English II, Honors, Regular, & Special Ed. Need help with your reading - background information or guides to understanding?  Try the EBSCO data bank LITERARY REFERENCE CENTER.   This is provided free of charge for you by the Laf. Parish School System.  Link - http://search.ebscohost.com/    User ID = lpssschools   Password = gumbo  Recommended for Regular & Special Ed. Students in Regular or Special Ed. classes may read ANY books they choose (see Choice page for more information).   For extra credit & recognition in the fall, students must complete a Reading Log (see Reading Log page) for each book read.   The books below are especially recommended for students in reg. & spec. ed. classes, but not required.  Required Reading Options for students enrolled in Honors Eng. II Keep a HANDWRITTEN journal of the characters and content of each novel as you read - suggestion: a journal entry after each chapter.   You may use these journals as a guide when you take your summer reading tests, and the journals must be turned after the tests and will be part of the summer reading grade.  Required - Read 2 books of the following books Because our goal is for each student to read 6 books or more during the summer, we encourage you to continue reading books of choice (see Choice for All page) after you've fulfilled the requirement for Honors Eng. II. - rewards & extra credit will await you next school year along with better performance in your classes an on standardized tests like the GEE or the ACT.

1)  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon    Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher's carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor's dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing. Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents' marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christopher's mind. And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon's choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally. Mark Haddon's novel is narrated by Christopher, which creates a character who is neither stereotyped nor stiff and unoriginal. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has received praise from almost all reviewers. The Fort Myers News Press says, " It would be curious indeed if this little gem of a novel didn't find its way onto the best-seller lists." More information: http://www.bookrags.com/The_Curious_Incident_of_the_Dog_in_the_Night-time http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/monkeynote/pmCuriousIncidentDogNightTimeSample.pdf http://thebestnotes.com/booknotes/Curious_Incident_Dog_Night_Time_Haddon/Curious_Incident_Study_Guide01.html 2)  The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride (nonfiction) is the autobiography of James McBride; it is also a memoir for his mother. The chapters alternate between James McBride's descriptions of his early life, and first-person accounts of his mother Ruth's life, mostly before James McBride was born. The Color of Water tells the remarkable story of Ruth McBride Jordan, the two good men she married, and the 12 good children she raised. Jordan, born Rachel Shilsky, a Polish Jew, immigrated to America soon after birth; as an adult she moved to New York City, leaving her family and faith behind in Virginia. Jordan met and married a black man, making her isolation even more profound. The book is a success story, a testament to one woman's true heart, solid values, and indomitable will. Ruth Jordan battled not only racism but also poverty to raise her children and, despite being sorely tested, never wavered. In telling her story--along with her son's--The Color of Water addresses racial identity with compassion, insight, and realism. It is, in a word, inspiring, and you will finish it with unalloyed admiration for a flawed but remarkable individual. And, perhaps, a little more faith in us all. More information: http://www.bsu.edu/freshmanconnections/media/pdf/fcr-reading-guide.pdf

3) Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson Since the beginning of the school year, high school freshman Melinda has found that it's been getting harder and harder for her to speak out loud: "My throat is always sore, my lips raw.... Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis." What could have caused Melinda to suddenly fall mute? Could it be due to the fact that no one at school is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at the seniors' big end-of-summer party? Or maybe it's because her parents' only form of communication is Post-It notes written on their way out the door to their nine-to-whenever jobs. While Melinda is bothered by these things, deep down she knows the real reason why she's been struck mute... Laurie Halse Anderson's first novel is a stunning and sympathetic tribute to the teenage outcast. The triumphant ending, in which Melinda finds her voice, is cause for cheering (while many readers might also shed a tear or two). After reading Speak, it will be hard for any teen to look at the class scapegoat again without a measure of compassion and understanding for that person--who may be screaming beneath the silence. More information & lesson plans to guide your reading: http://www.viterbo.edu/personalpages/faculty/GSmith/LessonPlanforSpeak.htm http://www.viterbo.edu/personalpages/faculty/GSmith/LessonPlanforSpeak.htm 4) Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher T. J. Jones is black, Japanese, and white; his given name is The Tao (honest!), and he's the son of a woman who abandoned him when she got heavily into crack and crank. As a child he was full of rage, but now as a senior in high school he's pretty much overcome all that. With the help of a good therapist and his decent, loving, ex-hippie adoptive parents, he's not only fairly even-keeled, he has turned out to be smart and funny. Injustice, however, still fills him with fury. So when big-deal football star Mike Barbour bullies brain-damaged Chris Coughlin for wearing his dead brother's letter jacket, T.J. hatches a scheme for revenge. He assembles a swim team (in a school with no pool) made up of the most outrageous outsiders and misfits he can find and extracts a conditional promise of those sacred letter jackets from the coach. After weeks of dedicated practice at the All Night Fitness pool, the seven mermen get good enough not to embarrass themselves in competition. The really important thing, though, turns out to be the long bus rides to meets, a safe place to share the hurts that have made them who they are. Meanwhile, T.J.'s father, who has taken in a battered little girl to ease his lifelong guilt over his role in the accidental death of a baby, tangles with another bully--her stepfather--and his growing murderous rage. Chris Crutcher, therapist and author of seven prize-winning young adult books, here gives his many fans another wise and compassionate story full of the intensity of athletic competition and hair-raising incidents of child abuse. More information: http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0688180191.asp http://www.ala.org/ala/aaslbucket/pittsburgh/WhaleTalk.pdfHYPERLINK "http://www.ala.org/ala/aaslbucket/pittsburgh/WhaleTalk.pdf"http://www.ala.org/ala/aaslbucket/pittsburgh/WhaleTalk. http://www.multcolib.org/talk/guides-whale.html