Name: ___________________________
Grade 7 English
Date: ___________________
Ms. Rabbino
Summer Reading Guide for Rising Seventh Graders
Dear seventh graders,
I am writing this letter on behalf of Mr. Kuck, your English teacher for next year. I am so excited
to introduce your summer reading books. You are reading a classic of literature, Animal Farm by
George Orwell, and a more recent selection, Sophia's War by Avi. This packet is designed to
help you give the reading some context and background so that you can be successful at the start
of seventh grade English. This is only designed to help you. If you are nervous about the
academic demands of seventh grade, which are significant, one of the best ways to prepare
yourself is to read widely, especially over the summer. The beneficial impact of reading a text,
not just something on the internet, has been proven by many educators’ experiences, not to
mention hundreds of scholarly articles. Take our word for it! In the meantime, enjoy!
Sophia's War by Avi
Plot Summary: In 1776, the War of Independence comes to New York City, and to twelve-yearold Sophia Calderwood’s family. William, her older soldier brother, has been missing since the
defeat of George Washington’s Army at the Battle of Brooklyn. When the British occupy the
city, Lieutenant John André of the English Army, is boarded at the Calderwood home. He and
Sophia develop a flirtatious friendship, which is tested when the girl discovers that William is
being held in The Sugarhouse, a notorious British prison. She hopes André can help. When he
chooses not to, Sophia struggles to save her brother herself. Three years later, Sophia becomes a
spy in the headquarters of the British Army. There she finds André, now a Major, working to
enable a highly placed American General (Benedict Arnold) become a traitor, a treason that will
endanger the whole American war effort. Indeed, the desperate characters in this thrilling tale of
spies and counter-spies, act out many acts of deception, not least by Sophia herself. (Adapted
from Avi's personal website)
There are three plot threads in this novel:
Thread 1 is Part 1: The treatment of American prisoners by the British in New York City during
the Revolution.
Thread 2 is Part 2: The true story is that of British Major John Andre and General Benedict
Arnold.
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Thread 3: This is Sophia Calderwood’s story: a tale of fiction and the link between these first
two threads.
Thinking Questions: You do not need to answer these questions on a piece of paper, but that is a
great tool to assess your own understanding of the novel and to keep those writing skills sharp.
Either way, be sure that you can answer them after reading the book and before the start of
school. Notice that I leave some space for notes, so if you choose to write your responses or just
mentally prepare them, you have a place to plan your thoughts.
1.) When the story opens on September 22, 1776 Sophia is an unsuspecting witness to a
hanging. Explain Sophia’s situation and that of her family. How does the hanging affect
her?
2.) What kind of man was young William Calderwood? What influence did he have on
Sophia during his life?
3.) In Chapter 4 Sophia’s mother snaps, “Child, what we think and what we say can no
longer be the same!” What has sparked this statement? Was Sophia’s father right to sign
the Oath of Allegiance to King George? Find another example of how “the war made
deception our way of life.” (Chapter 15)
4.) How does the boarder, John André, compare to Lieutenant André? How did his presence
affect Sophia’s and her family? Does she feel real affection for him?
5.) What dangers does Sophia face as she searches for William at King’s College, then the
Sugarhouse, and finally The Good Intent? What does her search show about her
character?
6.) How does Avi describe the conditions in the Sugarhouse? (Chapter 24) Who is
responsible for these conditions?
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7.) Why would the British move American prisoners to a ship in the harbor and use it as their
prison? In Chapter 27, Sophia says as she boards The Good Intent that “This was not
mere disregard and ignorance. This, by multiple degrees, was murder.” Explain her
meaning.
8.) Who is responsible for William’s death? How does William’s death change Sophia?
Would this same change have happened if he had died in battle?
9.) What do we learn about Benedict Arnold in Part I?
10.) “To lose a loved one is but part of living life, whereas to have a loved one vanish is a living
death.” How does this apply to Sophia and her family? When Chapter 29 begins, how is the
family changed by William’s death? How has the war changed by 1780?
11.) What part does Robert Townsend play in this story?
12.) How has Major John Andre changed since last he was with Sophia in Part I? How could his
new position affect Sophia? How did the poem he wrote for Sophia lead to his undoing?
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13.) What would Sophia say was the key to her reaching the meeting place for Andrew and
Arnold?
14.) How was the Vulture being fired upon and being towed down river a turning point in the
Andre and Arnold meeting?
15.) What stands in the way of any adults believing Sophia and her story of Arnold’s treason?
16.) How does Mr. Paulding play a key role in the arrest of Major Andre? Why did Colonel
Jameson send Andre to General Arnold? What motivates Major Tallmadge to intervene? How
does Arnold incriminate himself?
17.) Why does Sophia need to see Andre? What did Sophia accomplish in talking to him? How
does his treatment as a prisoner differ from that which William received in the Sugarhouse?
18.) Should Andre have been hung?
Explain the importance of each of these in Sophia’s War. Incomplete sentences are fine for this
graphic organizer.
Character
Importance
Culper
Hesh
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Reverend Odell
West Point
Talmadge
Anderson
Mr. Moore
Molly Saville
Bonus opportunities. If youŕe interested in this book (and you should be!), consider writing an
essay on one of the following prompts.
1.) In Chapter 2, Sophia mentions “the crimes the British had committed—as cited in our
Independence Declaration.” http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/. Read the
Declaration. Examine the list of grievances listed against King George III. Which of
these grievances are specifically parts of Sophia’s story? How did each affect the people
and the war?
2.) Find an instance in Avi’s writing of how his attention to detail and his research adds to
our knowledge of the time and place.
3.) In Chapter 17, Mr. Paine is quoted “our new nation is a blank sheet for us to write upon.”
How does Sophia step out of her life to create her mark on this “blank sheet?”
About Animal Farm: In the mid 1800s, the capitalist system was strong in Europe and America,
but the profits of businesses came at the expense of workers who worked 14 to 18 hours a day in
unsafe conditions. Capitalism is the system that we use here in the United States; where most of
the wealth and industries are held privately (note that this is a very simplified definition!). There
were no child labor laws, and wages were barely livable for the common worker.
In 1847, an international workers’ group asked Karl Marx, a German philosopher, to draw up a
plan for their organization. The group was called the Communist League. Marx wrote a plan
called ¨The Manifesto of the Communist Party.¨ Marx envisioned a workers’ revolt followed by
a kind of paradise where each person would work according to his or her ability and receive
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money according to his or her need. Marx saw the final stage of his Communist system being
total worldwide economic equality so that there were no people or countries who had more than
others; everyone would have an equal amount. About this time, labor laws were passed in
Western Europe and America that made the workplace safer and more tolerable for workers. The
worldwide revolution that Marx foresaw never came to pass. The people that followed Marx’s
thinking were called Socialists. The Socialists split into two groups. The milder group wanted to
bring about Communism slowly by passing new laws. The other group (we’ll call them
Communists) stuck to Marx’s original idea of a major worker revolt. The Communists were a
small extremist group compared to the total number of Socialists. They formed a political party
called the Bolshevik Party, which was led by a man named Vladimir Lenin.
Russia at this time was being poorly managed by a Czarist government (a typical monarchy
where the ruler had a lot of power), ruled by Czar Nicholas II. Most of the Russian people were
still underpaid workers on land owned by a small number of wealthy landlords. By 1917, the
suffering was too great, and groups of people began a revolution. The Bolshevik Party, led by
Vladimir Lenin, took a role in leading this revolution. Czar Nicholas II was forced to leave
power, and later he and his family were executed. The Bolshevik Party under Lenin took control
of the government. From 1918 to 1921, other countries that did not want Communism to spread
invaded Russia. However, the Communists were successful, and they changed the name of the
country from Russia to the Soviet Union. They often called each other “comrade,” which means
someone who is a friend and equal.
It's important to know this background because Orwell was very influenced by the political
changes taking place in the world. Animal Farm is about these complex political ideals, but it is
set on an actual animal farm and stars animals, rather than humans. While you’re reading, think
about the reasons Orwell might have done this rather than set his play in a more realistic setting.
Plot Description of Animal Farm:
The animals of Manor Farm have always been miserable under Mr. Jones and his men. They
have come to accept their difficult lives as part of the natural order of things. It is Old Major, a
prize-winning boar, who shares his dreams with the other animals. He tells them that the cause of
all their suffering is man. With man gone, the animals would enjoy the abundance the land
provides and build a new society based on equality. He says that Jones has no concern for the
animals—that he uses them until they are no longer productive. He butchers the pigs and drowns
the dogs when they get old. Old Major predicts that Jones will even sell Boxer, the horse, and the
hardest and most faithful worker on the farm, to the slaughterhouse once he is no longer able to
work. He encourages the animals to work for this revolution. He warns them never to become
like man and to always treat each other as equals.
Three nights later, Old Major dies, and the task of preparing the animals for the revolution falls
to the pigs, who are smarter than the others and who later teach themselves to read. Three young
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pigs, the intellectual Snowball, the domineering Napoleon, and the eloquent Squealer, organize
Old Major’s dream of the future into a political philosophy called Animalism.
When the drunken Mr. Jones fails to feed the animals one night, the animals drive him and his
men off the farm. They change the name to “Animal Farm,” and the pigs, who seem to have
assumed leadership, write the principles of Animalism, reduced to Seven Commandments, on the
barn wall. These are to be the unalterable rules by which the animals will live ever after:
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.
At first the revolution seems to be a success. All of the animals, directed and supervised by the
pigs, work hard to bring in the harvest. But there are indications from the beginning that the pigs
treat themselves specially. They remain the supervisors, doing no physical labor, and they take
extra food for themselves instead of sharing with the others. Meanwhile Jones, with the aid of his
neighbors, tries to retake the farm. They are driven off at the “Battle of the Cowshed” by the
military tactics of Snowball and the strength of Boxer. Both are decorated as heroes for their
roles in the victory.
A power struggle for control of Animal Farm develops between Snowball and Napoleon, and it
culminates with the building of a windmill. When the animals seem about to vote in favor of the
project, Napoleon, who opposes the plan, unleashes nine dogs he has been training secretly to
follow his orders without question. Snowball is chased off the farm, barely escaping the jaws of
the dogs. In a turnabout, Napoleon orders that work on the windmill begin. The work is difficult,
and the animals suffer in the process. When a storm blows the windmill down, Napoleon blames
the exiled Snowball and condemns him as an enemy. Napoleon exploits the animals’ fear that
Jones will return and their fear of his fierce dogs to consolidate his power. He uses Squealer to
lie to the animals and convince them that things aren’t what they seem. As work on the second
windmill begins, Napoleon and the pigs become more and more corrupt. They change the
commandments, move into Jones’s house, and drink whisky. Napoleon even kills other animals
who dare to stand up to his authority.
The second windmill is blown up in an attack by Frederick, after he steals wood from Animal
Farm, by paying for it with counterfeit, or fake, money. But Napoleon pronounces this defeat to
be a great victory, and work begins on a third attempt to build a windmill. None of the promises
of leisure time and comfort come true—no heat or electricity in the barn, no machines to do their
hard work. In fact, life grows harder for all of the animals, except the pigs, and food is scarcer.
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When Boxer, the hardest worker on the farm, is hurt, Napoleon sells him to the horse slaughterer.
Squealer convinces the others that Boxer died in the hospital after getting the best treatment. Old
Major’s prediction about Boxer has come true, but it is Napoleon who is the villain.
In the end, the pigs completely subvert the ideals of Animalism. They are the new masters. They
walk on two legs. They violate and change each of the Seven Commandments. Ultimately, these
commandments are erased and replaced with only one: “All animals are equal, but some animals
are more equal than others.” In the final scene, Mr. Pilkington comes for a tour and Napoleon
announces some changes. The name is changed back to “Manor Farm,” and a new level of
understanding is reached between pig and man. The book ends when someone cheats in a card
game. The animals, watching from outside, cannot tell the difference between the pigs and the
men.
The major characters in Animal Farm are introduced in the first four chapters. Write their names
in the graphic organizer, and identify their purpose, characteristics, and actions. Incomplete
sentences are fine. The first one is done for you.
Character
Purpose/Characteristics/Actions
Old Major
Gets the revolution started, advocates for real change.
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Thinking Questions: You do not need to answer these questions on a piece of paper, but that is a
great tool to assess your own understanding of the novel and to keep those writing skills sharp.
Either way, be sure that you can answer them after reading the book and before the start of
school. Notice that I leave plenty of space for notes, so if you choose to write your responses or
just mentally prepare them, you have a place to plan your thoughts.
1) "Surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?" Throughout the animals' reign
on the farm, Napoleon and Squealer dangle the possibility of Jones' return as a constant danger, keeping
most of the other animals in fear, and thus, submission. Do you think that this was a valid threat? Do you
feel that, overall, the animals were better or worse off once they were in control of the farm?
2) In the early part of the novel, Old Major expresses his vision of a society free of human influence and
control. Compare and contrast this against what eventually plays out on Manor Farm once the animals
have taken over. What, if any, concepts or goals remain the same?
3) In one of the first scenes in the novel, Old Major sings ¨Beasts of England,¨ effectively bringing the
animals together under a common purpose. Indeed, throughout the initial struggle against Man, it is a
wildly popular and inspirational song. Yet later on, when the animals have successfully conquered the
humans, Squealer, "attended by two dogs," announces that ¨Beasts of England¨ had been abolished and
"was no longer needed." Why would the pigs no longer want the animals to sing this song?
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4) Following the massacre of "guilty" animals at the hands of Napoleon and the other pigs, Clover reflects
sadly on what she thought life should have been like on Manor Farm: "If she herself had had any picture
of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each
working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak, as she had protected the lost brood of
ducklings with her foreleg on the night of Major's speech.¨ Is Clover overly idealistic in feeling this way?
Do you feel that such a community can exist?
5) Although Napoleon is considered the absolute Leader of Animal Farm, it is Squealer who is most adept
at conveying the "party line" to the animals, often convincing them to disbelieve their own eyes. What
methods does Squealer employ to deceive and/or placate the other animals? How does the concept of
memory (or lack thereof) figure in Squealer's pronouncements and dealings with them?
6) The novel ends with a chilling passage, wherein Clover notices something odd about the humans and
pigs meeting in the farmhouse: "Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No
question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man,
and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
What is Orwell saying here? How do you interpret this final scene?
7) In reading Animal Farm, Lord Acton's famous pronouncement "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely" may come to mind. How and why is this statement applicable to the course of
events in the novel?
8) Among the various characters in the novel, whom do you feel is the noblest or most worthy? Which
animal would be best suited to lead a group against Napoleon and the pigs? What qualities would this
animal need to posses to do so?
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