For this World Literature class, the summer reading
books explore a lot of big ideas that we’ll cover in this course: truth and fiction,
heroes and villains, gods and monsters, journeys, storytelling, the human
spirit, and more. As you undoubtedly
know, we encounter “tough” topics in today’s world, and some of the novels
below address such issues (war, terrorism, child soldiers, prostitution). Parents
may wish to preview or read reviews to help determine which books would be
appropriate for your student’s interests and abilities.
Assignment:
1. Pick one book from the list below. Read and enjoy!
2. While
reading, find three “significant moment” quotes. What does that mean?! What makes a moment significant? That’s up to
you as a reader/interpreter/thinker. Consider moments that:
·reveal a truth about a character, the theme of the novel, or life in
general.
·indicate a major change in the character, plot, tone, etc.
·demonstrate the writer’s craft (consider major literary devices).
·strike a chord in you or grab your attention
3. Please
type and format your significant moments as in the sample below.
4. Schedule
about 5 or 10 minutes to discuss your book with Mrs. Harris.
5. Moments
are due by October 31, 2016. Discussions
with Mrs. Harris should be completed before Christmas break.
6. If you are an Honors student, please choose two books and find five significant moments in each book.
Example:
Significant Moment (Life of Pi
+ page number):
“The sun was beginning to pull the curtains on the
day. It was a placid explosion of orange and red, a great chromatic symphony, a
colour canvas of supernatural proportions, truly a splendid Pacific sunset,
quite wasted on me.”(124).
Explanation of Significance:
This image captures a personified sun in the middle
of a metaphor, “pull[ing] the curtains on the day” like one might end a play.
It’s interesting that what is real, nature, is being compared to something
imagined or make-believe –like actors on a stage. In fact, there are several
contradictions in the passage. The imagery of a natural phenomenon, a sunset,
is compared to man-made works of art like drama, music, and art. The “explosion
of orange and red” is also described as “placid,” meaning calm. The narrator
uses language to describe things merging together (curtains, symphony, a canvas
on which brushstrokes exist together), while he is actually quite removed from
the event. The layers of the metaphor all end with the abrupt phrase “quite wasted
on me.” On some level he realizes what he is missing in life, but staying alive
— survival —is his only reality.
Book List:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, an American Town by Warren St. John
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
