworthy
debut, from the portrait of the sensitive, insecure Amir to the multilayered development of his father,
Baba, whose sacrifices and scandalous behavior are fully revealed only when Amir returns to
Afghanistan and learns the true nature of his relationship to Hassan. Add an incisive, perceptive
examination of recent Afghan history and its ramifications in both America and the Middle East, and the
result is a complete work of literature that succeeds in exploring the culture of a previously obscure
nation that has become a pivot point in the global politics of the new millennium.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.