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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 __ Dan Brown’s book, Deception Point, was a story that stayed consistent with the plot and gravity of his previous books. Just like his other books it killed my will to put down the book, which is as easy as escaping a sinking box with your hands tied behind your back. The story behind reading this book is when my parents go on road trips they listen to books on tape, on this particular road trip to my sisters collage graduation in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, we listened to The Lost Symbol. I only head about a quarter of the book and I was going to fly back to catch exams week, and I was so addicted to this book that I forced my mom to buy me a hard copy so I could read it even though we had one at home. My thought process was why wouldn’t I enjoy any of his other books, so in the end my choice resulted in a book acceding my expectations.

Brown, Dan. //Deception Point//. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001. Print. Be sure to respond directly to the prompt in your topic sentence. I am glad to hear that you enjoyed the book so much!

__ Prompt for Paragraph Two - A Discussion of What You Gained by Reading Your Book __ Alex Rider Stormbreaker, by Anthony Horowitz, looked like a book that mostly children of a very young age would gravitate towards, a shiny cover and content about a teenage boy from London who realizes that his father isn’t who he says he is, and is forced by the government to become a spy just like his father. To me this plot sounded extremely juvenile plus my aunt bought it for me at Christmas (and everyone knows that their aunts seem perceive them as 5 year younger than they actually are). When I finally gave in to parental pressure and read the book, to my pleasant surprise the book was actually intriguing. At that moment I learned a metaphoric lesson turned literal, don’t judge a book by its’ cover.

Horowitz, Anthony. Alex Rider Stormbreaker. New York: Puffin Books, 2000. Print Again, be sure to directly address the prompt in the topic sentence.

__ Prompt for Paragraph Three - What to do With it... __ If you like elite military operations, intelligence community scams, and a modicum of witty humor, odds are you will like Deception Point by Dan Brown. Already the author of two books that have been transformed into highly successful movies and works that never ceases to entrance readers. According to a primary witness, “it is one of my favorite books”(Steve Neri July 2, 2011). The truth of the matter is that Deception Point is such a captivating tale that both a fifteen-year-old high school stud and a fifty year old man can agree that it was a extraordinary novel.

Brown, Dan. //Deception Point//. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001. Print.


 * 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