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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 __ // **A Walk to Remember** //**, by Nicholas Sparks was indeed a book to remember just like I had hoped! Just like every other book by him that I've read, the descriptions were vivid and the story was intriguing throughout the whole book. From my summer reading proposal I mentioned that "I love the way he gets inside the character's head and makes their world come to life" (Weldon reading proposal). This book couldn't support that statement any more than it did. As I was reading it, I had the whole story playing through my mind like a movie. It made me become absorbed into the book and unable to put it down. One paragraph from this book describes a scene perfectly. "I close my eyes and the years begin to move backward in reverse, like the hands of a clock rotating in the wrong direction. ...I see my hair changing from gray to brown, I feel the wrinkles around my eyes begin to smooth, my arms and legs grow sinewy. Lessons I've learned with age grow dimmer, and my innocence returns as that eventful year approaches" (Sparks xiii). I can still remember that while reading this, I could perfectly picture what was happening and that got me really engaged from the start. Knowing from past reads by Sparks that this book would be great, I will gladly continue to read his books.**
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Wednesday, 8/24 **

Great ideas and text support. Please review the power paragraph guidelines to see how you can tighten your focus and eliminate unnecessary or repetitive language.
 * Sparks, Nicholas. //A Walk to Remember//. New York City: Grand Central, 1999. Print.**

__ Prompt for Paragraph Two - A Discussion of What You Gained by Reading Your Book __ This is a great lesson for readers to take from a novel.
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Thursday, 8/25 **
 * Through reading, //A Walk to// //Remember// by Nicholas Sparks, I have learned a valuable lesson about treating others the way you would like to be treated, even if he or she isn't as friendly to you in return. One of the main characters of this book, Jamie Sullivan, was a prime example of this lesson. "[Jamie] never said a bad thing about anything or anyone, even to those of us who weren't nice to her. She would hum to herself as she walked down the street, she would wave to strangers driving by in their cars" (Sparks 25). Throughout the book, Landon Carter slowly starts to learn this hard lesson and eventually falls in love with Jamie. His love for her drives him to become a better person for her. Whatever the reason may be, it's important to improve the attitude you have. That friendly "hello" could someday be all the difference in somebody's life. **


 * Sparks, Nicholas. //A Walk to Remember//. New York City: Grand Central, 1999. Print.**

__ Prompt for Paragraph Three - What to do With it... __ ** A Walk to Remember, by Nicholas Sparks was one of the books I chose for my summer reading because not only was it written by an author that has written many of my favorite books, it also had a great, romantic plot that I knew I would enjoy. The book is about an average teenage boy in high school by the name of Landon Carter who ends up having to spend a lot of time with the weirdest girl in town: Jamie Sullivan. She is the minister's daughter and all around a perfect angel. As the book progresses Landon begins to see Jamie from a whole new perspective and his feelings for her grow stronger. At one point in the book he wonders to himself "how [he'd] ever fallen in love with a girl like Jamie Sullivan" (Sparks 154). I really enjoy books in this genre and every book I've read by Nicholas Sparks I thoroughly enjoyed so I chose this book with confidence that I would enjoy it. The authors romantic love stories such as A Walk to Remember would appeal to girls in high school as well as women in college and older. His books would be enjoyed by women of all ages because almost any woman can make a connection to a love story. ** Be sure to use the prompt as you craft your responses. For this paragraph, you need to identify readers who would enjoy this novel.
 * *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