Summer Reading and more reading and still more!

Dear English II students,                                                 

You all have done very well this year and made much progress in understanding literature. In order to be well prepared for classes next year, it is so important to continue reading (and thinking about what you’re reading) throughout the summer. Reading is the best way to maintain your English reading skills as well as improve in grammar, fluency, comprehension, etc. For your classes, you will have assigned summer reading to complete, but I urge you to also read for pleasure in English and read for information in English as much as you can.

A few other suggestions:

1)      Read news in English online (if you can access npr.org or nytimes.org or other news websites, you can read and often watch video or listen to broadcasts – listening to spoken English over the summer is a good practice to keep up also)

2)      Watch movies or TV shows in English!

3)      Read blog posts about anything you are interested in (in English)

4)      Don’t leave your summer reading to the week before school. Read (and take notes!) on your books throughout the summer.

5)      Choose to read some books from my additional summer reading list (see below).

Additional Summer Reading Suggestions:

The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, Son, & Number the Stars by Lois Lowry            The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak
Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi
The Hunger Games series
The Divergent series
Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt and others in this series
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Shabanu by Suzanna Staples
Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Wonder by Palacio
Any novel by John Greene
Every Soul a Star or others by Wendy Mass
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

(Add more in the comments if you want!)

Also, keep writing! You can write emails to me each week about what you’re reading, and I will definitely respond. Or you can add blog entries discussing what you are reading, and I will read those and comment on them.

Have a great summer: read, relax, enjoy, and be ready to come back in the Fall and work!  --Ms. Guarino

Final Exam Prep

English II IS Final Exam Study Guide

A.      Exam Notes:

Each student will be asked to bring in one 8x11 sheet of paper with as many “notes and quotes” from the books we have read as you can fit on this page. The notes are required and will count as points on the exam. See the essay question below for more information on what notes to prepare.

B.  Key Terms to Study for the Exam:  

The exam will ask you to match 15 of these terms with the correct definition. You need to memorize these terms and definitions; you will not be able to include them in your exam notes.

1.      Literature                                                       

2.      Fiction                                                            

3.      Nonfiction                                                      

4.      Novel                                                                          

5.      Mystery                                                                                  

6.      Biography                                                                               

7.      Autobiography                                                                                   

8.      Graphic novel                                                                         

9.      Poetry                                                                         

10.  Drama                                                                                                                                    

11.  Tragedy                                                                                              

12.  Foreshadowing

13.  Metaphor

14.  Personification

15.  Narrator

16.  Unreliable narrator

17.  Flashback

18.  Epilogue

19.  Dialogue

20.  Monologue

21.  Mood

22.  Tone

23.  Plot

24.  Setting

25.  Character

C. Essay Question:

You will write an essay examining one of the following quotations and demonstrating how it applies to any 3 of the texts we have read this year. Use specific examples and create an original, sophisticated analysis of the literature as well as the text of the quotation. Your essay will need to include a clear thesis, an introduction, organized body paragraphs, and a conclusion. It will also need to include exact quotes from the three texts you discuss.

Naomi Shihab Nye: “Why should it be a surprise that people find solace in literature? Literature slows us down, cherishes small details.…We need literature for nourishment and noticing, for the way language and imagery reach comfortably into experience, holding and connecting it to ourselves.”

Marjane’s father: “Never forget who you are and where you’re from.”

Marjane’s Grandmother: “Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself.”

Sookan: “I would gather my pearls and forge ahead….I didn’t know what my future would bring, but I would do as Mother had always told me. I would follow my heart.”

Ashmol: “If you go to Lightning Ridge, people pause in the middle of whatever they are doing to stop and talk to Kellyanne Williamson just as they still pause to talk to Pobby and Dingan and to the opal in their dreams. And the rest of the world thinks we’re all nutters, but they… are all just fruit loops who don’t know what it is to believe in something which is hard to see or keep looking for something which is totally hard to find.”

Lorenzo: “I never fitted in. She didn’t either.”

Candace Sinclair: “Children know…that the stories about their family are both true and untrue. There are endless variations. And people will continue to tell them.”

A reminder about the essay format (as explained in class):

Paragraph 1: Introduction and thesis

Paragraph 2: Analysis of the Quotation -- what does it mean and why is it important? (how does it connect to everything we have been learning about literature all year in this class?)

Paragraph 3: Connect to Book 1 (use specific ideas and quotes)

Paragraph 4: Connect to Book 2 (use specific ideas and quotes)

Paragraph 5: Connect to Book 3 (use specific ideas and quotes)

Paragraph 6: Conclusion

Vocabulary words

List of words for tomorrow's test:

1. taxidermy

2. villainous

3. recuperate

4. quarrel

5. constellation

6. snorkeling

7. stagger

8. traumatic

9. heroine

10. agony

11. ivory

12. shore

13. hilariously

14. stunning

15. pitiful

16. surpasses

17. glamorous

18. collapse

19. giddy

20. embroidered

Quiz prep questions from the groups

From John and James:

Fact Questions
1. What is the name of the kid of Ed and Carrie?


2. How many buildings in Beechwood Island?


3. Which college did Harris go? When did he graduate?


4. What is Ed's job?


5. Who are "The Liars"? And who are the littles?


Thinking Questions
1. Do you think Cadence and her parents love each other?

2. What do you think would happen between Cadence and Gat? If Gat was in higher class?

3. Do you think the grandparents know their daughters are lying?



From Miranda and Valerie:

1.in what summer did Gat and cadence meet?

2.Who is Gat's uncle?


3.what is the name of the girl who Gat like?

4.what are the names of cadence grandparents?

5.who is the first grandson in the Sinclair family?



1.what did cadence grandmother think about Gat when they first met?

2.what dose it mean to be a Sinclair?

3.is the letter really sending to the girl in New York?


From Olivia, Kelly, and Jack:

Who is gat?

Where does penny and cadence live on island?

Who is the eldest grandchild?

What's the name of Gat's girlfriend in New York ?

What is the name of the island where Sinclairs spend summer?

Think about what do Sinclairs think of Gat.

Analyze what is the relationship with gat and Cadence?

Why do you think four young children lie?

From Leo and Joseph:

1.What kind of accomplishment should a Sinclair has?

2. Why Gat comes to the island every summer?

3. Describe what kind of personality does Johnny has?

4. Why Cadence's father choose to leave her?

5. How many girls do the Sinclairs have?

1.How did Gat consider himself in relationship with Sinclair family.

2. Why do you Cadence fall in love with Gat?

3. Why did Gat choose Raquel but not Cadence?

From Jack and Cherrie:

5 FQ and 3 TQ of we were liars

What are the names of the twins?

What is the name of the island?

How did cadence find out gat was not really love her?

Why did cadence's father leave the family?

Who are those four liars?

Why gat feel he is a outlander? 

Why cadence loves gat? 

Why are they lying

Me and You

In the novel Me and You, there are some parts that are ambiguous (unclear).  Here is a good review of it that might help you if you are confused while reading.

Student Choice Books

And the winners are...

1. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

2. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

We will read both of these in Marking Period 4.

Some book ideas

1. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

This book follows The Giver but is set in a primitive society where the people do not have music, art, etc. The main character, Kira, discovers the secrets of the society in this novel.

Read more here.

2. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

A book about teenagers, love, bullying, etc. Two interesting characters and a good story!

Read more here.

3. Maus by Art Spiegelman

This is a graphic novel about the Holocaust of Jewish people during World War II. It is very creative.

Read more here.

4. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

The "improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog." Good story.