Minjia+T-Sum+Reading

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 __ I had high hopes for the book //Sing You Home// by Jodi Picoult; yet I couldn’t even finish it because I completely disliked the main character’s personality. In my summer reading proposal I wrote about how “I love Jodi Picoult’s writing because she makes her characters dynamic, and she has the ability to make the reader feel what the characters are going through no matter how unlikely the plot. I have read 16 of her books and am looking forward to her newest book //Sing You Home//” (Tang reading proposal). However, the main character Zoe Baxster was too unreasonable for my liking; for example she says, “I know it’s stupid for a forty-year-old woman to connect a foolish act of grief with four unsuccessful cycles of IVF, two miscarriages, and enough infertility issues to bring down a civilization-but I cannot tell you how many times I’ve wondered if this is some kind of karmic punishment” (Picoult 9). Although I have loved Jodi Picoult's previous characters, I couldn't handle Zoe Baxster's self-pitying narratives. Picoult, Jodi. //Sing You Home//. New York: Atria Books, 2011. Good job! __ Prompt for Paragraph Two - A Discussion of What You Gained by Reading Your Book __ //Lolita//, by Vladimir Nabokov, unexpectedly made me question my views on the indecency of pedophilia. Prior to this book, I had thought without a doubt that pedophilia was morally wrong, but after Humbert Humbert, the main character, shared his story from his point of view of a pedophile, my beliefs began wavering. As I tried to read with an open mind, I became convinced that Humbert's actions weren't obscene because he truely cared for Lolita despite the fact that he was 37 and Lolita was 12, and this was seen when he says, “She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita” (Nabokov 9). As the book continued, my original views became bent and distorted as I started to wonder if there was an age limit on love.
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Wednesday, 8/24 **
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Thursday, 8/25 **

Nabokov, Vladimir. //Lolita//. New York: Vintage Books, 1955. Good use of evidence to support your point. Watch use of commas, rather, a lack of commas. Try reading aloud, you should hear the natural pausing points.

__ Prompt for Paragraph Three - What to do With it... __ //Lolita// is an ideal choice for readers searching for a book that is going to challenge their sense of right and wrong. Since we have been raised in a society where pedophilia is considered abominable, readers will not only analyze Humbert Humbert’s actions, but they will also analyze their previous views as they follow his unique tale of love, mystery, and revenge. Humbert dares the readers to listen to his story and see from his perspective saying, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns” (Nabokov 9). Readers will begin to sympathize with Humbert as he opens his heart and shares with us how it was “love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight” (Nabokov 258). //Lolita// tested my past ideas on the morality of pedophilia, and I believe it will do the same for other readers. Good use of evidence, again, in this paragraph.
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Sunday, 8/28 **


 * 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