'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings'
oneSummer Reading/Writing Assignment Due August 17, 2010
Directions: From the list below, choose two books to read over the summer. In all of the following novels and autobiographies, the protagonists are struggling to find their place in the world. They want to understand their role and their purpose as human beings as they prepare to enter the adult world. (Note: If you decide to choose a graphic novel from the list, the other selection should be a novel or autobiography.)
Write a well-developed, multi-paragraph response to literature essay in which you compare and contrast the two works you’ve chosen to read. Remember, when you compare two things, you tell how they are alike. When you contrast them, you tell how they are different. …show more content…
Any two things can be compared and contrasted if they have at least one thing in common. You can recognize similarities and differences by focusing on elements such as subject, theme, tone, mood, character traits, and plot.
Your essay should have three parts:
The introduction presents both books by title and author, and briefly states the reason for the comparison between the two.
The body explains key similarities and differences between the two books, with textual evidence from both.
The conclusion summarizes your findings and explains new understandings that you’ve reached from comparing the books. How does reading one enhance the other? What overall impression do you walk away with, having read the two together?
A warning about plagiarism: I will label as plagiarism any instance of taking someone else’s work and passing it off as your own. This may include, but is not limited to:
*incorporating a passage from the novel without quotations and/or a citation *incorporating a passage from another source, such as wikipedia.org, without quotations and/or a citation *incorporating ideas or paraphrasing a passage from another source without quotations and/or a citation *copying or near-copying a peer’s work (in this case, both students will be penalized, as there is no way for me to definitely discern who copied whom)
Students found to have plagiarized will earn a grade of 0/100 on this, their first English assignment of the year. They will also be reported to the administration, where a “cheating file” in each offending student’s name will be initiated for potential review by universities.
*Books marked with an asterisk on the following list may include scenes of sexuality, drug or alcohol use, or strong violence. I trust that students who choose to read these books are mature enough to handle the material. If you, or your parents, object to this type of material, by all means, choose another two to read.
*Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison.
The book, which is semi-autobiographical in nature, is set in Allison's hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. Narrated by Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright, the primary conflict occurs between Bone and her mother's husband, Glen. The novel examines the expectations of gender and mother-child relationships, and explores the roles of these characters in the future. Conditions of class, race, sexuality and gender play out in Bone's life and her relationships with others.
How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez.
Told in reverse chronological order and from shifting points of view, this novel covers more than 30 years in the lives of four sisters very close in age who, together with their parents, are forced out of Trujillo's Dominican Republic and start a new life in New York City.
Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya.
Set in New Mexico during World War II, this novel follows the story of Antonio Márez, a boy who meets a curandera named Ultima. The main plotline involves Ultima's struggle to stop the witchcraft of the three daughters of Tenorio Trementina, the main villain.
*Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson.
On her first day of high school, Melinda Sordino finds herself excluded from every clique in school due to the events of the previous summer- the details of which she only reveals slowly to the reader.
*I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou.
Written at the end of American Civil Rights movement, this autobiography explores the isolation and loneliness faced by Angelou, and the attributes of her character that helped her cope with the prejudices of society.
*Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous.
This book claims to be the actual diary of an anonymous teenage girl who died of a drug overdose in the late 1960s.
*Very Le Freak, by Rachel Cohn.
Very Le Freak is a party girl, gadget geek, and totally self-absorbed. When sent to rehab to overcome her destructive behaviors, she begins to realize who she really is.
*The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky.
This story takes place in a suburb of Pittsburgh during the 1991-1992 school year, when Charlie is a high school freshman. Charlie is the wallflower of the novel. He is an nconventional thinker, and as the story begins he is shy and unpopular.
*The Chocolate War, by Robert …show more content…
Cormier.
Set at the fictional Trinity High School, the story follows protagonist Jerry Renault as he challenges the school's cruel, brutal, and ugly mob rule.
Mexican Whiteboy, by Matt de la Pena.
A bi-racial young man tries to come to terms with his identity, often finding solace in sports.
*The A-List, by Zoey Dean. Welcome to Hollywood 90210, the world of couture, parties, and hot young bucks. Having just flown in to live with her father for the summer, Anna Percy is the new girl in town. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz. A young Dominican American teenager struggles with growing up in America and remembers his homeland’s experience under dictator Rafael Trujilo. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon.
This story is written in the first person voice of Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old autistic boy living in England, and follows his adventures as he attempts to solve the title’s mystery.
The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd.
Set in South Carolina in 1964, the novel tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in-mother", Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free from jail.
Annie John, by Jamaica Kincaid.
Annie John, the heroine of the book, starts out as a young girl who worships her mother. She follows her everywhere, and is shocked and hurt when she learns that she must some day live in a different house from her mother.
*Carrie, by Stephen King.
Carrie White, menaced by bullies at school and her religious nut of a mother at home, gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers, powers that will eventually be turned on her tormentors.
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles.
Despite their polar personalities, Gene and Phineas make fast friends at Devon: Gene's quiet, introverted intellectual personality matches Finny's more extroverted, carefree, athletic demeanor.
*The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison.
This book is about a year in the life of a young black girl in Lorain, Ohio named Pecola. It takes place against the backdrop of America's Midwest as well as the Great Depression. It is told from five perspectives: Pecola's, her mother's, her father's, her friend Claudia's, and Soaphead Church's.
*Monster, by Walter Dean Myers.
The novel centers around a teenager named Steve Harmon, who has just been arrested, and has been charged with felony murder. The book follows Steve as he copes with the fact that he might be behind bars the rest of his life, and goes through the trial.
*Sunrise Over Fallujah, by Walter Dean Myers.
Young American soldiers’ experiences during the Iraq War.
Keeper, by Mal Peet.
The novel takes the form of an interview in which El Gato, the world's best soccer goalkeeper, tells the story of his life and the mysterious stranger who taught him everything he knows.
*By the Time You Read This I’ll be Dead, by Julie Anne Peters.
Determined to get her death right this time, Daelyn Rice logs onto a website for “completers” and starts the countdown of the last 23 days of her life. *The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath.
The novel is semi-autobiographical detailing protagonist's descent into mental illness paralleling Plath's own experiences with what may have been either bipolar disorder or clinical depression. Plath committed suicide a month after its first publication.
*King Dork, by Frank Portman.
The storyline follows a disillusioned teenager named Tom Henderson as he attempts to survive the daily sadism of high school, understand the opposite sex, start a band, and find some answers about his father's mysterious death.
The Chosen, by Chaim Potok.
This is a classic novel about two teenage Jewish boys who form a friendship, though they come from very different worlds.
The Book of Khalid, by Ameen Rihani.
The novel, which is intensely autobiographical as Rihani himself immigrated as a child, tells the story of two boys, named Khalid and Shakib, from Lebanon who migrate together to the United
States.
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi.
This is an autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, depicting her childhood in Iran after the revolution.
*The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold.
This is the story of a teenage girl who, after being brutally raped and murdered, watches from heaven as her family and friends go on with their lives, while she herself comes to terms with her own death.
*Blankets, by Craig Thomson.
As a coming-of-age autobiography, the graphic novel tells the story of Thompson's childhood in an Evangelical Christian family, his first love, and his early adulthood. Thompson has said that the novel grew out of a simple idea: to describe what it feels like to sleep next to someone for the first time.
*Birdy, by William Wharton.
The title character of Wharton’s first novel longs to fly. But this is only part of his larger goal. It is from living as closely as possible with birds that Birdy hopes to learn how to live his ideal life. Set in contrast to Birdy is his friend Alfonso, a wrestler who is looking to "pin" the world any way he can to gain revenge or some advantage.
Directions: From the list below, choose two books to read over the summer. In all of the following novels and autobiographies, the protagonists are struggling to find their place in the world. They want to understand their role and their purpose as human beings as they prepare to enter the adult world. (Note: If you decide to choose a graphic novel from the list, the other selection should be a novel or autobiography.)
Write a well-developed, multi-paragraph response to literature essay in which you compare and contrast the two works you’ve chosen to read. Remember, when you compare two things, you tell how they are alike. When you contrast them, you tell how they are different. …show more content…
Any two things can be compared and contrasted if they have at least one thing in common. You can recognize similarities and differences by focusing on elements such as subject, theme, tone, mood, character traits, and plot.
Your essay should have three parts:
The introduction presents both books by title and author, and briefly states the reason for the comparison between the two.
The body explains key similarities and differences between the two books, with textual evidence from both.
The conclusion summarizes your findings and explains new understandings that you’ve reached from comparing the books. How does reading one enhance the other? What overall impression do you walk away with, having read the two together?
A warning about plagiarism: I will label as plagiarism any instance of taking someone else’s work and passing it off as your own. This may include, but is not limited to:
*incorporating a passage from the novel without quotations and/or a citation *incorporating a passage from another source, such as wikipedia.org, without quotations and/or a citation *incorporating ideas or paraphrasing a passage from another source without quotations and/or a citation *copying or near-copying a peer’s work (in this case, both students will be penalized, as there is no way for me to definitely discern who copied whom)
Students found to have plagiarized will earn a grade of 0/100 on this, their first English assignment of the year. They will also be reported to the administration, where a “cheating file” in each offending student’s name will be initiated for potential review by universities.
*Books marked with an asterisk on the following list may include scenes of sexuality, drug or alcohol use, or strong violence. I trust that students who choose to read these books are mature enough to handle the material. If you, or your parents, object to this type of material, by all means, choose another two to read.
*Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison.
The book, which is semi-autobiographical in nature, is set in Allison's hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. Narrated by Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright, the primary conflict occurs between Bone and her mother's husband, Glen. The novel examines the expectations of gender and mother-child relationships, and explores the roles of these characters in the future. Conditions of class, race, sexuality and gender play out in Bone's life and her relationships with others.
How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez.
Told in reverse chronological order and from shifting points of view, this novel covers more than 30 years in the lives of four sisters very close in age who, together with their parents, are forced out of Trujillo's Dominican Republic and start a new life in New York City.
Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya.
Set in New Mexico during World War II, this novel follows the story of Antonio Márez, a boy who meets a curandera named Ultima. The main plotline involves Ultima's struggle to stop the witchcraft of the three daughters of Tenorio Trementina, the main villain.
*Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson.
On her first day of high school, Melinda Sordino finds herself excluded from every clique in school due to the events of the previous summer- the details of which she only reveals slowly to the reader.
*I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou.
Written at the end of American Civil Rights movement, this autobiography explores the isolation and loneliness faced by Angelou, and the attributes of her character that helped her cope with the prejudices of society.
*Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous.
This book claims to be the actual diary of an anonymous teenage girl who died of a drug overdose in the late 1960s.
*Very Le Freak, by Rachel Cohn.
Very Le Freak is a party girl, gadget geek, and totally self-absorbed. When sent to rehab to overcome her destructive behaviors, she begins to realize who she really is.
*The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky.
This story takes place in a suburb of Pittsburgh during the 1991-1992 school year, when Charlie is a high school freshman. Charlie is the wallflower of the novel. He is an nconventional thinker, and as the story begins he is shy and unpopular.
*The Chocolate War, by Robert …show more content…
Cormier.
Set at the fictional Trinity High School, the story follows protagonist Jerry Renault as he challenges the school's cruel, brutal, and ugly mob rule.
Mexican Whiteboy, by Matt de la Pena.
A bi-racial young man tries to come to terms with his identity, often finding solace in sports.
*The A-List, by Zoey Dean. Welcome to Hollywood 90210, the world of couture, parties, and hot young bucks. Having just flown in to live with her father for the summer, Anna Percy is the new girl in town. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz. A young Dominican American teenager struggles with growing up in America and remembers his homeland’s experience under dictator Rafael Trujilo. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon.
This story is written in the first person voice of Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old autistic boy living in England, and follows his adventures as he attempts to solve the title’s mystery.
The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd.
Set in South Carolina in 1964, the novel tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in-mother", Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free from jail.
Annie John, by Jamaica Kincaid.
Annie John, the heroine of the book, starts out as a young girl who worships her mother. She follows her everywhere, and is shocked and hurt when she learns that she must some day live in a different house from her mother.
*Carrie, by Stephen King.
Carrie White, menaced by bullies at school and her religious nut of a mother at home, gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers, powers that will eventually be turned on her tormentors.
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles.
Despite their polar personalities, Gene and Phineas make fast friends at Devon: Gene's quiet, introverted intellectual personality matches Finny's more extroverted, carefree, athletic demeanor.
*The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison.
This book is about a year in the life of a young black girl in Lorain, Ohio named Pecola. It takes place against the backdrop of America's Midwest as well as the Great Depression. It is told from five perspectives: Pecola's, her mother's, her father's, her friend Claudia's, and Soaphead Church's.
*Monster, by Walter Dean Myers.
The novel centers around a teenager named Steve Harmon, who has just been arrested, and has been charged with felony murder. The book follows Steve as he copes with the fact that he might be behind bars the rest of his life, and goes through the trial.
*Sunrise Over Fallujah, by Walter Dean Myers.
Young American soldiers’ experiences during the Iraq War.
Keeper, by Mal Peet.
The novel takes the form of an interview in which El Gato, the world's best soccer goalkeeper, tells the story of his life and the mysterious stranger who taught him everything he knows.
*By the Time You Read This I’ll be Dead, by Julie Anne Peters.
Determined to get her death right this time, Daelyn Rice logs onto a website for “completers” and starts the countdown of the last 23 days of her life. *The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath.
The novel is semi-autobiographical detailing protagonist's descent into mental illness paralleling Plath's own experiences with what may have been either bipolar disorder or clinical depression. Plath committed suicide a month after its first publication.
*King Dork, by Frank Portman.
The storyline follows a disillusioned teenager named Tom Henderson as he attempts to survive the daily sadism of high school, understand the opposite sex, start a band, and find some answers about his father's mysterious death.
The Chosen, by Chaim Potok.
This is a classic novel about two teenage Jewish boys who form a friendship, though they come from very different worlds.
The Book of Khalid, by Ameen Rihani.
The novel, which is intensely autobiographical as Rihani himself immigrated as a child, tells the story of two boys, named Khalid and Shakib, from Lebanon who migrate together to the United
States.
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi.
This is an autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, depicting her childhood in Iran after the revolution.
*The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold.
This is the story of a teenage girl who, after being brutally raped and murdered, watches from heaven as her family and friends go on with their lives, while she herself comes to terms with her own death.
*Blankets, by Craig Thomson.
As a coming-of-age autobiography, the graphic novel tells the story of Thompson's childhood in an Evangelical Christian family, his first love, and his early adulthood. Thompson has said that the novel grew out of a simple idea: to describe what it feels like to sleep next to someone for the first time.
*Birdy, by William Wharton.
The title character of Wharton’s first novel longs to fly. But this is only part of his larger goal. It is from living as closely as possible with birds that Birdy hopes to learn how to live his ideal life. Set in contrast to Birdy is his friend Alfonso, a wrestler who is looking to "pin" the world any way he can to gain revenge or some advantage.