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Home Summer Reading Assignment Students

Given the nature of the 2011 summer reading program, you had significant autonomy in selecting the books you would read. While you were responsible for completing a proposal, you were not given other assignments to complete over the summer. As indicated on your proposal form, you are required to write a letter to your 2011-12 Language Arts teacher that demonstrates your thoughtful reading of your book. We have chosen to break this down further into three focused "Power Paragraphs" for two reasons, one, to introduce you to the idea of a power paragraph, and two, to assist you in covering all aspects of the assignment.

__ Prompt for Paragraph One - A Reflection of Your Choice __ ** //We were Soldiers Once... and Young,// by Lt. Gen. Harold Moore (Retired) and journalist Joseph Galloway is an immensely detailed first hand account of the battle of la Drang in the Vietnam war. I appreciated that it was written by the commander of the brave men who fought, and not an outsider as Lt. Gen. Moore was able to paint a realistic picture of the battle and accurately explain the thought process he used to make decisions, which was why I chose this book over other Vietnam war accounts. In my summer reading form I specifically said that I "Wanted a book that gave an unbiased view of the Vietnam war," which this book did as when the authors wrote it, they only wrote exactly what happened and how it happened. The authors also did a good job showing the comradeship between the men as demonstrated through the passage " ****There were American and NVA bodies everywhere. My area was where Lieutenant Geoghegan's platoon had been. There were several dead NVA around his platoon command post. One dead trooper was locked in contact with a dead NVA, hands around the enemy's throat. There were two troopers – one black, one Hispanic – linked tight together. It looked like they had died trying to help each other**" **(Moore and Galloway 180.) This book truly inspired a sense of pride in the men who fought and gave their lives in order to protect freedom, and exceeded my original expectations for the book.**
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Wednesday, 8/24 **

Moore, Harold G., and Joseph L. Galloway. //We Were Soldiers Once -and Young: Ia Drang, the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam//. New York: Random House, 1992. Print.

Great last sentence. You need to cut back on some of your content to adhere to the power paragraph structure.

__ Prompt for Paragraph Two - A Discussion of What You Gained by Reading Your Book __
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Thursday, 8/25 **

The book //We Were Soldiers Once... And Young// presented a new aspect of the Vietnam war to me, an aspect that is not commonly depicted by popular culture: Americans winning the fights. It challenged many common misconceptions about the war, including that it was an American blood bath. Through this disagreement with the popular image of the war, and other disagreements, it changed my own view of the war as I am more likely to believe the account of the well trained and learned Lt. Gen. Moore who was actually there, than a person who is young and foolish talking about something he or she knows very little about.

__ Prompt for Paragraph Three - What to do With it... __
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Sunday, 8/28 **

The principle reason for me choosing //We Were Soldiers Once... And Young// for summer reading was that it was about a topic that I am very interested in: The Vietnam War. I enjoy reading novels about military history so this book quickly caught my attention and hooked me into it's story. It presented a more realistic and unbiased view of the War which changed my attitude from believing it was a failure in strategy and tactics that cost us the war, to it being a failure of the American people to rally and support our troops and our cause. This novel has graphic scenes that could upset some people, so I wouldn't recommenced this book to those who upset easy. Those who also have an interest in Military history would enjoy this book and appreciate that it was written by a commanding officer from the war.

Good work overall. Please review the Power Paragraph format and make sure you stick to the prompts; also, eliminate repetitive information or anything that does not add to your paragraph in a specific way.


 * Scoring: Your three paragraphs will be given one overall grade, and the timeliness of your posts will be reflected in your "timeliness" grade. **

// An outstanding response to the prompts will include the following: //
 * A strong topic sentence that clearly establishes the focus on the prompt
 * Evidence that clearly supports the topic sentence
 * Correct use of internal citations and a properly formatted MLA citation for your book (put this citation at the end of paragraph one)
 * Strict adherence to the Power Paragraph format
 * Mechanics are clean and do not detract from meaning