ENGLISH DEPARTMENT:

Honors English I:

Anthem - Ayn Rand

Select a biography of your choice that fulfills the guidelines described below.  Then, complete the notebook assignment.

Note:  If you are enrolled in Honors English I and Honors Social Studies I, you do NOT have to read two different biographies for the summer reading assignment.  One biography will suffice for both classes, but you need to create two copies of your written work.

 Biography Guidelines (Pay close attention to these!):

            -Over 250 pages in length and published in the past 15 years.

            -About a world famous (or infamous) non-American citizen, politician, or soldier.

            -Major achievements must have been accomplished between 1914-1989.

            -Major achievements must be relevant to the following periods of World History:

            World War One, World War II, or the Cold War Era.

            -No autobiographies will be accepted.

            -No pictorial biographies will be accepted.

            -No “young adult” biographies will be accepted.

Honors English II:

A Lesson Before Dying - Ernest Gaines

Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt

Honors English III:

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation - Joseph Ellis

The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams

Humanities:

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl

Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse

Genesis section from the Holy Bible

SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT:

Honors Social Studies I:

Directions:  Read All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and, then, complete the following tasks.

I.                    Theme is the central idea of a work or literature: however, theme is not usually stated directly.  Most often, the reader has to think about all of the literary elements and use them to make an inference, or educated guess, about what the element is.

Keep a journal summarizing major themes from each chapter.  (You will have 12 journal entries for this task.) Each journal entry should be at least 50 words in length.  The themes you are to address are the following:

A.     Remarque develops the theme of the horror of war.  Which situations or conditions described in the novel demonstrate the horror of war?

B.     Another major theme of the novel is the questioning of authority, traditional values, and social conventions.  How do “Paul” and his friends mock the petty aspects of military discipline, as well as the irrelevance of much of what they have been taught in school?

C.     A third important theme is comradeship.  In this book, it is seen as the most valuable thing to come out of the war.  What incidents in the novel notably demonstrate the importance of comradeship?  (For example, incidents involving the importance of loyalty and compassion for one’s fellow soldiers).

D.     The fourth theme of the text is the ideal of universal brotherhood. What incidents or thoughts by “Paul” in the book demonstrate this notion that all human beings are somehow related?

Note:  You are to determine which of the above themes are present in each chapter and how they are present in each chapter.  You must address at least one of the above themes in each written entry.  All writing for this task is to be typed.  Students should also adhere to the following guidelines for this task:

-         12 point, Times New Roman font

-         Double-spaced

-         One-inch margins

-         Cover page

II.               Journals are due August 27, 2008, which is the second day of the semester.  On that day there will be a test administered concerning your reading of All Quiet on the Western Front.  If you are a second semester

student, your Journal Due Date and Test date is January 22, 2009, which is the second day of that semester.   ***It is highly recommended that, even if you are a second semester student, you complete the summer reading and journals in the summer.  You can always go back and review your journals at the start of the second semester.  Failure to complete the summer assignments will result in a poor start in your Honors course.  Summer reading assignments may equal up to 10% of your final grade.

Assignment 2:  A Biography

Directions:  Select a biography of your choice that fulfills the guidelines described below.  Then, complete the notebook assignment.

Biography Guidelines (Pay close attention to these!):

            -Over 250 pages in length and published in the past 15 years.

            -About a world famous (or infamous) non-American citizen, politician, or soldier.

            -Major achievements must have been accomplished between 1914-2008.

            -Major achievements must be relevant to the following periods of World History:

            World War One, World War II, the Cold War Era, or Post Cold War Era.

            -No autobiographies will be accepted.

            -No pictorial biographies will be accepted.

            -No “young adult” biographies will be accepted.

In addition, you are NOT required to purchase the book, but it is recommended.  We suggest you preview any books at the library, online at Amazon. Com, or at Borders Books in Westlake or Sandusky before you make any purchases.

Note:  If you are enrolled in Honors English I and Honors Social Studies I, you do NOT have to read two different biographies for the summer reading assignment.  One biography will suffice for both classes, but you need to create two copies of your written work.

Notebook Assignment Requirements:

Purchase a notebook.  For every 40-50 pages, take notes in your notebook.  Notes should include significant events, influential people, obstacles and challenges, author’s praise, and author’s criticisms.  This may be done in paragraph form or in column format; a model of which was given to your guidance counselor. Your notebook, along with the book, will be collected on the second day the semester.

            -Fall Semester Due Date:  August 27, 2008.

            -Spring Semester Due Date:  January 22, 2009.

The summer reading assignments may constitute up to 10 percent of the total grade for this course.  In Honors Social Studies One, there will be a research paper concerning the

biography person.

Suggested people for Honors I Biography Summer Reading Assignment:

Kaiser Wilhelm II                                                         Vladimer Putin

Czar Nicholas II                                                           Boris Yeltsin

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, Lenin

Rasputin

Leon Trotsky

Joseph Stalin

Mao Zedong

Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mustafa Kemal

Albert Einstein

Sigmund Freud

Friedrich Nietzche

Benito Mussolini

Adolf Hitler

Francisco Franco

Hideki Tojo

Neville Chamberlain

Winston Churchill

Anne Frank

Elie Weisel

Oskar Schindler (Note:  Schindler’s List is not a biography)

Charles De Gaulle

Erwin Rommel

Joseph Goebbels

Ho Chi Minh

Fidel Castro

Che Guevera

Daniel Ortega

Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini

Mikhail Gorbachev

Margaret Thatcher

Queen Elizabeth II

C. S. Lewis

Pablo Picasso

Indiri Gandhi

Mother Theresa

Yasir Arafat

Nelson Mandela

Pope John Paul II

J. R. R. Tolkien

Saddam Hussein

Osama Bin Laden

Honors Social Studies II:

Angela’s Ashes - Frank McCourt

Biography of significant historical American figure of the Twentieth Century.

Honors Social Studies III:

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation - Joseph Ellis

Humanities:

Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared M. Diamond