Lafayette High English Dept. Summer Reading
 

Build Your Future through READING

 
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Lafayette High School

9th Grade Gifted Summer Reading
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English I, Gifted

Welcome to Lafayette High School!

Need help with your reading -

Research options open to you - go to the Laf. Parish School System search page - http://www.lpssonline.com/site113.php

Also - see research links below to the EBSCO home data bank online (not the World Wide Web - a databank of magazines, enclycopedias, etc.) & the Worldbook online. These are purchased for you by the state & parish.

EBSCO - login: lpssschools Password: gumbo Website - http://search.ebscohost.com


Worldbook - longin: lpssschools password: gumbo www.worldbookonline.com

Gifted English I—Mrs. Keller

In preparation for next year’s English class, you will be required to read three novels during the summer. During the first week of school, you will be tested on these books to make sure that you read them (NO EXCUSES).

ROMANTICISM

1. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo　(~400 pages)

One of the most widely read novels of all time, Les Misérables was the crowning literary achievement of Victor Hugo’s stunning career. Though he was considered the greatest French writer of his day, Hugo was forced to flee the country because of his opposition to Napoleon III. While in exile he completed Les Misérables, an enormous melodrama set against the background of political upheaval in France following the rule of Napoleon I.

Les Misérables tells the story of the peasant Jean Valjean—unjustly imprisoned, baffled by destiny, and hounded by his nemesis, the magnificently realized, ambiguously malevolent police detective Javert. As Valjean struggles to redeem his past, we are thrust into the teeming underworld of Paris with all its poverty, ignorance, and suffering. Just as cruel tyranny threatens to extinguish the last vestiges of hope, rebellion sweeps over the land like wildfire, igniting a vast struggle for the democratic ideal in France.

A monumental classic dedicated to the oppressed, the underdog, the laborer, the rebel, the orphan, and the misunderstood, Les Misérables is a rich, emotional novel that captures nothing less than the entirety of life in nineteenth-century France.

The version we use is translated by Charles E. Wilbur and edited and abridged by James K. Robinson.　 The cover is dark green with yellow writing.　　　 　ISBN 0-449-300021

 

Many web sites are available for more information to guide you in your reading.　 A good place to begin is http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_L/les_miserables1.asp or http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lesmis/

REALISM

2. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (~160 pages)

Published thirty years after the Civil War, The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane’s most famous work, is a study in psychological realism. It tells the story without a trace of romanticism. The novel presents the conflicting emotions and subjective perceptions of Henry Fleming, a young Civil War soldier, during his first battle. The story follows his psychological turmoil, from the excitement of patriotism to the bloody realities of battle and his flight from it. The Red Badge of Courage is best known for its honest portrayal of war while it explores the complex nature of courage and heroism.

Many web sites are available for more information to guide you in your reading.　Try

http://www.bookrags.com/notes/rbc/BIO.htm

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/redbadge/

http://www.slideshare.net/mumphrey/vocabulary-for-the-red-badge-of-courage-presentation (a vocabulary slide show)

MODERNISM

3. The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck (~112 pages)

Occupied by enemy troops, a small, peaceable town comes face to face with evil imposed from the outside—and betrayal born within the close-knit community. As he delves into the motivations and emotions of the enemy commander and the traitor, Steinbeck uncovers profound, often unsettling truths about war—and about human nature. Few literary works of our time have demonstrated so triumphantly the power of ideas in the face of cold steel and brute force.

For more help, try the following sites:

http://www.articlemyriad.com/176.htm

http://www.msjnet.edu/uploaded/Students/SummerReading2009/moon.pdf

http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Literature/The-Moon-Is-Down-168076.html (an online quiz)

　

　

For additional support, I have an eboard account. The site is www.jlkeller-lhs.eboard.com. The password is keller. Click on the English I(G) tab and find the notes entitled "Summer Reading: Les Mis," "Summer Reading: Red Badge," or "Summer Reading: The Moon Is Down." When the summer begins, I will enable the iNotes. This will allow you to post comments and/or questions. I will check these as often as I can, but I will not be able to check them every day. Feel free to respond to your classmates. (When you post a comment/question, please include your name so that we know who we’re speaking to—oops, I ended that with a preposition.) Please use this site for discussing the novels only; this is not a social networking site like myspace or facebook. If I find that you are abusing the site, I will shut it down. It is there to help you.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!! I LOOK FORWARD TO MEETING YOU!!

I’ll see you at orientation!