Dear Student,

                As of May 20th, 2011, you have enrolled in 11^th grade British Literature. There are multiple components that have been included in the curriculum to ensure your success in high school and in college. While the genre of English 11 Honors is British Literature, the curriculum centers around continuing to prepare you for the AP test you will take at the end of your senior year. Within the course, you will also complete a research paper and focus on preparing for the SAT test.

The 11 Honor’s summer reading assignment is Dracula by Bram Stoker. Make sure that you purchase the UNABRIDGED version. Once you return to school, a 25-point Accelerated Reader quiz is available. Next, join the blog at http://2011dracula.blogspot.com/  and participate in some discussions (there are over ten) of Dracula before school even starts. See the attached handout for more specific details. I expect you to comment at least five times over the course of the summer. All comments/postings should specifically reference the work with page numbers and direct quotes!! I look forward to reading your postings!

Let’s face it, vampires are in right now, right? I hope that you take advantage of this opportunity to read about the literary sensation that began this craze. To make the experience of reading Dracula even easier, I encourage you to do a little research on Bram Stoker, the legend of Vlad Tepes, and Transylvania, Romania. Movies such as Underworld, Daybreakers, and Blade all borrow heavily from Stoker’s mythology but add their own twists. Important: whatever you do…don’t watch the movie purportedly based on this book: it’s terrible, and even though it bears the title Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it bears little resemblance to the novel you are reading. Some new additions to the genre that I think are worth reading are Richelle Meade’s Vampire Academy and Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampires series.  But don’t just stop with vampires…fairies, angels, werewolves and monsters are also very popular right now. For a cool twist on the fairy genre, try Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series. If you’re interested in angels, read the Fallen series by Lauren Kate or Halo by Alexandra Adornetto. If you like the classics, try Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde or Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I could go on and on…but just one more suggestion: The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Just read it!

           

It occurred to me that perhaps you would feel better knowing that your teacher, the mean one asking you to read and think about a book over the summer, is also doing her own summer reading. So what’s on my list? The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Passion by Lauren Kate, and A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness are just to name a few. For more academic reading, I’m going to tackle Reading Shakespeare with Young Adults and the sure to be titillating Content Area Writing by Jim Burke.

Okay, so now you have been officially introduced to your summer reading assignment. Even though I’m not there, believe me, I can hear your moaning, groaning, and I can surely imagine your eye rolling. But I want you to consider a couple ideas. First, you have to read ONE book over break and participate in a blog. I challenge you to spend some time researching the summer reading requirements for other school corporations. Let me assure you…you have it easy. Second, think about how you can use this experience to your advantage. While I might recognize names and faces, I don’t know many of you as English students. Use this blog as an opportunity to show me the kind of English student you really are.  Lastly, instead of approaching the summer reading assignment with a negative attitude, think about what I’m asking you to do: carefully read a novel and then blog about your thoughts. That’s it – read and think!!

If you choose not to read the book, please contact the guidance counselors so you can register for a different English class. If you have any questions or doubts about your intentions in the 11 Honors classroom, please do not hesitate to discuss this matter with your present English teacher or me before the next school year begins.

Sincerely,

Michelle Matysak