(Note to Readers:
The titles are in no special order; I just typed them from your various scraps, paper plates, etc. Together, they form an amazing list! Happy Summer Reading! ~ Mr. B.)
Let It Snow, by John Green
Hunger Games
Abundance of Katherines, by John Cooper
East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
The entire Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
The Bible
The entire Lord of the Rings series, by J.R. Tolkein
Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka
War Dances, by Sherman Alexie
Population 485, by Michael Perry
Pretty Little Liars
13 Reasons Why
A Great and Terrible Beauty
Rebel Angels
The Da Vinci Code
Twilight
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Bloody Jack series
Books & stories by Isaac Asimov
The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving
Robin Hood
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Sherlock Holmes series, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Physics books
U.S. Naval Manual // Survival Manuals
Hatchet
The Historian
Pulp Fiction (~ but... do you mean the screenplay by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary, or do you mean the genre??! If you mean the latter, you'd do well to check out Princeton English professor Bill Gleason, who has almost single-handedly changed the history of American pulp fiction -- that is, he has shifted pulp fiction along the Respectability Scale(!), from sleaze to scholarship!! ~ your faithful ed.)
Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
The Name of the Wind
I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
(see also, The Book Thief, by M.Z. This amazing book about (among other things) language & writing includes the memorable phrase, "Pimples were gathered in peer groups on his face." ~ ed.)
The Lost (Last?) Symbol
Robinson Crusoe
Angels and Demons
Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Beowulf (epic poem from the Anglo-Saxon era – best translation is by Seamus Heaney ~ prb!)
1984, by George Orwell
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
Ender’s Shadow, by Orson Scott Card
The Time Traveler’s Wife
July, July, by Tim O’Brien
Works by Twain, Fitzgerald, and Tim O’Brien
Northanger Abby, by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
All Men Die Alone
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
The Red Door
Still Alice
A Passage to India, by E.M. Forster
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Prophecy of the Sisters
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
Emma, by Jane Austen
The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
The Eragon series
The Time Machine, by George Orwell
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by William Styron (<- Great!! - ed.)
More Toni Morrison books (Jazz, Sula, Song of Solomon, et al.)
The Last Song, by Nicholas Spark
Dear John, by Nicholas Spark
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Curtain Up on American Theatre!
Early FSF residence on Summit Ave.
A "cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial"
Another Georgian mansion, complete with its "quarter of a mile" of lawn (...who MOWS that thing??).
(Click on Map to see a LARGER IMAGE.)
Can you tell what the arrow is pointing toward? Better still, can you guess where the camera was positioned when it took this picture? Click on the image for Carl Sagan's breath-taking explanation. (Thank you, Abby!!! Thank you, Adam, brother of Abby!!!)
Bratnober and Thoreau compare palm-prints
Mr. B. at Thoreau's desk, grading WALDEN (Thoreau got an A+).
Mr. Bratnober's Two Sections, Second Semester, 2010.
Summer Reading Lists Online
Writer's Resources in AP Lang & Comp: Feel free to use: from now until you graduate, & beyond!
Mr. Bratnober's Summer Reading List
Nonfiction:
The Battle Cry of Freedom, by James MacPherson
The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara
Team of Rivals, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce, by Kent Nerburn
Comanches: a History of a People, by T.R. Fehrenbach
Fiction:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
My Name Is Red, by Orhan Pamuk
Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
Shadow Tag, by Louise Erdrich
Sula, by Toni Morrison
Other possibilities include books by Tim O’Brien, John V. Fleming, James Joyce, and Norman Maclean.
Personal Essay Deadlines
Rough O/L & Thesis Statemt.:
- due Apr. 26/27
[ret. to you: Apr. 29-30]
1st Draft (rough dr.) - due May 18-19(!!!)
[ret. to you: May 24-25]
2nd Draft (3 typed copies) - June 1-2
[Peer-edit in class]
Final Draft - due in class on June 7-8
[ret. to you: June 9-10]
- due Apr. 26/27
[ret. to you: Apr. 29-30]
1st Draft (rough dr.) - due May 18-19(!!!)
[ret. to you: May 24-25]
2nd Draft (3 typed copies) - June 1-2
[Peer-edit in class]
Final Draft - due in class on June 7-8
[ret. to you: June 9-10]
Blues Blog for The Bluest Eye
LINK to http://honors11bluesblog.blogspot.com/ to view our companion blog, with supplemental materials for The Bluest Eye.
ADD to the contents of the Blues Blog by sending links for music, YouTubes, art, photography, articles, and other materials to Mr. Bratnober's school e-mail address.
COMMENT on what you see there; Comments will be "On" in the Blues Blog.
ADD to the contents of the Blues Blog by sending links for music, YouTubes, art, photography, articles, and other materials to Mr. Bratnober's school e-mail address.
COMMENT on what you see there; Comments will be "On" in the Blues Blog.
American Play Presentations in April
Your fifteen-minute presentation should consist of the following:
A talk on the playwright: his or her life story; awards he or she has won; the era he or she lived in. (2 min.)
A talk on the style of the play. Is it realistic? Is it comic? What other plays does it remind you of??? How/Where does this play fit into American Lit.? (2-3 min.)
The context of your scene, within the larger scheme of the play: Set it Up!!! (1 min. Director??)
Your Scene!! – performed with élan!!! (6-8 minutes)
Follow-up: Q & A, handled with convincing skill and enthusiasm. Director & actors explain the decisions that went into the performance. (2 min.)
A talk on the playwright: his or her life story; awards he or she has won; the era he or she lived in. (2 min.)
A talk on the style of the play. Is it realistic? Is it comic? What other plays does it remind you of??? How/Where does this play fit into American Lit.? (2-3 min.)
The context of your scene, within the larger scheme of the play: Set it Up!!! (1 min. Director??)
Your Scene!! – performed with élan!!! (6-8 minutes)
Follow-up: Q & A, handled with convincing skill and enthusiasm. Director & actors explain the decisions that went into the performance. (2 min.)
Curtain Up on American Theatre!
Early FSF residence on Summit Ave.
Take the Walking Tour from your Home Computer!!
Boffo Gatsby Field Trip Specs
8:00 a.m. WHEELS UP, as buses leave WHS (Att. Office entry).
8:15-8:45 "Walking" tour of old St. Paul (via bus).
8:45-9:30 Nina's & Common Good Books (upstairs/downstairs)
9:45-10:15 The Commodore Hotel - a St Paul classic.
10:30-11:05 The University Club - a St. Paul icon.
11:10 a.m. WHEELS UP, as buses depart for WHS.
11:30 a.m. "Gee, it's been swell!"
8:15-8:45 "Walking" tour of old St. Paul (via bus).
8:45-9:30 Nina's & Common Good Books (upstairs/downstairs)
9:45-10:15 The Commodore Hotel - a St Paul classic.
10:30-11:05 The University Club - a St. Paul icon.
11:10 a.m. WHEELS UP, as buses depart for WHS.
11:30 a.m. "Gee, it's been swell!"
A "cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial"
Another Georgian mansion, complete with its "quarter of a mile" of lawn (...who MOWS that thing??).
Fifteen Conventions to Uphold in Writing About Literature (1)
1. Compose sentences in the present tense (PT).
“Readers see how fully Huck matures.” (not ‘matured’)
“Huck fears for his life whenever his father drinks too much.” (not ‘feared’; not ‘drank’)
(Exceptions: (a) points about the author’s life; or (b) fictional events that precede the
book’s main narrative (e.g., “Pap mentions that Huck’s mother died many years ago.”)
2. Maintain a third-person viewpoint (3rd pers.) (‘One’, ‘they’, or ‘readers’; not ‘I’, ‘we’ or ‘you’)
“Readers can detect the Duke’s sarcasm.” (not ‘You’ or ‘We’)
“One would be hard-pressed to ignore the satirical attacks in Huckleberry Finn.” (not ‘You’)
3. Avoid the use of contractions (avoid contr.!).
“Huck should not assume that he is safe.” (not ‘shouldn’t’; not ‘he’s’)
“Huck cannot make up his mind about what is right.” (not ‘can’t’)
4. Uphold Honors English Eleven grammatical principles regarding Subject-Verb Agreement (SV-Agr.), Clear Pronoun Reference ( it ), and Parallel Structure (PAR).
5. Write out small & medium-sized numbers (spell #!!).
“Huck stays with the Grangerford family for at least four weeks.” (not ‘4’)
“The King and the Duke discover six thousand dollars in gold.” (not ‘$6,000’)
(Exceptions: Dates (“January 11, 1889”) and long numbers (‘17,485,332.39’).
6. Use MLA format: double-space; one-inch margins; numbered header; no title p.; 12-pt. font. (See the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue.) Include a Works Cited page in MLA format. (MLA)
7. Use concise, accurate internal citations to direct readers to relevant items in your Works Cited page. (Plain-English translation: Cite all your sources – do not engage in plagiarism.)
8. Block-indent quoted passages of four or more lines. Because block indentation implies quotation, additional quotation marks are redundant and thus incorrect (except to denote dialogue).
9. Avoid elaborate re-hashing of the plot. If you need to hug something, hug your thesis, not the plot.
10. Favor the active voice over the passive voice in sentence construction.
“Huck treats Jim with respect.” (not “Jim is treated with respect by Huck.”)
“Pap abuses Huck.” (not “Huck is abused by his cruel pap.”)
11. Write as though the book produces a given literary effect, not the author.
“Huckleberry Finn engages readers with its fine natural imagery.” (not ‘Twain engages…’)
“The Scarlet Letter weaves intricate symbolic patterns.” (not ‘Hawthorne weaves…’)
12. Avoid redundancy. (E.g., The phrase “throughout the entire novel” says the same thing twice.)
13. Literary authors do not quote: they write! Therefore, avoid statements like this one: “’I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,’ quotes Henry David Thoreau.” Buzzer!! Wrong!!
14. Proofread by reading your paper aloud. If it sounds good, it probably is good (and vice versa).
15. "Simplify, simplify, simplify!" (HDT)
[1] Sources: Writing About Literature, by E.V. Roberts. Brief 11th Ed. (2005). The MLA Handbook, 6th ed. (2005). The Woodbury High School English curriculum (rev. 2006). Walden, by Henry David Thoreau (1850).
“Readers see how fully Huck matures.” (not ‘matured’)
“Huck fears for his life whenever his father drinks too much.” (not ‘feared’; not ‘drank’)
(Exceptions: (a) points about the author’s life; or (b) fictional events that precede the
book’s main narrative (e.g., “Pap mentions that Huck’s mother died many years ago.”)
2. Maintain a third-person viewpoint (3rd pers.) (‘One’, ‘they’, or ‘readers’; not ‘I’, ‘we’ or ‘you’)
“Readers can detect the Duke’s sarcasm.” (not ‘You’ or ‘We’)
“One would be hard-pressed to ignore the satirical attacks in Huckleberry Finn.” (not ‘You’)
3. Avoid the use of contractions (avoid contr.!).
“Huck should not assume that he is safe.” (not ‘shouldn’t’; not ‘he’s’)
“Huck cannot make up his mind about what is right.” (not ‘can’t’)
4. Uphold Honors English Eleven grammatical principles regarding Subject-Verb Agreement (SV-Agr.), Clear Pronoun Reference ( it ), and Parallel Structure (PAR).
5. Write out small & medium-sized numbers (spell #!!).
“Huck stays with the Grangerford family for at least four weeks.” (not ‘4’)
“The King and the Duke discover six thousand dollars in gold.” (not ‘$6,000’)
(Exceptions: Dates (“January 11, 1889”) and long numbers (‘17,485,332.39’).
6. Use MLA format: double-space; one-inch margins; numbered header; no title p.; 12-pt. font. (See the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue.) Include a Works Cited page in MLA format. (MLA)
7. Use concise, accurate internal citations to direct readers to relevant items in your Works Cited page. (Plain-English translation: Cite all your sources – do not engage in plagiarism.)
8. Block-indent quoted passages of four or more lines. Because block indentation implies quotation, additional quotation marks are redundant and thus incorrect (except to denote dialogue).
9. Avoid elaborate re-hashing of the plot. If you need to hug something, hug your thesis, not the plot.
10. Favor the active voice over the passive voice in sentence construction.
“Huck treats Jim with respect.” (not “Jim is treated with respect by Huck.”)
“Pap abuses Huck.” (not “Huck is abused by his cruel pap.”)
11. Write as though the book produces a given literary effect, not the author.
“Huckleberry Finn engages readers with its fine natural imagery.” (not ‘Twain engages…’)
“The Scarlet Letter weaves intricate symbolic patterns.” (not ‘Hawthorne weaves…’)
12. Avoid redundancy. (E.g., The phrase “throughout the entire novel” says the same thing twice.)
13. Literary authors do not quote: they write! Therefore, avoid statements like this one: “’I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,’ quotes Henry David Thoreau.” Buzzer!! Wrong!!
14. Proofread by reading your paper aloud. If it sounds good, it probably is good (and vice versa).
15. "Simplify, simplify, simplify!" (HDT)
[1] Sources: Writing About Literature, by E.V. Roberts. Brief 11th Ed. (2005). The MLA Handbook, 6th ed. (2005). The Woodbury High School English curriculum (rev. 2006). Walden, by Henry David Thoreau (1850).
South Washington County Schools
Map of the Adventures of HF & Jim
(Click on Map to see a LARGER IMAGE.)
Term Paper in Literary Analysis
Compose a paper of four to five pages ~ typed and double-spaced ~ with one-inch margins. Respond to one of the following prompts.
I. Compare and contrast the way the setting contributes to the tone in Poe’s story “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and in Washington Irving’s story, “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Discuss quoted passages from each story as you develop your assertions about each author's use of setting – physical and chronological – to promote a tone.
II. Discuss Thoreau’s concept of time in relation to such elements as nature, humanity,
III. Defend or reject the proposition that Melville’s Bartleby exemplifies Ralph Waldo Emerson’s notion of a “great” nonconformist (as in “(t)o be great is to be misunderstood” ~ RWE, in “Self-Reliance”). Discuss quoted passages from “Bartleby” and “Self-Reliance” to support your views.
IV. Choose 12-20 lines - either from Dickinson or from Whitman - and compose a detailed close reading analysis. Begin by quoting the lines. Then paraphrase the lines - i.e., put them into plain English. Then briefly discuss the meaning of the lines in relation to the poet's larger theme or themes (for Dickinson: death, consciousness, love, nature, and others; for Whitman: America, life & death, the sea, nature, poetry, the soul vs. the self, and others). Finally - and most importantly - show how details of language in your passage support the poet's larger themes. Discuss such details as word choices (diction), figurative language, comparison, analogy, and sound effects (alliteration, assonance, rhyme, et al.).
Whichever essay you choose, be sure to include close reading – that is, detailed analysis of language – to support your broader analysis of ideas. In other words, don’t become so lofty that you overlook essential details of a writer's style.
Good luck with this! I will post a calendar deadlines for the various drafts, peer editing sessions, and final submission. In class, we will carefully discuss MLA format, citation procedure, and academic honesty.
Thoreau would have laughed and cried...
Can you tell what the arrow is pointing toward? Better still, can you guess where the camera was positioned when it took this picture? Click on the image for Carl Sagan's breath-taking explanation. (Thank you, Abby!!! Thank you, Adam, brother of Abby!!!)
PRB Meets HDT at Walden Pond
Bratnober and Thoreau compare palm-prints
Mr. B. at Thoreau's desk, grading WALDEN (Thoreau got an A+).
News Notes on Class Authors
Resources for Doing Literary Research at Home
Access Codes to JSTOR and WHS Lit. Resources
- The "home password" to WHS Lit. Resources is wood39234rpa (please JOT DOWN this password before you "Click"!!).
