Required Reading Lists for South Florence High School Students

 

 

All readers (English I, II, III, IV, and African American literature) should take notes on theme, setting, conflict, characterization, diction, and point of view while reading.

 

English IV Students- Students are asked to read the two required books and select one of the four that is highlighted.  If time permits, a student may read the other books indicated in his/her grade level.  Clarification: A student is required to read a total of three books- two required and one from the optional category.

 

  1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley- Required
  2. Doctor. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson- Read one of the four (Optional)
  3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen-Required
  4. The Lime Twig by John Hawkes- Read one of the four (Optional)
  5. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
  6. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte- Read one of the four (Optional)
  7. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
  8. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte- Read one of the four (Optional)
  9. The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
  10. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

 

English III Students- Students are asked to read the two required books and select one of the four that is highlighted.  If time permits, a student may read the other books indicated in his/her grade level.  Clarification: A student is required to read a total of three books- two required and one from the optional category.

 

  1. A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest Gaines
  2. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  3. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
  4. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
  5. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper- Read one of the four (Optional)
  6. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
  7. Call of the Wild by Jack London- Required
  8. My Antonia by Willa Cather- Required
  9. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
  10. A Bell for Adano by John Hersey- Read one of the four (Optional)
  11. Let us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee
  12. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway- Read one of the four (Optional)
  13. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck- Read one of the four (Optional)
  14. Fire from the Rock by Sharon Draper

 

English II Students- Students are asked to read the two required books and select one of the four that is highlighted. If time permits, a student may read the other books indicated in his/her grade level.  Clarification: A student is required to read a total of three books- two required and one from the optional category.

 

  1. A Separate Peace by John Knowles-Read one of the four (Optional)
  2. Lord of the Flies by William Gerald Golding- Read one of the four (Optional)
  3. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons- Required
  4. The Chosen by Chaim Potok- Required
  5. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver- Read one of the four (Optional)
  6. The Once and Future King- Read one of the four (Optional)

 

English I Students- Students are asked to read the two required books and select one of the four that is highlighted. If time permits, a student may read the other books indicated in his/her grade level.  Clarification: A student is required to read a total of three books- two required and one from the optional category.

 

  1. Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd- Required
  2. Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt- Read one of the four (Optional)
  3. Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper- Read one of the four (Optional)
  4. Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper- Required
  5. Copper Sun by Sharon Draper- Read one of the four (Optional)
  6. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros- Read one of the four (Optional)
  7. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
  8. Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs

 

African American Literature- Students are asked to read the two required books and select one of the four that is highlighted. If time permits, a student may read the other books indicated in his/her grade level.  Clarification: A student is required to read a total of three books- two required and one from the optional category.

 

  1. Makes Me Wanna Holler by Nathan McCall- Required
  2. We Beat the Streets by Sampson Davis- Required
  3. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  4. Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston
  5. My Soul Looks Back in Wonder by Juan Williams
  6. How Celia Changed Her Mind and Selected Stories by Rose Terry Cooke
  7. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines
  8. Homeboz by Alan Lawrence Sitomer- Read one of the four (Optional)
  9. The Bond by Sampson Davis- Read one of the four (Optional)
  10. The Pact by Sampson Davis- Read one of the four (Optional)
  11. Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson- Read one of the four (Optional)

 

AP English- Students must read all three novels.  Please see Mrs. Franco regarding note card project for each novel.

1.      The Awakening by Kate Chopin

2.      The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

3.      Mythology by Edith Hamilton

 

To the incoming AP students:

 

I hope you are looking forward to the challenges of AP English in January! In order to help prepare you, I am giving you a reading assignment and project due upon your entry in the class. You will take a test on the novel and will submit your note card project (50 points) for a grade a few weeks after you return. Please feel free to e-mail me over the break if you have any questions that arise at jfranco@fsd1.org or jfranco@sc.rr.com.

 

Please read

 

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (I have copies available; you may choose to purchase your own if you like to write in your book.), The Awakening by Kate Chopin and selected chapters in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. Please be forewarned that O’Brien uses numerous curse words in the book; however, they exist for a reason. As this novel gives an inside look at the Vietnam War, he chooses to portray the characters in a realistic fashion; the language he uses reflects that fact.

 

Project

 

You will need to compose handwritten note cards for The Things They Carried and The Awakening. We will use your Mythology reading for a project-based assignment in class.

Use lined cards, 5 x 8 in size. Eight sections need completion.

 

I.                   Authorial Background

·         key biographical information

·         what was (is) going on in his/her country at the time

·         what influenced/made the author want to write this work

·         other important works written

 

II.                Literary Period/Country

·         place the work in the correct country and literary period

·         what was the general literary movement at the time of the writing?

·         define and comment on the movement and how this work fits – or doesn’t

 

III.             Setting

·         time/place the work is set in

·         significance to the work

·         milieu (look it up in the dictionary)

·         culture

 

IV.             Characters

·         list the major characters along with details of each

·         use quotes from the work to describe the characters (be sure to do this)

·         include character traits

 

 

 

V.                Themes

·         identify major and minor themes

·         briefly explain how each theme can be found in the work (use examples from the story)

 

VI.             Plot Summary

·         give a detailed summary of what happens in the story (Do not record each and every event; summarize with some details)

 

VII.          Literary Devices

·         list and show how each literary device is used in the work

 

VIII.       Critical essay on the work

·         attach a copy of the critical essay you read as well as an MLA-formatted works cited entry

·         summarize the main points of the essay

·         these are not to be book reviews; these are to be critical essays

 

 

Happy reading and good luck!! Please stop by Room 141 to see Mrs. Franco if you have any questions.