Pre-AP Summer Reading Assignment
Text: James McBride’s The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
You assignment consists of three parts:
1. Read the book. As you will discover, reading in Pre-AP involves more than moving your eyes
over the words on the page. You need to read actively, thinking about what you are reading,
asking questions, and making notes. You should read with a pen or pencil in hand: circle words
you don’t know the meaning of and look them up; put question marks next to material you
don’t understand or want to know more about and ask those questions in class; identify
passages that interest you or that might be helpful in answering discussion questions or
writing papers.
2. Think about and answer the following discussion questions as you read.
 In the earlier parts of the book, James writes about his childhood fears for his mother's
safety. Compare the attitudes of the child James towards Harlem with his mother's
attitude. What does he see in the community that his mother apparently does not? And
what does she see that he does not?
 Ruth appears to live her life as though she were a black Christian woman. Given her
childhood in Suffolk as a part of a family of Jewish immigrants, what specific things did
she have to deal with in order to fit into life in Harlem?
 McBride weaves together the story of his mother's early life with his own, inviting us to
compare the two. Of James and Ruth, who had the harder childhood? teenage years?
young adulthood? Explain your reasoning, using specific examples from the book.
 America is full of stories like Ruth's, in which people reinvent themselves in order to find
happiness. Identify people you know (family or friends) who have done so. Are they as
happy as Ruth appears to be? Why or why not?
 Clearly James McBride thinks a lot of her, but is Ruth truly a good mother to her
children? Identify several points in the book that might lead one to answer this question
"no," other points that might lead one to answer "yes." Then answer it for yourself, and
explain your judgment.
3. Write a two-page essay (double spaced) on the following questions.
What do you think is the most important thematic lesson to be learned from Ruth’s story?
What parts of the book drive home that lesson most clearly?
This is a summer reading assignment; you should complete all three parts of this assignment
before reporting to Central High for the fall semester of the 2013-2014 school year.
Pre-AP Summer Reading Assignment
Text: Ernest Gaines’ A Gathering of Old Men
You assignment consists of three parts:
1. Read the book. As you will discover, reading in Pre-AP involves more than moving your eyes over the words
on the page. You need to read actively, thinking about what you are reading, asking questions, and making
notes. You should read with a pen or pencil in hand: circle words you don’t know the meaning of and look
them up; put question marks next to material you don’t understand or want to know more about and ask
those questions in class; identify passages that interest you or that might be helpful in answering discussion
questions or writing papers.
2. Think about and answer the following questions on the following chapters as you read to track the events
and characters as Gaines continually shifts narrative point-of-view to unravel the storyline.
George Eliot, Jr., aka (also known as) Snookum
About what age is Snookum? What Job is he assigned by Candy? What does Snookum see in Mathu’s yard
Janice Robinson aka Janey
• How does Janey react to the news from Snookum? In what condition is the Major (Jack Marshall) when
Janey receives the news? What is Janey’s job?
Myrtle Bouchard aka Miss Merle
• What is different about each chapter? Who raised Candy? What does Candy want Miss Merle to help her
do? What does Miss Merle do to make Janey name people who don’t like
Fix? Why does Clatoo dislike Fix?
Robert Louis Stevenson Banks, aka Chimley
• Why were Chimley and Mat’s choices of fishing spots limited? What makes Chimley and Mat feel scared?
Why do they think Mathu may have killed Beau?
Mathew Lincoln Brown aka Mat
• What does Mat tell Ella, his wife, when she first asks about the shotguns? What does she try to do? What
reason(s) does Mat give Ella for his trip to Marshall? What causes Ella to look at Mat with “hate”? What makes
Mat feel good when riding in Clatoo’s truck?
Grant Bello aka Cherry
• Why did Clatoo want all of the men to walk into Marshall together? Why does Dirty Red make fun of Billy
Washington? What did the first truckload of men do while waiting for the others? Why are the men concerned
that the graveyard will not be there in the future? Who fought in World War I?
Cyril Robillard aka Clatoo
• How did Mathu feel about his and other people’s skin color? When the old men gathered at Mathu’s house,
who claimed responsibility for killing Beau? What does Mathu say about eh men having gathered at his house?
Louis Alfred Dimoulin aka Lou Dimes
• Why does Lou immediately rule out Charlie as Beau’s killer? How many old men with guns does Lou see
when he approaches Mathu’s house? Why does Candy claim to have killed Beau? What does Mapes do when
Billy Washington and Gavle both say they killed Beau? Does it work? Why doesn’t Mapes arrest Beau? What
reason does Uncle Billy give for shooting Beau?
Joseph Seaberry aka Rufe
• How does Mapes feel about Mathu? What does Clatoo say has always been his trouble? What does Johnny
Paul mean when he tells Mapes “…but you don’t see what we don’t see.” (p. 89) What does Mapes’ deputy,
Griffin, say he would do if he were sheriff? What crop is primarily grown on the plantation? What are Tucker,
Yank, Gable, and Coot telling Mapes with their stories in this chapter? To what storm is Mapes referring on p.
110?
Thomas Vincent Sullivan aka Sully or T.V.
• What upsets Sully about the way Gil reacts to the news of Beau’s death? What nicknames do Gil and Cal go
by? Why? What has Sully heard about Gil’s father Fix?
Lou Dimes
• What does lou notice the old men doing one at a time? What does Miss Merle bring to Martha’s house?
Sully
• Who are the Cajuns? What languages do they speak? Why is Russell, the deputy, at Fix Bouton’s house?
What is happening at Fix’s house when Gil arrives? What does Fix want to do, to which Gil objects? Who sides
with Gil and who sides with Fix? Why does Gil leave his father’s house? Why does Russ urge Gil to play in the
next days’ football game?
Jacques Tibeaux aka Tee Jack
• Who runs the bar? What does Jack Marshall do after Beau is killed? Who owns the Marshall plantation? At
what does Marshall stare whenever drinking at the bar? What is Tee Jack’s attitude toward black people?
What did the teacher from Texas try to tell the patrons of the bar? Why is Tee Jack afraid of Luke Will and his
crew?
Albert Jackson aka Rooster
• When did the old men load their guns? How does Candy’s role change in this chapter? Why does Clatoo say
that there is no enemy to fight anymore? Why does Rooster reject Clatoos’ reasoning? How has Mathu’s
opinion of the other old men changed?
Lou Dimes
• What surprise is uncovered in this chapter? What makes Charlie feel like “a man” after 50 years?
Sidney Brooks, aka Coot, Snookum and Horace Thompson aka Sharp (Questions from three
chapters) Who leads the crew into Marshall to avenge Beau’s death? What characters are shot but not killed
in the shootout? Why does Lou Dimes get “put in charge” by the sheriff?
Antoine Sharp aka Dirty Red
• What characters are killed in the shootout? Why do members of the black community touch one of the slain
men?
Lou Dimes
• Why does the courtroom audience laugh at Mapes? What punishments were given by the court? What
change occurs between Candy and Mathu?
3. Write a two-page essay (double spaced) on the following questions.
What do you think is the most important thematic lesson to be learned from this story? What symbols does
Gaines utilize to drive this lesson home for the reader? Why do you think that Gaines chooses to unravel the
storyline through a sequence of shifts in narrative point-of-view?