Cherry Hill
School District
9th Grade Summer Reading
2015-2016
The Task
Every student is required to read The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
Honors students are also to read The Book Thief.
As you read your summer reading you will
identify and analyze specific episodes, patterns,
and quotes to complete the dialectical journal
for two given topics.
Cherry Hill School District
9th Grade Summer Read
Grade 9
All Students All Levels
(H,A,R)
Grade 9
All Honors Students
Curious Incident of the Dog
in the Nighttime
The Book Thief
by Mark Haddon
by Markus Zusak
The Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Night-time
by Mark Haddon
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all
the countries of the world and their
capitals and every prime number up to
7,057. He relates well to animals but has no
understanding of human emotions. He
cannot stand to be touched. Although
gifted with a superbly logical brain,
Christopher is autistic. Everyday
interactions and admonishments have little
meaning for him. Routine, order and
predictability shelter him from the messy,
wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher’s
carefully constructed world falls apart
when he finds his neighbor’s dog,
Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and
he is initially blamed for the killing.
Curious Incident of the Dog
in the Night-time
by Mark Haddon
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Set during World War II in
Germany, Markus Zusak’s
groundbreaking new novel is the
story of Liesel Meminger, a foster
girl living outside of Munich.
Liesel scratches out a meager
existence for herself by stealing
when she encounters something
she can’t resist–books. With the
help of her accordion-playing
foster father, she learns to read
and shares her stolen books with
her neighbors during bombing
raids as well as with the Jewish
man hidden in her basement
before he is marched to
Dachau.
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Summer Reading Assignment
As you read your summer reading book(s)
you will identify and analyze specific
episodes, patterns, and quotes to complete
dialectical journals for two topics for each
book.
Topic 1: Character Development
•Identify 5 episodes from the text that answer any of the following
questions in relation to character development:
1.What does the episode tell you about the personality of the
character?
2.What does the episode indicate about any character changes
that have taken place over the course of the story?
3.What does the episode indicate about the character’s role in
the story or position in society?
4.What does the episode show about the character’s
interactions with other characters.
Chapter / Page
#
Summary of the
Episode
(3-4 sentences)
Relevance/Analysis (3-5
sentences that answers
1 or more of the guiding
criteria)
Significant Quotation (supports
character development)
Quotation Page
Number
Topic 2: Thematic Development
•Identify 2 thematic patterns from the text that answer any of
the following statements or questions in relation to thematic
development:
1.Identify how multiple central ideas in a text interact, build
on, and, in some cases, conflict with one another.
2.Trace in detail the development and refinement of a
theme or central idea in a text, including how it emerges
and how it is shaped and refined by specific details.
3.What big ideas or concepts does the author introduce into
the book?
4.What message(s) might the author want the reader to
take away from the reading?
Chapter / Page
#
Summary of the
Thematic Pattern
(3-4 sentences)
Relevance/Analysis (35 sentences that
answers 1 or more of the
guiding criteria)
Significant Quotation
(to support thematic
development)
Quotation Page
Number