Odyssey Charter School Summer Reading Assignment

9th Grade / 10th Grade

Students: Once you select a book from the Summer Reading List, please select an assignment to

demonstrate your understanding of the text. This assignment is due at the end of the second week

of school to your English Language Arts teacher.

Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe Inspired by the true-life experiences of a marooned sailor, Robinson Crusoe tells the story of the sole survivor of a shipwreck, stranded on a Caribbean island, who prevails against all odds, enduring almost three decades of solitude while mastering both himself and his strange new world. Across Five Aprils, by Irene Hunt During the turbulent years of the Civil War, this novel describes the coming of age of Jethro Creighton. Jethro is left to take care of the family farm in Illinois during some of the hardest struggles in American history. Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, by Jennifer E. Smith Having missed her flight, 17 year old Hadley Sullivan is stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding in London. While in the cramped waiting area at the airport, she meets the perfect guy, a British boy named Oliver. A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding Lord of the Flies is a novel about a group of British boys stuck on an uninhabited island who try to govern themselves. The young men deal with many controversial issues in the novel like individual welfare versus the common good. The Odyssey, by Homer The epic poem of Odysseus begins ten years after the capture of Troy in Ithaca, his homeland. In his palace a large group of suitors have arrived and taken up residence to court Penelope, Odysseus’s wife. She, however, does not wish to remarry and makes them wait while her son Telemachus searches for just cause and a good reason to banish them from their home. All the while, Antinous plots to kill Telemachus and remove his opposition in the palace.

Odyssey Charter School Summer Reading Assignment

The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir, by Gaby Rodriguez Growing up, Gaby Rodriguez was often told she would end up a teen mom. After all, her mother and her older sisters had gotten pregnant as teenagers. Gaby had ambitions that didn’t include teen motherhood. But she wondered: how would she be treated if she “lived down” to others’ expectations? In The Pregnancy Project, Gaby details how she was able to fake her own pregnancy—hiding the truth from even her siblings and boyfriend’s parents—and reveals all that she learned from the experience. Ten Miles Past Normal, by Frances O’Roark Janie Gorman, a teen that lives on an isolated goat farm with her modern-hippy parents, is smart and creative but all she wants is to be normal. High school gives Janie the chance to get on par with her suburban peers, but before long she realizes normal may not ever be within her grasp. She soon joins a jam band at school, befriends a wild-child senior named Emma, and falls in like with a boy named Monster. Janie discovers that growing up gets complicated and that normal is entirely overrated. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte The turbulent and tempestuous love story of Cathy and Heathcliff spans two generations, from the time Heathcliff, a strange, coarse young boy, is brought to live on the Earnshaws' windswept estate, through Cathy's marriage to Edgar Linton and Heathcliff's plans for revenge, to Cathy's death years later and the eventual union of the surviving Earnshaw and Linton heirs. Girl in Translation, by Jean Kwok When Ah-Kim (Kimberly) Chang and her mother arrive from Hong Kong to New York, they are forced to live in a roach infested apartment and work at a sweatshop for hardly any pay. Kim is great at school, but can she succeed without knowing the language or culture? The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane The Red Badge of Courage sets the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound, a "red badge of courage," to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment once again faces the enemy, Henry acts as standard-bearer. Jane Eyre, by Charolette Bronte This novel follows the emotions and experiences of Jane, including her growth to adulthood, her moral and spiritual sensibility, and her love for Mr. Rochester, a master of Thornfield Hall.

Odyssey Charter School Summer Reading Assignment

1) CASTING A FILM

Put together a cast for a film version of your novel. Imagine the director/producer wants

you, the casting director, to make recommendations for the actors and actresses playing

each part of the story. Include photos and descriptions of the stars you choose to play each

part. To convince the producer to hire your cast, explain why each actor/actress is “perfect”

for the part in a 1-2 page casting report. At least one example of textual evidence should be

used for each cast member. Use the Casting Report Rubric to guide your project.

2) TIMELINE

Create an illustrated Time-Line of the important events in your novel. Illustrate the events of

the day and provide a 3-4 sentence summary of each event on the timeline. At least one

example of textual evidence should be used for each important date. Use the Timeline

Rubric to guide your project.

3) NEWSLETTER

Create a 1-2 page newsletter that covers all of the main storylines in your novel. The

audience for the newsletter is your teacher and others who may not be familiar with the

book. At least one example of textual evidence should be used for each section of the

newsletter. Use the Newsletter Overview and Rubric to guide your project.

Odyssey Charter School Summer Reading Assignment

Casting Rubric

Odyssey Charter School Summer Reading Assignment

Timeline Rubric

Odyssey Charter School Summer Reading Assignment

Newsletter Overview and Rubric

1. When you pass in your newsletter final copy and all required “sloppy copy” papers and notes, please include this sheet with the copy of the rubric on the back. I will expect to see that you have crossed off each item as it is completed.

2. You must have a title for your newsletter. This title should be created in some way from the title of the book or theme of the book.

3. Advertisements: Insert three or more advertisements for people, places, and/or things from your book. Refer to the Press Sentinel and other newspapers for ad ideas. For example, for PERSON you could advertise a service that someone is offering; for PLACE you could advertise a travel destination or a piece of real estate that is for sale; for THING you could advertise an item that is for sale or rent. Ads must be reflective of the time period in which the story occurs.

4. The newsletter must have three or more news stories about events in your book. 5. The newsletter must have two or more obituaries about characters in your book 6. Be sure to cleverly insert the book title, author’s name and your name in the newsletter in a location of

your choice. I suggest that you include them in some creative way rather than just adding them on at the end. You will not credit if you simply write this information in as you turn in the assignment.

7. Final copy error-free. Five points will be deducted for each error in spelling, punctuation, etc., so proofread several times for accuracy!

8. Write a reflection that covers the entire newsletter. In the writing reflection, explain what part of the newsletter was your favorite part and why, if this was a difficult or easy assignment for you, what you liked or disliked about it, explain the worst or hardest part of the assignment and why, etc. (4 points)