2015-2016 Summer Reading Assignment Rider High School Pre-AP English I Required Novel: House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, 1984 House on Mango Street is a coming-of-age novel made up on vignettes. A vignette is short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment like a snapshot. Part One: During your reading - annotating the novel Annotate means to add notes to a text giving explanation or comment. During your reading, annotate the text using the following directions. Make sure that you fully annotate each page of the novel. You MUST use the color codes below to annotate your novel. Find rhetorical devices and then highlight them using the color beside the devices listed below. Use highlighters rather than markers so that the color is less likely to bleed through the page. Next to the highlighting, name the device and in a few words state its significance. You won t have room for sentences here. Ex: Highlight some imagery in blue. Next to it write: Imagery: carries out danger/security theme or Symbol: color blackness of despair ******RHETORICAL DEVICES****** Comparisons & Contrasts: Orange House on Mango Street and promised house Marriage vs. autonomy Innocence and experience Characterization: Yellow Symbolism: Pink E= Esperanza Falling S=Sally Windows N=Nenny Shoes Ma=Mama Trees/plants P=Papa Poetry A=Alicia Names CC=Carlos Houses K=Keeky C=Cathy L=Lucy R=Rachel AL=Aunt Lupe MO=Meme Ortiz M=Minerva Si-Sire Theme Ideas: Green Identity Society and class Gender Foreignness and The Other Family Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Innocence Language The Home Friendship Language Devices/Imagery: Blue Syntax (sentence Structure) Figurative Language (simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification, allusion, irony, etc) Diction (Choice of words, speech: colloquial, formal, etc) Point of view (first-person, third-person, etc) Tone (the attitude of the author toward the subject such as humorous, serious, grave, didactic, etc.)
Here is a sample of an annotated page:
Part Two: After your reading - Three Levels of Reading After you finish reading the novel, choose your favorite vignette and complete the following three levels of reading assignment. Directions: 1. Across the top of the paper, write the title of the work and the author s name. 2. Draw three large concentric circles (one circle inside another circle inside a larger circle). 3. For the innermost circle, concentrate on the concrete level of meaning reading on the lines. a. Write the most significant word from the vignette you chose. b. Quote the entire sentence in which the word appears. Document the page number of the quotation in parenthesis. c. Write multiple dictionary definitions of the word (denotation). d. Explain why the word is important to the meaning of the work by placing it in the context of the narrative. Example: Scream: to cry out loudly and shrilly as from pain or fear; a long, loud, piercing cry. In this scene, young Billy and his new coonhounds sleep in a cave, where they hear the frightening screams of a mountain lion. The high pitch of the scream shattered the silence of the quiet night It screamed its way into the cave and rang like a blacksmith s anvil against the rock walls (45). 4. In the middle circle, concentrate on the abstract level of meaning reading between the lines. a. Referring to the text, draw four images from the assigned part of the reading. These images must be hand drawn and colored. b. Write an explanation of the link between each image and the word you have written in the innermost circle.
Example: This is the kind of cave that Billy was in when he heard the screaming. A cave would make the scream echo and seem even more frightening. The boy pup bawls back at the mountain lion, which is his way of screaming. Even as a puppy he has the instinct for protecting his pack Billy and the little girl pup. Inner Circle This illustrates the Primal way that humans react when threatened by a wild animal. Billy is screaming inside as he hears the cat Scream outside. The scream of the cat is the catalyst for the whole episode, causing the consternation of the boy and his dogs. 5. In the outer circle, concentrate on the thematic level of meaning reading beyond the lines. Write two thematic statements drawn from the significant word you wrote in the innermost circle and the images you drew in the middle circle. These should be universal thematic statements and should not refer directly to the text. Writing a thematic statement: 1. Select an important topic from your chosen vignette. Topic ideas include: freedom, love, trust, death, forgiveness, and many others. 2. Now finish the statement by adding what the author reveals about the topic. 3. Both parts of the thematic statement relate to the inner and middle circle you ve already completed.
Example: The topic is bolded. Human beings can overcome their fear and act courageously, even when threatened by extreme danger. Middle Circle Inner Circle Emotions such as fear reveal the primitive, animalistic side of human beings. A Matter of Presentation Please remember that you are given the entirety of the summer to complete these assignments. Assignments that are turned in carelessly drawn on lined notebook paper, stained and crumpled, hastily torn out of a notebook, etc. do not put forth the effort and professionalism expected of a Pre-AP student. Academic Honesty These assignments are independent work. While discussing your interpretation of the novel is encouraged, the assignment is individual work. Highlights and wording of annotations must be unique. To ensure that your work is unique, do not work in groups for these assignments. We are excited to have you as part of our Pre-AP program. Enjoy your summer, and we will see you in August! Mrs. Preston Mrs. Scheller Ms. Ciuba hpreston@wfisd.net, sscheller@wfisd.net, kciuba@wfisd.net