Summer reading- for fun not becasue someone said we had to

I know I said good bye... but I miss you guys. Besides, who else will talk about books with me?  I'm seeking recommendations for good, fun reads.  I'm working on two books right now:

Sebastian Junger's War.-  He's the guy who wrote The Perfect Storm... great writer.  And I feel like I ought to know more about what's happening in Afghanistan.  For the most part, I like it.  Fast paced, relevant, and interesting.  But he uses a lot of military acronyms that I don't know.  And there are a ton of places, so I'm continually flipping to the map at the front of the book. If anyone else trys this one, I suggest making a character list to use as a bookmark...because there are many many characters and I'm struggling to keep them all straight.

The Glassblower of Murano-  a breezy read that doesn't require much thinking.  Perfect for the first days out of vacation.... and on sale at Bookshop Santa Cruz.  It's one of those historical fiction pieces that seem to be very popular these days in which there are two parallel stories... one set in the past and one in the present.

So, friends, what do you suggest next?  I'm open to anything, but am mostly seeking great Young Adult Fiction.

The end

I'm closing our blog.  Thanks for a great year.  Be sure to visit in the fall :)

since feeling is first

yet another article for the cummings fans among you

If you want to comment, choose a quotation from the text and share your thoughts on it.  This is NOT on the final, but may help increase your overall understanding of cummings and his work.

In Just-- and l(a

Some thoughts on In Just-

An article on the connection between haiku and cummings work, with special attention to 1(a 

More on l(a.  Interesting, but only for the truly interested.

If you want to comment, choose a quotation from the text and share your thoughts on it.  This is NOT on the final, but may help increase your overall understanding of cummings and his work.

Informaiton about the Spring Semester Final

I just finished writing your final.  You will have a packet of poems to refer to during the test.  The entire test is multiple choice, ranging from 3-5 possible answer choices per question.  The test includes:

• 5 questions in which you need to identify the vocabulary word that isn't like the others.
• 7 questions in which you need to identify which pair of vocabulary words does not have the same kind of relationship (synonym or antonym) as the other pairs of words.
• 13 questions in which you must read a short passage including vocabulary words and then answer questions about the passage.  
• (In total, I think I managed to include all but 9 of our vocabulary words from the semester)
• 10 questions base don the poetry vocabulary from the scavenger hunt, in which you must match the term with its definition.
• 42 questions which require you to interpret the poems.
• 5 questions based on the notes we took on his life and the literary movements during which he lived.

There is a grand total of 82 questions.  The total number of questions on the poems might change a bit between now and the final, as some groups have not yet presented/ shared their sites with the class, and I don't intend to hold you accountable for knowing those poems unless they do one or the other of those things.

Happy studying :)

Anyone Lived ina Pretty How Town

There is a good article about anyone lived in a pretty how town.  The first part of the article is about l(a, but the rest is on this one.  If you want to comment on the article, choose a quotation from the text and share your thoughts on it.  This is NOT on the final, but may help increase your overall understanding of cummings and his work.

Also, George Lucas (yes, the Star Wars director, not some other person with the same name) made a film version of this poem in 1967.  I think it was a project when he was in college.  You can see a clip here.

 

grasshopper

thoughts on that crazy poem that just looks something like a word search gone wrong.  Skim to the middle of the article where you see a familiar poem.

This is NOT on the final... just interesting.