Attn: Chugiak High School sophomores taking Honors English 10 2007-08
From: Honors English instructor Mrs. SJ Cook
The following is a reading/study plan for the summer. Please read this carefully and contact
Mrs. Cook in room 10 at CHS if any concerns arise before school ends. Please understand that ALL students
of Honors English 10 are responsible for this required reading and journaling.
Required Summer Reading
The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn
*In this book you will find some offensive labels for certain
groups in our society. For this
reason this book is still banned in some parts of the country. Notice, however, that the characters
using these nomenclatures are ignorant/misguided at best and
nefarious/unscrupulous at worst.
The characters who are referred to as “the n.-word” are the most
admirable characters in the book; this leads to the irony of the situation as
Twain saw it: the people in
“power” of our societies are not as admirable in character as those who are
oppressed.
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
This is a great read on two levels; please keep these in mind as you read
A. An adventure story chronicling two outcasts as they try to find
their place in the world.
B. A satirical commentary of the world in which Twain lived
*political comments *social comments *moral comments
As you read, please keep an open mind. Here is the address of some “expert”
opinion that mind inspire you to look at Twain’s thoughts more deeply. Feel free to use these opinions in
forming your own.
http://sled.alaska.edu/databases
From there click on resources for high school, next to “novelist”;
now type in huckleberry finn and start wandering!
Required Summer Journal Assignment
Please keep notes, thoughts, and reactions to your reading as you read. Any of these notes will be useful to your as you take the test over Huck Finn upon returning to school in August. These notes must be written by you in your handwriting—no photocopies or typed notes will be permissible.
This journaling will earn 20 points. For those of you who want to get all possible points, please consider jotting 1/3 to ½ page per chapter (some may be a bit longer or shorter than others).
Good things to include: literal things/events; points of social commentary;
predictions; Twain thoughts; historical truths
Suggestions for Summer Reading
For those of you who are just giddy about being an educated human!
The Awakening by Kate
Chopin
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Puddin’Head Wilson by Mark Twain
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
This Side of Paradise
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Stride Toward Freedom by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Throughout the year, your having read something “extra” would be a shining moment for you and valuable brownie points from me!!! As our friends “down under”say,
“Good on ya, mate!”