Walt Whitman High School
Summer Reading List
9th Grade 2014 - 2015
The English Department welcomes you to high school and congratulates you on
reaching this milestone in your academic journey. These summer reading texts help
prepare you for the rigors of high school. We encourage you to read with others and to
discuss themes, characters and language. Have fun and come prepared!
Summer Reading
Honors
On-Level

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

One biography (or autobiography) of a
famous American of the 1920s or 1930s

“How to Mark a Book” by Mortimer Adler

Two additional essays about writing

“How to Mark a Book” by Mortimer Adler

Two additional essays about writing
Choose from:
Choose from:
“Why I Write”
George Orwell
“Why I Write”
George Orwell
“Why I Write”
Joan Didion
“Why I Write”
Joan Didion
“My Father’s Suitcase”
Orhan Pamuk
“My Father’s Suitcase”
Orhan Pamuk
“The Making of a Writer”
Eudora Welty
“The Making of a Writer”
Eudora Welty
Specifics and Suggestions
 The full text Of Mice and Men can be found in local libraries, in bookstores, and online.
 Essays are available on Whitman English Department website at:
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/whitmanhs/academics/english/
 Suggestions for the biography/autobiography (honors only):
 Margaret Burke-White
 Ernest Hemingway
 Al Capone
 Langston Hughes
 Coco Chanel
 Dorothea Lange
 Walt Disney
 Charles Lindbergh
 Albert Einstein
 Jesse Owens
 F. Scott Fitzgerald
 Eleanor Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Orson Welles
Evidence of Critical, Thoughtful Reading
1. Respond to the following questions/prompts as you read Of Mice and Men and, if
you are going into honors, the biography.
2. Mark up and annotate the essays, using “How to Mark a Book” as your guide.
You will submit your answers and essay annotations, stapled together and with your
name, your teacher’s name, the period number, and the date clearly labeled in the
upper left corner of the first page, during the first week of school. Your answers to
the questions/prompts will also be your first submission to turnitin.com.
Honors
What effect does the opening of Of Mice and Men achieve? Consider tone, diction, and setting.
In OMM, what does Steinbeck try to convey about life or human nature (theme)?
What is the major conflict?
Describe the climax of the plot and explain what makes it the climax.
Who is your favorite character from Of Mice and Men? Why?
Where and when did the subject of the biography live?
What were the subject’s interests?
Identify the motivating factor(s) of the subject’s life.
9. For either Of Mice and Men or the biography you read: Who would you most like to meet in
Starbucks? What would you like to tell him/her? (It need not be your favorite character.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
On-level
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What effect does the opening of Of Mice and Men achieve? Consider tone, diction, and setting.
In OMM, what does Steinbeck try to convey about life or human nature (theme)?
What is the major conflict?
Describe the climax.
Who is your favorite character from Of Mice and Men? Why?
Not sure how to annotate the essays? Here’s some help:
Read these essays; underline, annotate, and highlight important information. We must see
evidence of how your mind worked as you read; in other words CONVERSE with your
sources – show your thinking! Use highlighters, write notes in the margin, underline, circle,
connect, draw arrows, etc. Find strategies that work best for you!
These websites also offer additional responses on writing from television producers, professionals,
and other individuals. No annotations necessary for these readings.
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3663
http://whywewriteseries.wordpress.com/