NAME: ______________________________________
SCORE: ____ / 115
ENGLISH II HONORS PreAP SUMMER READING
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a
small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of
abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old
and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many
times her age–and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years
later, in San Francisco, Maya learns about love for herself and the kindness of
others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in
love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of
imprisoned.
Poetic and powerful, I​Know Why the Caged Bird Sings i​
s a modern American
classic that will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.
Superbly told, with the poet's gift for language and observation, Angelou's
autobiography of her childhood in Arkansas.
(Summary from barnesandnoble.com)
A Long Way Gone ​
by Ishmael Beah
My new friends have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story of my
life.
"Why did you leave Sierra Leone?"
"Because there is a war."
"You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each
other?"
"Yes, all the time."
"Cool."
I smile a little.
"You should tell us about it sometime."
"Yes, sometime."
This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and
wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than
fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000
child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.
What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop?
Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until
now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.
In ​
A Long Way Gone​
, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he
fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been
picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly
terrible acts. This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.
Summer Reading for English II H PreAP / Class of 2018
Welcome to English II Honors PreAP and Writing Classes.
You are about to embark on a journey across the world
through reading and writing. In order to prepare you for
our year together, please complete the summer reading
assignment. Your assignment will count towards the first
4 grades for English II or Writing, and will inform your first
vocab quiz and first Socratic Seminar of the year.
SUMMER READING OVERVIEW
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
GMAIL ADDRESS.
FLASHCARDS.
READ. COLLECT QUESTIONS, VOCAB, AND QUOTES.
TYPE YOUR ESSAY ON GOOGLE DRIVE.
SHARE YOUR FLASHCARDS AND ESSAY.
BRING YOUR COMPLETED PACKET TO SCHOOL.
QUESTIONS? EMAIL​
. ​
CALL​
. ​
TEXT​
. --> SUMMER READING TO DO LIST: ❏
Create a Gmail account​
for use in English II Honors PreAP and Sophomore
Writing. You may use a previous Gmail (such as your World Geography Gmail).
❏
Complete your flashcards for the MAGIC 32 on paper or online. If online, share
with ​
ssummers@noscihigh.org​
and ​
jcarver@noscihigh.org​
.
❏
Read your book and collect quotes, vocabulary, and questions you have as
you read. Write these down in your packet (or create or request a Google Doc so you
can type them and share them).
❏
Go over the rubric for your essay before you begin to draft. This rubric will
inform all of your writing for EOC preparation.
❏
Type your essay on Google Drive and share with s
​summers@noscihigh.org
and ​
jcarver@noscihigh.org​
by 10 p.m. on Friday, August 14. Handwritten essays will
not be accepted.
WRITING PROMPT: In both ​
A Long Way Gone​
and ​
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings​
,
the biographical nature of the memoir lets the reader explore growing up in
challenging surroundings. In a well developed, multi-paragraph essay with a
​t least 3
pieces of text evidence​
, explore the following question:
How do surroundings impact a person’s coming of age? Summer Reading for English II H PreAP / Class of 2018
WRITE A SIGNIFICANT QUOTE FROM THE TEXT, PLUS WHY YOU BELIEVE THE QUOTE IS
SIGNIFICANT.
(4 POINTS EACH, 20 POINTS TOTAL)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
CREATE DEEPER MEANING QUESTIONS YOU WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS IN CLASS
ABOUT THE TEXT AS YOU READ.
(2 POINTS EACH, 10 POINTS TOTAL)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Summer Reading for English II H PreAP / Class of 2018
WRITE VOCABULARY YOU MUST KNOW IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE TEXT.
FIND THIS VOCABULARY DURING YOUR READING. (1 POINT EACH, 15 POINTS TOTAL)
WORD & PG. #
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GUESS THE DEFINITION BASED ON CONTEXT CLUES
FIND THE ACTUAL DEFINITION
Summer Reading for English II H PreAP / Class of 2018
MAGIC’S 32
Did you know Magic Johnson loves to read?
You MUST know MAGIC’S 32 when you come
into English II. You can study these by making
paper flashcards or using Quizlet at
http://quizlet.com​
.
Each flashcard MUST INCLUDE the ​
term​
and a
definition​
that you understand. Provide an
example from the text if you find one.
(1 POINT EACH, 32 POINTS TOTAL)
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31.
32.
Allegory
Alliteration
Allusion (not Illusion)
Ambiguous
Analogy
Anecdote
Author’s Purpose
Contradiction
Dialect
Dialogue vs. Inner Dialogue
Elements of Poetry: Epic, Sonnet, Ballad, Free Verse
Epigram
Epiphany
Euphemism
Flashback
Foreshadow
Hamartia
Hubris
Hyperbole
Idiom
Imagery
Irony (Verbal, Situational, Dramatic)
Juxtaposition
Memoir
Metaphor
Onomatopoeia
Oxymoron
Personification
Pun
Sarcasm
Symbol
Tone