Independent Reading
Expectations:
Read three (or more) books
at your reading level per semester.
After finishing each book
write an annotation—a summary that contains several elements (see handout with
guidelines and samples). You must complete
a rough draft of your first annotation in your writer’s notebook so Ms. W can
check it.
You will create an ongoing
file of your annotations using MLA format to be turned in at the end of each
semester.
Throughout
the year you will be expected to read at least three independent reading books
per semester. You will also complete annotations on class novels. Your
Annotated Bibliography is due on December 10, 2014 for first semester, but you
are strongly advised to create a saved document where you can update your
annotations as you go through the semester. Second semester A.B. due date TBD
Annotated
Bibliographies will be typed, alphabetized, and formatted using the MLA
citation first, followed by the annotation. Annotations should be between
75-100 words.
Citation
(MLA style):
Author’s
last name, First name. Title (in italics or
underlined). Place published: Publisher, Year published. Source type.
Annotation
guidelines: Fiction
ü Summarize the genre (historical
fiction, realistic fiction) and main plot elements: Major characters, setting,
conflict (2-3 sentences)
ü Identify a theme or themes in the
novel and how they connect to our society. (1-2 sentences)
ü Author’s style, book’s structure, reading
difficulty (Syntax, word choice, how it is organized, use of figurative
language, accessibility) (1-2 sentences)
ü Your reaction/experience/connection
with the book.
ü A summary comment on intended
audience and relationship, if any, to other books (Readers who enjoy…. would
enjoy… because…)
Annotation
guidelines: Nonfiction
ü Information to explain the
authority and/or qualifications of the author. For example: Dr. William Smith,
a history professor at XYZ University, based his book on twenty years of
research.
ü Scope and main purpose of the work.
ü Any biases that you detect.
ü Your reaction/experience/connection
with the book.
ü A summary comment on intended
audience and relationship, if any, to other books (Readers who enjoy…. would
enjoy… because…)
DO NOT PLAGIARIZE ANY PORTION OF YOUR ANNOTATIONS. THIS IS YOUR OWN
SUMMARY AND INTERPRETATION OF THE BOOK. You may use EasyBib.com to help you
create your MLA Citation, but you should learn the format.
Annotated
Bibliography Example
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel
and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. New
York: Henry
Holt, 2002. Print.
Writer Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover to discover whether the men and women getting off welfare in the late nineties can make ends meet in low-wage, “unskilled” jobs. Though she is a writer, and fortunate enough to be part of the “professional” class, she comes from a coal-miner father, and is married to a man who was a factory worker who now organizes with the Teamsters’ union. Ehrenreich lives and works in three places: as a waitress in Florida, a housecleaner and caregiver in Maine, and as a retail clerk in Wal-Mart in Minnesota. Through each of her month-long stays she learns the sobering truth of low-income earners in this country: that the work is far from “low-skilled” and the income is not enough to afford safe lodgings and nutritious meals. Ehrenreich enters into her experiment fully aware of her privileged position as a temporary visitor to this low-wage land. She is impressed by the lengths her fellow workers go through to make it each month, and amazed at the degradation and hardships low-wage workers face in their work. I found the book engaging and thoughtful as it explored the issues faced by so many in our country, and kept wondering: What can we do to improve the lives of our citizens in low-wage jobs. Nickel and Dimed is an essential read for all Americans, and will cause readers to question the price low-wage earners are being forced to pay for work that is largely disregarded and unappreciated by the middle and upper classes.
Writer Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover to discover whether the men and women getting off welfare in the late nineties can make ends meet in low-wage, “unskilled” jobs. Though she is a writer, and fortunate enough to be part of the “professional” class, she comes from a coal-miner father, and is married to a man who was a factory worker who now organizes with the Teamsters’ union. Ehrenreich lives and works in three places: as a waitress in Florida, a housecleaner and caregiver in Maine, and as a retail clerk in Wal-Mart in Minnesota. Through each of her month-long stays she learns the sobering truth of low-income earners in this country: that the work is far from “low-skilled” and the income is not enough to afford safe lodgings and nutritious meals. Ehrenreich enters into her experiment fully aware of her privileged position as a temporary visitor to this low-wage land. She is impressed by the lengths her fellow workers go through to make it each month, and amazed at the degradation and hardships low-wage workers face in their work. I found the book engaging and thoughtful as it explored the issues faced by so many in our country, and kept wondering: What can we do to improve the lives of our citizens in low-wage jobs. Nickel and Dimed is an essential read for all Americans, and will cause readers to question the price low-wage earners are being forced to pay for work that is largely disregarded and unappreciated by the middle and upper classes.
Russell, Karen. Swamplandia! New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Print.
Swamplandia! is a novel set in the Florida Everglades, mainly on the island
amusement park that inspires the title. The thirteen-year-old narrator Ava
Bigtree and her family (including her father, Chief Bigtree, her older brother,
Kiwi, and her older sister Osceola) are mourning the loss of Hilola Bigtree,
the mother of the clan, and the main attraction at the Swamplandia alligator
wrestling park. After Hilola’s death the family is left to try, in their
various ways, to hold the park together. In doing so the family fractures, as
does the structure of the book, following certain members off on their own
journeys to keep their way of life intact. It is a coming of age story for Ava,
who wrestles with how one handles loss and change while still holding on to what
matters. Karen Russell’s writing is dense with rich sensory detail, including
truly unique metaphors and figurative language. Her syntax is as complex as the
plant life that snakes through the Everglades. I loved the writing, but the
plot did not keep me turning the pages, and this book ended up taking a very
long time to get through. It would be a great book for people who love rich
detail and want to spend some time lost in the swamplands of Florida with some
very memorable characters.
End-of-book projects for two
or more books:
Project #1 (Illustrated Annotation)
Project #2 (Letter on
Literature)
*An Illustrated Annotation that creatively expresses big ideas, key
quotes, and important questions that your book raises. It is a way to be
creative and experimental, a way of responding to your reading with imagination
and text-based evidence.
Requirements:
__MLA citation of book,
with a brief summary (aka annotation) of the work, the intended audience, and
the author’s credentials/authority.
__1 Central Image (must
capture the theme of what was read)
__4 Brainstorms (Each three
words or less, capturing big ideas/topics)
__3 Citations, aka quotes
(at least 2 sentences, with page numbers)
__2 Questions (Must be
open-ended, ideas the book wrestles with)
__2 Answers (Cannot be
“yes” or “no”)
__1 Universal connection
(thematic, no judgments)
Guidelines:
- Do a rough plan/draft to make your final the best it can be.
- Write neatly or type
- Use a lot of color to illustrate your thoughts and ideas clearly.
- Write the title and author’s name clearly on the page
- Your central image can be digital, hand-drawn, or collaged from
magazines. Illustrates an important metaphor/visual from the reading.
- Brainstorms are important or repeated words/phrases/concepts
- Citations should support your central image. Use different colors
and/or writing styles to individualize them.
- Questions and answers should reflect your Guiding Question(s). Be
thoughtful and creative.
- The universal connection should reflect the importance of the book
and what it meant to you.
DON’T: settle for the bare minimum, use lined paper,
leave blank spaces, use pencil
*A “Letter on Literature”
addressed to the author of your book. As J.D. Salinger wrote in Catcher
in the Rye: “What really knocks me out
is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote
it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone
whenever you felt like it.” You get to write to the author and address the
following ideas:
- What did the book show you about your world that you never noticed
before?
- What did you realize about yourself as a result of reading this
book?
- Why was this work meaningful to you?
- How do you know the author’s work influenced you?
- Correspond, don’t
compliment! Your letter should inform rather than flatter the author. All FAN
letters will be eliminated from the national contest if you choose to
enter.
- Do not simply
summarize the book’s plot! The author wrote the book and knows what
happened. What the author doesn’t know is how the book affected you and why it did so. Only YOU can
explain that unique relationship you experienced while reading the book.
Refer to important moments, but make a connection as well.
See “Rules and Guidelines”
for this year’s contest if you want to enter: http://read.gov/letters/
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