11th Grade IB Summer Reading
All rising IB juniors are required to read the assigned texts over summer and complete the corresponding
assignments.
Technique in Fiction is a college textbook and may be difficult to find. Ms. Meahl
(Kelly_Meahl@scps.k12.fl.us or TH-215) has several copies you can borrow. Juniors and seniors may also
have copies. If you would like to purchase your own, search on Amazon or eBay.
Technique in Fiction by Robie Macauley and George Lanning
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
1. Read Technique in Fiction and take notes from each chapter as if you were making notes
from a text book. Don't worry about writing down the examples the book gives of famous
pieces of literature that used the technique described, focus instead on the methods of
writing Technique discusses and the possible effects an author creates when using them.
There are nine chapters in Technique in Fiction and you should take notes on each
chapter separately. The notes will be collected for a grade and all notes must be
handwritten.
2. Choose three of the chapters in Technique in Fiction and apply each one to Kingston's
writing style in The Woman Warrior in three separate essays. Since The Woman Warrior
is an autobiography and not fiction, certain chapters can be more readily applied than
others.
For example, the second chapter of Technique in Fiction is entitled "Beginnings." After
reading this chapter and rereading the beginning of The Woman Warrior , explain why you
think Kingston begins her book with this unusual story. Be specific: What themes are
introduced ? Why was the story told by her mother a "salient moment" in Kingston's life? You
will need to discuss how the beginning of the book relates to the work as a whole.
Type your essay responses in MLA format. Label each essay with a title that indicates which
chapter of Technique in Fiction is being applied to The Woman Warrior. YOU MUST include
quotations from both Technique in Fiction and The Woman Warrior with appropriate MLA
parenthetical citations. Each essay should be approximately two pages in length. You may
include one Works Cited page for all three essays, since you are using the same sources for
each.
Your grade on this assignment will be based on how well you apply the ideas in the
chapters of Technique in Fiction to the contents of the book and how specific you are
in your application. Generalizations about Kingston's writing will not help you score
well. Quote ideas from Technique and give quotes/examples with page numbers from
The Woman Warrior to support your evaluations. All formal writing rules should be
applied.
You will have a test on The Woman Warrior and your written assignments will be
collected immediately upon your return to school. Please save your essays on your
computer, as you will be required to post all written work on Turnitin.com. The class
login will be provided when school starts.
Early Bird Extra Credit
You can email your three completed essays to me over the summer by Friday, July 31st
for extra credit. My em ail address is Kelly_Meahl@scps.k12.fl.us.
You will still upload your essays to turnitin.com when you return to school, and the essays
may not change after they are sent to me. They will not be re-graded if you decide to
continue working on them after that date.
Other Directions

DO NOT READ ANY LITERARY CRITICISM ON KINGSTON. If you are to be successful in the
English portion of your IB program, you must sharpen your own ability to do literary
criticism, and this will NEVER happen if you let others do your work for you. Stay away
from Sparknotes, cliffnotes, pink monkey, bookrags, shmoop, and all other websites.
The IB readers for English are former and current English teachers and professors! They
most likely will have read the critics you will read. They lower scores if they feel an
instructor has coached you to respond in certain ways. They surely can tell an original
response from one you've read in a book OR ON A WEBSITE.

If you have any questions, please email Kelly_Meahl@scps.k12.fl.us or stop by (TH 215).

Don't wait! This assignment can't be done in the last weekend before school starts.
Remember, this is the first of NOT MANY grades you'll have in the first nine weeksyou decide how you'll begin the year. Start early and do well!

Looking for something else to do this summer? Here is a list of the works we are
reading next year. Start defeating the stress of Junior year IB early and get ahead!

1st semester:
o
o
o
o

The Woman Warrior- Maxine Hong Kingston (summer reading)
Their Eyes Were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston
A Doll House- Ibsen (Fjelde translation)
Poetry of Langston Hughes, John Donne, and Margaret Atwood (selected poems
provided)
2nd Semester:
o Waiting for Godot- Samuel Beckett
o The Metamorphosis-and other short stories by Franz Kafka
o The Stranger- Albert Camus (Matthew Ward translation)
Supplemental texts: MLA handbook, How to Read Literature Like a Professor,
and On Writing the College Application Essay.