CHS Summer Reading Program

CHS Students, The Calhoun High School Language Arts Department has as part of its curriculum a summer reading plan for the students of the four grade levels. This year we have made some major changes to the program. We have decided to make the entire summer reading program voluntary, with the exception of the 12th grade AP students, who will have a mandatory reading assignment. You may choose whichever book they wish to read from the list below, and then complete a related assessment activity when you return to school in August. Students who successfully complete the assessment activities will receive a 100 for a test grade. Students who choose not to participate in summer reading will be in no way penalized. The Literacy Award reading program will continue as before. The appropriate information for the respective grade levels is provided below. Sincerely, The CHS Language Arts Department Michael S. Hillman, Chair      Dawn Pruett Crystal Veal Jenny Chadwick Robert Thompson Allison Dawson Julie Leggett April Bryson                         Summer Reading Books Summer 2009 The Book Thief- Markus Zuzak Death, a sardonic and articulate character who is afraid of humans, narrates this WWII coming-of-age story about faith, love, hope amidst tragedy. Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book –- although she has not yet learned how to read -– and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when she's roused by regular nightmares about her younger brother's death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayor's reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesel's story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother- James McBride The Color of Water tells the remarkable story of Ruth McBride Jordan, the two good men she married, and the 12 good children she raised. Jordan, born Rachel Shilsky, a Polish Jew, immigrated to America soon after birth; as an adult she moved to New York City, leaving her family and faith behind in Virginia. Jordan met and married a black man, making her isolation even more profound. The book is a success story, a testament to one woman's true heart, solid values, and indomitable will. Ruth Jordan battled not only racism but also poverty to raise her children and, despite being sorely tested, never wavered. In telling her story--along with her son's--The Color of Water addresses racial identity with compassion, insight, and realism. It is, in a word, inspiring, and you will finish it with unalloyed admiration for a flawed but remarkable individual, and perhaps, a little more faith in us all. House of the Scorpion – Nancy Farmer Fields of white opium poppies stretch away over the hills, and uniformed workers bend over the rows, harvesting the juice. This is the empire of Matteo Alacran, a feudal drug lord in the country of Opium, which lies between the United States and Aztlan, formerly Mexico. Field work or any menial tasks are done by "eejits," humans in whose brains computer chips have been installed to insure docility. Alacran, or El Patron, has lived 140 years with the help of transplants from a series of clones, a common practice among rich men in this world. The intelligence of clones is usually destroyed at birth, but Matt, the latest of Alacran's doubles, has been spared because he belongs to El Patron. He grows up in the family's mansion, alternately caged and despised as an animal and pampered and educated as El Patron's favorite. Gradually he realizes the fate that is in store for him, and with the help of Tam Lin, his bluff and kind Scottish bodyguard, he escapes to Aztlan. There he and other "lost children" are trapped in a more subtle kind of slavery before Matt can return to Opium to take his rightful place and transform his country. Chew on This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know about Fast Food- Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson Kids love fast food. And the fast food industry definitely loves kids. It couldn't survive without them. Did you know that the biggest toy company in the world is McDonald's? It's true. In fact, one out of every three toys given to a child in the United States each year is from a fast food restaurant. Not only has fast food reached into the toy industry, it's moving into our schools. One out of every five public schools in the United States now serves brand name fast food. But do kids know what they're eating? Where do fast food hamburgers come from? And what makes those fries taste so good? When Eric Schlosser's best-selling book, Fast Food Nation, was published for adults in 2001, many called for his groundbreaking insight to be shared with young people. Now Schlosser, along with co-writer Charles Wilson, has investigated the subject further, uncovering new facts children need to know. In Chew On This, they share with kids the fascinating and sometimes frightening truth about what lurks between those sesame seed buns, what a chicken "nugget" really is, and how the fast food industry has been feeding off children for generations. Carter Beats the Devil- Glen David Gold In Carter Beats the Devil, Glen David Gold subjects the past to the same wondrous transformations as the rabbit in a skilled illusionist's hat. Gold's debut novel opens with real-life magician Charles Carter executing a particularly grisly trick, using President Warren G. Harding as a volunteer. Shortly afterwards, Harding dies mysteriously in his San Francisco hotel room, and Carter is forced to flee the country. Or does he? It's only the first of many misdirections in a magical performance by Gold. In the course of subsequent pages, Carter finds himself pursued by the most hapless of FBI agents; falls in love with a beautiful, outspoken blind woman; and confronts an old nemesis bent on destroying him. Throw in countless stunning (and historically accurate) illusions, some beautifully rendered period detail, and historical figures like young inventor Philo T. Farnsworth and self-made millionaire Francis "Borax" Smith, and you have old-fashioned entertainment executed with a decidedly modern sensibility. Carter Beats the Devil has a mustachioed villain, chase scenes, a lion, miraculous escapes, even pirates. By turns suspenseful, moving, and magical, this is the historical novel to give to anyone who complains that contemporary fiction has lost the ability to both move and entertain AP 12th Grade Mandatory Reading: Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe  “The Second Coming” a poem by William Butler Yeats If you are interested in the books for the literacy award, see Mr. Hillman at any time. Literacy Award Reading:         These books are not required, but student who read these books will earn the Literacy Award. The award will be given at each grade level. However, a larger award will be given at the grade 12 level for the students who have read all the books for each grade level. Copies are available in the CHS library. You may check them out there or at any other library to which you have access. If you prefer, you may purchase your own copy. These books are all considered classics, so any major (or even minor) bookstore should have them, or you can easily purchase them online. When students are finished reading them, they may consult their respective English teacher to learn how they may take the assessment for each book they’ve read.                                        Grade 9                                          The Good Earth by Buck The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas                   Grade 10 The Sun Also Rises by Hemmingway Slaughterhouse 5 by Vonnegut Grade 11                                                                 Tess of the D’urbervilles by Hardy A Man for all Seasons by Bolt                                   Grade 12 Grendel by Gardner The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde