Literature+Circles

=Literature Circles=

== Each semester, students must participate in AT LEAST two rounds of Literature Circle readings and group work. Below are the selections for each round. Click HERE for the correlating assignments. ==


 * ** English I **
 * Round One- Fiction ** || Wk 1 || Wk 2 || Wk 3 || Wk 4 || ** English I **
 * Round Two- Nonfiction ** || Wk 1 || Wk 2 || Wk 3 || Wk 4 ||
 * //Catalyst//- Laurie Halse Anderson ||  ||   ||   ||   || //A Long Way Gone//- Ishmael Beah ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * //Face on the Milk Carton-// Caroline B. Cooney ||  ||   ||   ||   || //Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case//- Chris Crowe ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * //Monster//- Walter Dean Myers ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * //Nineteen Minutes//- Jodi Picoult ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * //You Don't Know Me//- David Klass ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

= **What are the books about?** =
 * ** Honors English I **
 * Round One- Fiction ** || Wk 1 || Wk 2 || Wk 3 || Wk 4 || ** Honors English I **
 * Round Two- World War II Era ** || Wk 1 || Wk 2 || Wk 3 || Wk 4 ||
 * //A Tree Grows in Brooklyn//- Betty Smith ||  ||   ||   ||   || //Diary of Anne Frank//- Anne Frank ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * //The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time//- Mark Haddon ||  ||   ||   ||   || //Lord of the Flies//- William Golding ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * //The Heart is a Lonely Hunter//- Carson McCullers ||  ||   ||   ||   || //Night//- Elie Wiesel ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * //The Nature of Jade//- Deb Caletti ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * //The Perks of Being a Wallflower//- Stephen Chbosky ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

// The Heart is a Lonely Hunter // Carson McCullers At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for various misfits in a southern mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small-town life. When singer’s mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the books heroine, finds solace in her music. Brilliantly attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated—and, through Mick Kelly, to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty.

// What Happened to Lani Garver? // Carol Plum-Ucci Hackett Island has never seen anyone quite like Lani Garver. Everything about this new kids is a mystery: Where does Lani come from? How old is Lani? And—most disturbing of all0is Lani a boy or a girl? Claire McKenzie isn’t up to tormenting Lani like the rest of the high school elite. Instead, she befriends the intriguing outcast. But within days of Lani’s arrival, tragedy strikes and Claire must deal with shattered friendships and personal demons—and the possibility that angels walk the earth.

// The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time // 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. And he detests the color yellow. This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

// Nineteen Minutes // Jodi Picoult Sterling is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens—until the day its complacency is shattered by an act of violence. Josie Cormier, the daughter of the judge sitting on the case, should be the state’s best witness, but she can’t remember what happened before her very own eyes—or can she? As the trail progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show—destroying the closest of friendships and families. //Nineteen Minutes// asks what it means to be different in our society, who has the right to judges someone else, and whether anyone is ever really who they seem to be.

// A Long Way Gone // Ishmael Beah At the age of twelve, Ishmael Beah fled attacking rebels in Sierra Leone and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. At sixteen, he was removed from fighting in UNICEF, and through the help of the staff at the rehabilitation center, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity, and, finally, to heal. This is an extraordinary and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

// The Nature of Jade // Deb Caletti Since being diagnosed with Panic Disorder, Jade DeLuna is trying her best to stay calm, and visiting the elephants at the nearby zoo seem to help. That’s why Jade keeps the live zoo webcam on in her room, which is where she first sees Sebastian. When she finally meets him, their connection is immediate, and soon Jade is drawn to the cozy life Sebastian has with his son and his grandmother on their Seattle houseboat. Even though the situation is complicated, Jade hasn’t felt this safe in a long time. Until she learns that Sebastian is hiding a terrible secret. A secret that will force Jade to decide between what //is// right, and what //feels// right.

// The Perks of Being a Wallflower // Stephen Chbosky It is the story of what it’s like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie’s letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates, family dramas, and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and //The Rocky Horror Picture Show//, where all you need is that perfect song on that perfect drive to fell infinite.

// Catalyst // Laurie Halse Anderson Meet Kate Malone—straight-A science and math geek, minister’s daughter, ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell “Early Decision Harvard” Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it, as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all—or so she thinks. Then, things happen like a string of chemical reactions: first, the Malones’ neighbors get burned out of their own home and move in. Kate has to share her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri’s little brother. The days are ticking by and she’s still waiting to hear from the //only// college where she’s applied: MIT. Kate feels that her life is spinning out of control—and then, something occurs that truly blows it all apart. Set in the same community as the remarkable //Speak//, //Catalyst// is a novel that will change the way you look at the world.

//The Face on the Milk Carton// Caroline B. Cooney
“No one ever really paid close attention to the faces of the missing children on the milk cartons. But as Janie Johnson glanced at the face of the ordinary little girl with her hair in tight pigtails, wearing a dress with a narrow white collar- a three-year-old who had been kidnapped twelve years before from a shopping mall in New Jersey- she felt overcome with shock. She recognized that little girl-- it was she. How could it possibly be true?

Janie can’t believe that her loving parents kidnapped her, but as she begins to piece things together, nothing makes sense. Something is terribly wrong. Are Mr. and Mrs. Johnson really Janie’s parents? And if not, who is Janie Johnson, and what really happened?”

**//Monster// Walter Dean Myers**
“Steve Harmon’s black. He’s in jail, maybe forever. He’s on trial for murder. And he’s sixteen years old.

FADE IN: INTERIOR: Early morning in CELL BLOCK D, MANHATTAN DETENTION CENTER.

STEVE (Voice-Over)

Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll call it what the lady prosecutor called me…..MONSTER”

**//Somewhere in the Darkness//** Walter Dean Myers
“Jimmy’s doing all right. He’s fourteen, lives in Harlem, and his holding his own in a pretty tough world. But things get tougher when Jimmy’s father, Crab, shows up. Crab, who disappeared nine years ago, suddenly wants Jimmy to know him.

Crab and Jimmy set off on a trip halfway across the country to visit Crab’s old haunts. During the awkward, tense, and scary ride, Jimmy learns about his father and about himself, finding out that while things can’t always be fixed, sometimes they can be understood, and maybe even forgiven.”