COMMONWEALTH ACADEMY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS (9TH GRADE) Summer, 2015
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 two
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. 4-Paragraph essay OR Left-Right Journal – on the required text
2. Multi-media assignment – on the optional book choice
Incoming
Grade Level
9th
Required Text
• Maus I, Spiegelman
Required Optional Book: Choose One
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury
Into the Wild, Krakauer
Bleachers, Grisham
Thirteen Reasons Why, Asher
The Fault in Our Stars, Green
Matched, Condie
Life is Beautiful (screenplay),
Begnini
• Rebecca, du Maurier
• Days of Grace, Ashe
• Divergent, Veronica Roth
COMMONWEALTH ACADEMY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS (9TH GRADE) Summer, 2015
ASSIGNMENTS for the REQUIRED SUMMER READING TEXT (Choose Either)
4-PARAGRAGH
ESSAY
LEFT-RIGHT
JOURNAL
Include examples from the text.
Your thesis must be based on one of the following:
1. Why do you think Art Spiegelman draws the characters of his
book as mice, cats, pigs, etc? Do you think this, and the cartoon
format in general, is an effective way of dealing with the subject
matter? Why or why not?
2. What role does money play in Vladek’s life, and why?
3. What happens to people who live under a terror regime for a long
period of time? Should people adapt to a terror regime?
 Use a spiral notebook, marble composition book, or computer
word-processing 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






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
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
COMMONWEALTH ACADEMY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS (9TH GRADE) Summer, 2015
person
 Drawings of the characters and
setting
 Venn diagram contrasting
characters
COMMONWEALTH ACADEMY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS (9TH GRADE) Summer, 2015
MULTI-MEDIA ASSIGNMENT for the REQUIRED OPTIONAL BOOK CHOICE
CREATE
a
Set of
Trading
Cards
CREATE
a
PowerPoint
Journal
 For each character in the text, as well as places, or other
important objects
 Each must contain a photo of the character
 Use ReadWriteThink’s trading card website
 Fill out each question completely, and print after each one is
complete. Print in color if possible!

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/trading_cards/




from the perspective of the main character
8-10 entries (one entry per page)
Include a journal cover page
an original (you take it) photo to accompany each entry
CREATE
a
MOVIE
 5-10 minute movie , with original script
 Choose one of the following to do: re-write the ending of the
text, add an additional scene to the end (or extend the ending),
or create a prequel to the text
WRITE
a
SONG
 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 (9TH GRADE) Summer, 2015
Left-Page Example for Left-Right Journal
Thursday, March 10, 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 (9TH GRADE) Summer, 2015
Right-Page Example for Left-Right Journal
Thursday, March 10, 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 well-intentioned, 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 power-hunger like the pigs did.
COMMONWEALTH ACADEMY
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS (9TH GRADE) Summer, 2015
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.