Purpose: As a college preparatory student, it is imperative that you attain a high degree of verbal literacy. While Xavier provides you with ample opportunities to grow in your technological literacy, Xavier is just as committed to the development of your reading and writing skills. To be a well educated person in the 21st century, you must be a critical and deep thinker, something you cannot become without the ongoing “immersion” experience of reading broadly and deeply and becoming increasingly skillful in your oral and written expression.
General Directives:
If you follow these directives to the best of your abilities, then you will do well on the SRT, and be mentally prepared to engage yourself as a college preparatory student in another year of academic challenge and success.
Commit yourself to these directives! You are, after all, responsible for you own learning. We are counting on you to be actively engaged in your education!
“Read for pleasure; read for understanding; read for wisdom; read for the enrichment of your heart and mind.”
Important Note on Attendant Links:
The attending website links are offered here, so that you may be introduced to each text that you are required to read this summer. They have been carefully chosen to demonstrate the significance of the text and to acquaint you with some authorial, social and cultural context of the work or professional reviews and personal responses from readers who have enjoyed the novel.
WE DISCOURAGE YOU FROM USING ANY “STUDY GUIDES” TO SUBSTUTUTE FOR THE EXPERIENCE OF A DEEP AND CAREFUL OF THE TEXT! On the other hand, we encourage you to do any research you are inspired to do from your reading of the novel. As you become a self-motivated student, the more confident and purposeful you will become in your academic endeavors.
Students occasionally encounter one small problem when they take the summer reading test: How do I remember details in August from a novel I read in June? To prevent the details from slipping away, students should take notes while they read. Below are some suggestions.
NARRATOR
Who is telling the story?
How does the narrator view other characters?
How do other characters act toward the narrator?
SETTING
When does the story take place?
Where does the story take place?
What is significant about the places characters live? Visit? Work?
CHARACTERS
Describe each main character. (age, occupation, etc.)
How is the character related or connected to other characters?
What are the main characters’ actions?
What motivates each character to make the decisions he/she does?
PLOT
What are the significant scenes in the story?
Remember the order in which the most significant events happen.
THEME
What messages or insights about life or human nature are presented?
Why did the author choose to tell this story?
Freshmen
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Sophomores
Night by Elie Wiesel
Rebecca Daphne du Maurier
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Juniors
The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
These Is My Words: Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine by Nancy Turner
Seniors
The Attack by Yasmina Khadra
She Plays With the Darkness by Zake Mda