COMMONWEALTH ACADEMY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS (10TH GRADE) Summer, 2013
For your summer reading you must read two texts: the required reading and one from the list
provided for your incoming grade level.
In addition to reading the two texts, you must complete the following three assignments, due
the first day of class. For each day late, 10% will be deducted from the grade, not to exceed
30%. The essay and journal are worth a test grade, and the multi-media assignment is worth a
project grade.
1. 5-Paragraph essay – on the required text
2. Left-Right Journal – on the required text
3. Multi-media assignment – on the optional book choice
Incoming
Grade Level
10th
Required Text
• American Born Chinese,
Yang
Required Optional Book: Choose One
• Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenriech
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Smith
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,
Kesey
• The Speed of Dark, Moon
• “Death of a Salesman,” Miller
• How the Garcia Girls Lost Their
Accent, Alvarez
• Angela’s Ashes, McCourt
• The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck
• The Joy Luck Club, Tan
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,
McCullers
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower,
Chbosky
• Steve Jobs: The Man Who
Thought Different, Blumenthal
• Looking for Alaska, Green
• Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck
COMMONWEALTH ACADEMY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS (10TH GRADE) Summer, 2013
ASSIGNMENTS for the REQUIRED SUMMER READING TEXT
5-PARAGRAGH
ESSAY
LEFT-RIGHT
JOURNAL
Include examples from the text.
Your thesis must be based on one of the following:
1. Wei-Chen's transformer robot monkey symbolizes so much in the graphic
novel. How do the characters in American Born Chinese "transform" themselves
for American society? What role does money play in Vladek’s life, and why?
2. What can be learned from the Monkey King and American Born Chinese?
3. Do you think Yang used the technique of humor appropriately?

Use a spiral notebook, marble composition book, or computer wordprocessing program
 For every fifth of the book you read, complete a left and right page of your
journal.
 Record the date and page numbers you read for that entry at the top of each
page.
 Your journal must have a minimum of ten pages full pages of normal sized
writing and illustrations (5 left, 5 right)
 For each left-hand page of the notebook, you may take notes, summarize the
section of reading, record quotes (see details below)
 For each right-hand page of the notebook, you may be more creative: express
opinions and feelings, discuss symbolism, favorite characters and why, what
you would do in that situation, drawings of the setting or characters, personal
reflections (see details below)
Left Side Options



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
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Summary of the section you
just finished reading
Facts
Vocabulary you don’t know
Important events in the book
Timeline
Lists and descriptions of
characters
Quotes from the book that
you want to reflect on (on the
right side) or you feel are
significant, or that might help
you with your paper
Right Side Options












Ask questions you’re unsure about
Define vocabulary (from left)
Poetry you found or wrote that relates
Cartoons that relate to the book
How you relate personally – comparison to
your own life
How it reminds you of other books, movies,
stories and why
Reactions to the characters and situations in
the book
Favorites or things you hate about the book
and why
What you would do if you were in that
situation or if you were that person
Drawings of the characters and setting
Venn diagram contrasting characters
Remark on the meaning of certain quotes
COMMONWEALTH ACADEMY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS (10TH GRADE) Summer, 2013
MULTI-MEDIA ASSIGNMENT for the REQUIRED OPTIONAL BOOK CHOICE
CREATE
a
BLOG




CREATE
a
GLOG
 For each significant person in the text
 Include pictures, descriptions, what the person does, significant
quotes, personality, etc.
 www.glogster.com
CREATE
a
MOVIE
 5-10 minute documentary or mockumentary that deals with a theme
presented in the text
WRITE
a
SONG
from the main character’s perspective
8-10 entries
an original photo to accompany each entry
Google Blogger is easy to use for first-timers
 Write a song based on the text, or a theme from the text
 The song must be at least 5 stanzas; no more than two can be the
chorus
 Type a copy of the song, and spell check it
 Perform the song, or have someone perform it
 Record the performance (video, sound, or both!)
COMMONWEALTH ACADEMY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS (10TH GRADE) Summer, 2013
Left-Page Example for Left-Right Journal
Sunday, March 06, 2016
Pages 1-49 of Lord of the Flies
Summary: The first two introduced are the fair-haired boy (Ralph) and a fat boy with glasses (Piggy).
Through their conversation we learn that the world is in a state of war, and that the plane carrying the boys
crashed in the jungle. There are no adults anywhere. Ralph and Piggy go looking for other survivors and find
a conch shell. Piggy suggests that Ralph use it to blow into like a trumpet, and he does. The sound of the
conch brings the other survivors to them. The eldest of the new group, is Jack, who had been the head of their
choir. The boys decide to elect a leader and the votes are split between Ralph and Jack, but Ralph wins. Ralph
asks Jack to lead the choir to serve as hunters – to try to appease him. He sends Jack and another boy, Simon
to explore the island. They discover that they are on an uninhabited island. Jack pulls his knife on a pig to try
to kill it, but chickens out. He swears he will kill it next time. The boys hold another meeting to discuss how
to survive. Some are worried about how no one knows that they have crashes. A little kid says he saw a
“beastie” and it scares some of the others. They decide to build a fire to try to get rescued, collecting wood,
and using Piggy’s glasses to ignite the flame. Order is somewhat lost. Piggy yells at the group, telling them
that a little boy has gone missing. Though they are shocked and Ralph is upset, they go on as if nothing has
happened.
Vocabulary:
Scavenge
Immure
Gesticulate
Quotes: “Something dark was fumbling along....The creature was a party of boys, marching approximately in
step in two parallel lines” (15).
“We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages” (44).
Characters:
Ralph: Fair-haired, mild mannered, a leader, democratic
Piggy: fat, glasses, intellectual, no one listens to him
Jack: wears black, intense, red hair, blue eyes, arrogant, a leader, more of a dictator
Simon: skinny, but vivid, a thinker
Other Important Things:
Conch Shell
Piggy’s Glasses
The knife
COMMONWEALTH ACADEMY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS (10TH GRADE) Summer, 2013
Right-Page Example for Left-Right Journal
Sunday, March 06, 2016
Pages 1-49 of Lord of the Flies
Definitions:
Scavenge: Search for and collect (anything usable) from discarded waste.
Immure: Enclose or confine (someone) against their will: "immured in a lunatic asylum".
Gesticulate: Use gestures, esp. dramatic ones, instead of speaking or to emphasize one's words.
Poem:
The Sound of the Shell
Stranded on a deserted island,
Lonely, lonely, with only each other,
No adults and no real rules,
What can we do, there’s nothing to lose?
We arrived here in a plane, crash-landed.
The pilot is gone; all’s left is us boys,
Shot down from the sky, the crash scattered us all,
We were all lost ‘til we heard the sound of the shell.
Personal Response: I think if I were in the boy’s situation that I would be both happy and sad. On one hand,
the idea of being free from the rules of parents and of society is liberating. There would be no one to tell me to
eat or sleep or go to school. It would be nice to get to choose what I want to do when I want to. On the other
hand, surviving on a deserted island without adults and civilization would be difficult. For one thing, there
isn’t any air conditioning. I also wouldn’t be able to blow-dry my hair. It’s not like I could spend all my time
playing video games or shopping. I think it would be a lot of work to survive, and I’m not sure how well a
group of kids would get along. I also think it would be scary at night on an uninhabited island.
Relating the text to other stuff: The scene where the boys come together to vote and make some rules
reminds me of Animal Farm. The boys are suddenly without rules and need to instill some order like the
animals do after the farm-owner is gone. In Animal Farm, the rules the pigs make in the beginning are wellintentioned, and for the good of the whole group. However, as time goes on, the pigs begin to take liberties
with those rules. I wonder if the leaders of the group, Ralph and Jack, will succumb to greed and powerhunger like the pigs did.
Conch Shell Drawing
The conch shell seems to be a
symbol of order. The boys use it to
come together, and they use it to
determine who will speak.