Brown Middle School 8th Grade Pre-AP English Summer Reading Assignment
Dear Students and Parents,
Welcome to 8th grade Pre-AP English!
Your summer assignment is to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. In
addition to reading the novel, you will also need to complete the following tasks:
(1) Annotation - Make notes in your copy of the book by highlighting or underlining
passages and making notes in the margin.
Your notes should focus on the characterization of Tom Sawyer, the protagonist.
Characterization is how an author creates or develops a character. You need to find
evidence of the following:
o His physical appearance
o What he says and does
o What other characters say and think about him
o His personality traits (adjectives that describe him)
o The motivations behind his actions
o His relationships to other characters
o Any changes he undergoes
o His involvement in different types of conflict.
An example of annotation is attached to this packet for your reference.
(2) Dialectical Journal - Use the template provided to complete a double-entry, or
reader- response, journal. You may print the template or create your own version. Just
be sure to include all parts. This journal is designed to teach you how to interact with and
gain meaning from a text. You must have a total of 12 entries. Try to space them out to
address the entire novel. Attached to this letter is an example of a dialectical journal and
the template you should use in creating your journal.
Upon your return to school, you will turn in your journals and use your annotations to complete
an essay. This makes it very important to complete the assignment before the first day of school.
The novel will also be our point of reference for classroom discussions and our review of literary
elements and techniques. Please contact us if you have questions.
Happy Reading!
Mrs. Julie Penisten
julie.penisten@forneyisd.net
Mrs. Stefani Stevens
stefani.stevens@forneyisd.net
Example of Annotation – The Hunger Games
Gale spreads the bread slices with the soft goat cheese, carefully placing a basil leaf on each
Katniss looks at
the beauty, but
ties it to her
job of hunting
and gathering –
*She has a
strong sense of
duty.
while I strip the bushes of their berries. We settle back in a nook in the rocks. From this place,
we are invisible but have a clear view of the valley, which is teeming with summer life,
greens to gather, roots to dig, fish iridescent in the sunlight. The day is glorious, with a blue
sky and soft breeze. The food’s wonderful, with the cheese seeping into the warm bread
and the berries bursting in our mouths. Everything would be perfect if this really was a
holiday, if all the day off meant was roaming the mountains with Gale, hunting for tonight’s
supper. But instead we have to be standing in the square at two o’clock waiting for the names to
be called out.
Why would
she want to
leave?
“We could do it, you know,” Gale says quietly.
“What?” I ask.
“Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it,” says Gale.
I don’t know how to respond. The idea is so preposterous.
“If we didn’t have so many kids,” he adds quickly.
Katniss has a
great deal of
responsibility.
She feeds two
families, so a
lot of people
are counting
on her.
[They’re not our kids, of course. But they might as well be. Gale’s two little brothers and a
sister. Prim. And you may as well throw in our mothers, too, because how would they live
without us? Who would fill those mouths that are always asking for more? With both of us
hunting daily, there are still nights when game has to be swapped for lard or shoelaces or
wool, still nights when we go to bed with our stomachs growling.]
“I never want to have kids,” I say.
“I might. If I didn’t live here,” says Gale.
“But you do,” I say, irritated.
“Forget it,” he snaps back.
*Katniss is
very devoted
to her sister.
This conversation feels all wrong. Leave? How could I leave Prim, who is the only person in
the world I’m certain I love? And Gale is devoted to his family. We can’t leave, so why bother
talking about it? And even if we did…even if we did…where did this stuff about having kids
come from? There’s never been anything romantic between Gale and me. When we met, I was a
skinny twelve-year-old, and although he was only two years older, he already looked like a man.
It took a long time for us to even become friends, to stop haggling over every trade and begin
helping each other out.
Where is this relationship going?
The Dialectical Journal
Remember to have a total of 12 entries.
Dialectical journals are journals in which a reader records a mental conversation with the text.
We will use the journal to analyze the main character, Tom Sawyer. You must:
 Identify evidence about the character (words, actions, reactions).
 Use quotations marks around quotes and cite page numbers.
 Based on the evidence, make an inference about the character.
 Write commentary that explains how and/or why the evidence leads to or supports the
inference
The following are examples of dialectical journal entries. It is to give you an idea of what your
own journal should look like. The comments on the right side (commentary) should be thorough
and detailed, although some responses will be shorter than others; some longer.
Evidence
“Quote from the text with quotation marks”
(page number).
Inference-Commentary
Inference about the character based on the
evidence (character traits) Commentary that explains how and/or why the
evidence leads to or supports the inference
“…and talked about mines and gold and
troubles with the goblins, and the depredations
of dragons, and lots of other things which he
did not understand, and did not want to, for
they sounded much too adventurous” (9).
Reluctant, hesitant – Bilbo is reluctant to go
with the dwarves on their adventure because
hobbits don’t like adventures or to be put in
dangerous situations. This involved both.
“If I had thought about attacking Dill for ten
seconds before I had done it, I’d have been four
blocks away in a minute flat…A wire broke. A
fuse blew. And I had gone out of my skull”
(6).
Reckless, impulsive – Ralph reacted to a
situation before he thought about it. Grover
had been picking on him for years, and he just
couldn’t take it anymore. When the fight was
over, Ralph realized that he had not solved his
problem but created a bigger one because
Grover would now want revenge.
Tom Sawyer Dialectical Journal
“Evidence” (page number)
Inference - Commentary