SUMMER READING

2013-2014Incoming Sophomores at

Hamilton High School

Why Read Over Summer?

• There are many reasons why it’s a great idea for you to read over the summer.

• Students who continue to read actually gain reading skills.

• Studies show that many student who do not read actually lose reading skills over summer.

• To be a member of a literate society, you must be literate – that means daily reading

• Reading improves vocabulary, writing, speaking and comprehension.

Skills Addressed

• Increasing reading levels• Building language skills – reading,

writing, speaking, comprehending• Improving critical thinking• Building academic vocabulary

On-Level ClassesMonster is presented as a screenplay, with handwritten comments, by the main character Steve Harmon. Steve says that he is writing the screenplay to keep his sanity while being held in prison during his trial for murder. "I am so scared. My heart is beating like crazy and I am having breathing trouble," he writes. "The trouble I'm in keeps looking bigger and bigger. I'm overwhelmed by it. It's crushing me." In a story about a young man who gets in deep trouble by being greedy and wanting to look tough, the sheer terror of prison and the prospects for conviction are conveyed in blunt descriptions. Monster, one of the most horrifying novels ever written, is titanic in its sheer terror. (thanks to BookRags http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-monster/overview.html

Honors 10• Outliers is Malcolm Gladwell's

examination of what makes some people phenomenally more successful than others. These "outliers," as he calls them, are commonly thought to possess talent and intelligence far above that of the average person, but he challenges this popular belief by looking at the background of some notable outliers.

• (http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-outliers)