Honors American Literature - Summer Reading List
Incoming Juniors will be expected to read 3 novels over the course of the summer. Each student will be
expected to write an essay in response to the prompt written below. This essay will be due upon the
commencement of the 14/15 school year in August, 2014. A copy of the essay guidelines is attached to this
handout.
Students accustomed to having the entire summer free of intellectual pursuits and then inclined to moan and
groan at a summer reading list are reminded that the brain is a muscle as well, and like any muscle if not exercised,
it turns into flab. Just like the football players exercising their bodies over the summer so they can dominate on
the field in the fall, so you too get to exercise your brain over the summer so you can dominate in the classroom
this fall.
INCOMING JUNIOR READING LIST (BOLD titles are required reading. The student must then choose
one of the remaining 6 titles for their third review).
The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer
A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller
The Awakening – Kate Chopin
Bee Season – Myla Goldberg
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
Essay 1 – The Jungle/Invisible Man (Due on first Friday of school)
Prompt: Write an essay (4 page minimum, plus a typed outline) that discusses how The Jungle and Invisible Man
present the social dilemma of their respective era. How does each propose a solution? What are the benefits and
consequences of the solutions?
Essay 2 – Student’s Choice (Due on second Friday of school)
Prompt: Write an essay (3 page minimum, plus a typed outline) that discusses what the book says about humanity
– it’s values, problems, etc… (This prompt is left pretty vague so that you’re encouraged to be creative in how
you approach this prompt. Go for it and see where the thought takes you.)
A WORD TO THE WISE: While it certainly is true that Internet sites such as SparkNotes can easily provide
quick summations to popular stories such as these, the astute, moral, Christian –and self-preserving- student will
note that such sites, while easily accessed by students, are also easily accessed by staff members, thereby making it a
snap to check and see if blocks of text have been lifted from the Internet. A student found to be lifting text is
engaged in plagiarism, and will be greeted with a “0” for the assignment and a report made to the Academic
Dean. Not the best way to start off an academic year. So, the wise student will in fact read the books in their
entirety, and compose their reviews from their own fertile imaginations, with no outside assistance from the
Internet.
Ford 1
Bubba Ford
June 1, 2011
Mr. Martin
This is a heading. It, like
the rest of the paper, will
be double-spaced. It is
placed on the left side of
the paper.
This is a header.
Last name and
page number.
World Literature
Every paper written for this class will be done in MLA format. Papers will also be typed, using
either Times New Roman, or Garamond, size 12.
All papers, like this one,
will be double-spaced throughout.
Q1: Instead of making a proper header, can I just tab over or hit the
space bar until I get there?
A1: No. The header is not part of the regular page. This is why you
need to do a proper header.
Q2: How do I insert a proper header?
A2: Find the tab at the top of your screen that says “Insert”. Click on
it. Then, click on the menu where it says Header/Footer. Align your
cursor on the right side of the page and type your last name.
Q3: Every time I type a page number, I get the same number on every
page. How do I get the page number to change for every page?
A3: Done correctly, this can happen automatically.
On newer versions, click on the tab next to the option for
Header/Footer, where it says page number. Place your cursor over
“Top of Page” and then click on “Plain Number 3”.
On older versions, when you are typing your last name in the
header, there should be a little bar with a button that looks like this: #.
Clicking this will put in an automatic page number.
If all else fails, ask the little paper clip, or Google it.