Brownsville Independent School District
1900 E. Price Road/ Brownsville, Texas 78521 (956)548-8000
Sophomore English Summer Reading Information 2015
Summer reading is an important part of the STAMP Program for the English student’s experience. Current research suggests
that summer reading helps students maintain important literacy skills and provides all students with a shared experience to
build upon in when they return to school. Below are the summer reading directions for all incoming sophomore students. All
students are responsible for their summer reading assignments.
REQUIRED SUMMER READINGS
These reading assignments will be taken for a grade during the first six weeks.
1.
Read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
 As you read, make at least FIVE dialectical journal entries. See attached directions and examples.
 You will use these five journal entries for class assessments when you return to school in the fall.
 Bring the five completed dialectical journal entries to the first day of class.
2.
Read ONE of the books from the Advanced Placement literature list below. This should be a novel you have
not read before.
 As you read, complete the reading assessment log for your chosen AP book.
 Bring your completed reading assessment log to the first day of class.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT LITERATURE LIST
Choose ONE book of your choice from this list for your summer assessment.
Many of these books are the most frequently cited in AP Literature Exam from 1970-2013.
Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison
Their Eyes were Watching God-Zorah Neale Huston
Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte
As I Lay Dying-William Faulkner
Crime and Punishment-Fyodor Dostoevsky
Ceremony-Leslie Marmon Silko
Great Expectations-Charles Dickens
Beloved-Toni Morrison
Heart of Darkness-Joseph Conrad
Native Son-Richard Wright
Jane Eyre-Charlotte Bronte
The Woman Warrior-Maxine Hong Kingston
Moby Dick-Herman Melville
Walden-Henry David Thoreau
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-Mark Twain
In Cold Blood-Truman Capote
King Lear-William Shakespeare
Angela’s Ashes-Frank McCourt
Catch-22-Joseph Heller
Into the Wild-Jon Krakauer
The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tuesdays with Morrie-Mitch Albom
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man-James Joyce
Hunger of Memory-Richard Rodriguez
The Awakening-Kate Chopin
The Glass Castle-Jeannette Walls
Billy Budd-Herman Melville
Seabiscuit-Laura Hillenbrand
Light in August-William Faulkner
An American Childhood-Annie Dillard
Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact the designated English teacher from your campus:
Hanna: grguzman@bisd.us
Lopez: atamayo@bisd.us
Pace: rhfranke@bisd.us
Porter: bmartinez@bisd.us
Rivera: csierra@bisd.us
Veterans: eamccumber@bisd.us
Dialectical Journal Explanations and Directions
A dialectical journal is a conversation between you and what you are reading. You simply write down passages (quotes or excerpts)
from Frankenstein that interest you and then you write a response explaining your thoughts. This process is an important way to
understand a piece of literature. By writing about literature, you make your own meaning of the work in order to truly understand it.
1.
2.
3.
As you read, select and write down at least FIVE interesting passages (quotes or excerpts from the book).
For each passage (quote or excerpt), write detailed response to the passage you have chosen. Ideas for response
prompts are listed below. You should have a total of at least FIVE responses. (Limit of one personal connection)
Your dialectical journals MUST BE TYPED. Your journal entries will be due the first day of class.
How to Organize your Dialectical Journal Entries
Your Name:
I verify that ____________________________________ has completed his/her summer reading.
Parent Signature: __________________________
Title and Author of the Book:
Excerpt(s) or Quote(s) with Page Number(s):
Possible Response Prompts
 I really don’t understand this because…
 I really like/dislike this idea because…
Excerpt or quotation from book:
 This idea/event seems to be important because…
 I think the author is trying to say that…
 This passage reminds me of a time in my life when…
 If I were (name of character), as this point I would…
 This part doesn’t make sense because…
 This character reminds me of (name of person) because
 What do you think or feel about what is going on in this
passage? Comments? Ideas? Opinions? Questions?
 Explain, show or interpret how this passage is important.
What is it showing? What do you learn or see? New
insights? Significance…What do you learn from this
Page number: _______
quote/text?
 Make a personal connection with the passage (I
remember…I recall…I have seen…Once I read…). Here
you need to be very specific! Be sure to tie this personal
connection back to the quote/text.
 Make a global reflection. How does the passage connect
to society or the world in general? What conclusions might
you draw about people and/or life?
SAMPLE of two dialectical journal entries
John B. Student
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Expert(s) or Quote(s) with Page Number
Sample Student Responses
1.
“Shoot all the blue jays you want. . . but
remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”
(90)
2.
“There was no hurry, for there was
nowhere to go…nothing to see outside
the boundaries of Maycomb County. But
it was a time of vague optimism for some
of the people. Maycomb County had
recently been told that it had nothing to
fear but fear itself” (7-8)
This seems to be saying that mockingbirds are harmless. It must be important
because it is part of the book’s title. Considering the events in the book,
mainly Tom Robinson’s trial, perhaps the mockingbird is a symbol. Tom is
innocent, he hasn’t hurt anyone, yet he is being persecuted just because of his
skin color.(Significance/global reflection)
Apparently Maycomb is also a very slow, sleepy town that is pretty isolated
from everything else. This seems to be especially true since they only have a
“vague” notion of FDR’s speech (an allusion to the Great Depression of the
1930s-must be the era in which the story takes place) and there is “nothing”
outside of Maycomb County. I wonder why they see the world this way—
maybe people don’t travel because of the Depression or because that’s just
not what people did. (Interpreting/Asking a Question)
Summer Reading Assessment Log for Advanced Placement Book Choice
This assignment will be due the first day of class. Your assessment log must be TYPED.
I.
Student Name and Parent Verification: Please type your name and the following statement as the first
section of your assessment. A parent signature MUST be included.
Student Name: ________________________________________________________
I verify that _____________________________________ has completed his/her summer reading.
Parent Signature: ____________________________________________
II.
Identify and properly punctuate the book’s title, author, copyright date, and number of pages in MLA
format. Refer to following web page for MLA formatting questions:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/resource/747/01
III.
Cite a memorable passage of no more than thirty words or three sentences from the book. Identify
the page number, chapter, and copy word for word the short passage you feel is worth remembering.
Explain why you have selected this passage.
IV.
Describe your first impression of one character or one event you find most interesting. Give at least
THREE items of information that gave you this impression.
V.
Identify what causes a significant change in one character, and describe the results of that change.
This change may be the consequence of a choice, a conflict of some kind that has to be resolved, the
display of some outstanding trait like courage, or even the result of an action or event that occurs during the
story. (What causes the significant change in the character? What are the results of the change?)
VI.
To highlight the significance of the book for you, read all of the questions below and then write a
response to ONE question.
 What discovery did you make as a result of reading the book?
 How has this book changed your thinking or feeling?
 How has this book challenged your opinions or views of life?
VII.
Select FIVE literary devices (Literary device list available on STAMP Summer Reading website:
https://stampsummerreading.wikispaces.com/Summer+Reading+Files) and explain the effective use of
this device. Be sure to include the type of device, page number, quote/sentence containing device, and the
explanation of its effectiveness.
VIII.
Select FIVE vocabulary words from the text of the novel that you find challenging or interesting.
Provide a dictionary definition for each word chosen, along with the page number and quote in which it
appears. Then compose an original sentence using this word properly.
**NOTE: This document can be found on the STAMP website at www.bisd.us/stamp