BURRILLVILLE HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER READING 2013 Purpose:
To improve reading skills, and raise academic standards including excelling in academics, scoring well on standardized tests, and becoming superior critical and creative thinkers as well as effective communicators
Requirements:
College Prep. Honors AP/EEP
two books three books four or more books
We encourage students to review their choices with their parents. Since some texts may contain mature content, we suggest that parents assist their children in making choices appropriate for their maturity levels. In the case of Honors and AP/EEP classes, students must complete specific teacher-designed projects and/or papers based on their readings. Teachers of these classes will meet with their future students to distribute their assignments, most of which specify texts not on the general reading lists. Students taking English 11 CP and English 12 CP are required to read two books from the grade 12 list and one book from the grade 11 list.
Deadline/Assessments:
All books must be read by Friday, August 30, 2013.
On Friday, August 30, 2013, students will be required to hand in any notes/reading journals they have kept while reading the assigned books. During the week of Sept. 3, 2013, students will take a test on the first book. The second book will be used to complete the first argumentative essay and/or common course assessment of the quarter. Summer reading will count as one test grade in the student’s first quarter average. Due to the switch to the new Common Core curriculum, all students in each grade level will be reading the same two books. We hope that this will foster more discussion in the classrooms, a closer reading of the texts, and will help to unify the new curriculum.
Resources: Local libraries and area bookstores (Borders, Barnes and Noble) have been sent copies of the summer reading lists. Students may wish to check used bookstores for bargains, trade books among themselves, and preview or purchase books by visiting www.amazon.com or www.bn.com. Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library, 144 Main Street, Harrisville Tel.: 568-8244 Mon.-Wed. 10 AM - 8:30 PM, Thurs. 1-8:30 PM Fri. 10 AM- 5 PM, Sat. 10 AM - 2 PM
Pascoag Free Public Library 57 Church Street, Pascoag Tel.: 568-6226 Mon. 10-12 AM, 3-8 PM, Tues. closed Wed.-Fri. 10-12 AM, 3-6 PM, Sat. 9 AM - 1 PM
NOTE: A change in grade level due to course failure or summer school make up will not excuse a student from summer reading. Copies of grade level lists will be available during the summer in the guidance office and on the high school’s web site http://bsd-ri.net (then click on “high school website” link).
12th Grade Summer Reading List YOU MUST READ BOTH BOOKS LISTED HERE The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Chronicles) by Bernard Cornwell In the middle years of the ninth-century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until but one realm remained. And suddenly the fate of all England—and the course of history—depended upon one man, one king. From New York Times bestselling storyteller Bernard Cornwell comes a rousing epic adventure of courage, treachery, duty, devotion, majesty, love, and battle as seen through the eyes of a young warrior who straddled two worlds. - bn.com
King Arthur by Norma L. Goodrich Behind the romantic legends of a chivalrous King Arthur and the courtly amours of his circle lies a real historical figure. While scholars have been in general agreement on this point since the 1960s, Goodrich (Ancient Myths makes an intriguing if highly conjectural case that Arthur was a king in prehistoric Britain. She builds a portrait of an Arthur who successfully staved off sea invasions before leaving the coast of Britain in a.d. 542 to be ferried to a secret island for surgery or burial. Goodrich sifts evidence that supports the existence of an actual Queen Guinivere and her vassal Lancelot; she substantiates Perceval's wedding and inauguration at the Grail Castle, which may have been an educational institution for princelings. Her closely argued study draws on fresh readings of medieval French and German texts. The investigation unfolds as a detective story that will grip Arthurian enthusiasts, Anglophiles and history buffs. - Publisher's Weekly
