9th Grade Summer Reading 2015

SLA Beeber 9th Grade Summer Reading 2015

Dear Incoming Ninth Grader,

Welcome to SLA! Before coming to school in September we'd like you to read one of the following books: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie), Everyday (David Levithan), or The House of the Scorpion (Nancy Farmer).

While you may get the book from the library, we strongly suggest that you purchase your

choice text, as we will be referring to it in English classes in September. We are selling all

three titles at discounted prices on New Family Night to make obtaining summer reading easy

and effortless. Of course, feel free to read them all! They are all so great!

Below are some questions to help you navigate your novel and help you prepare to discuss it

with your classmates and teachers. As you may already know, SLA utilizes guiding questions

that help focus our studies and make learning more meaningful for us all. As you read your

book, think about the following larger questions as they apply to the characters, action,

conflicts, and resolutions in your choice text and also as they apply to your life. Part of active

reading includes some writing. Prepare to hand in a journal consisting of at least eight entries,

each one longer than a half page. Before you write, consider the following questions to explore

in your journal. Each entry could be a response to a question as it relates to the book. Include

your own personal responses to these questions, and how these questions might apply to your

choice text. This will be collected in September.

• What is family?

• What is the power of friendship?

• What does it mean to be a caregiver/mother/father?

• What is education and where can it exist?

• What is love?

• How does a person become evil?

•In what ways can the line between good and evil be blurred?

• How do you justify the idea that a person can be both good and evil at the same time?

• Who is a survivor? Why?

• What does it mean to be human?