Coupon Week at Half Price Books

This coming week (7/14-7/20) Half Price Books is offering discount coupons, providing even more than their usual savings. In order to receive the coupons, go to their website and sign up for their mailing list. You'll receive coupons by e-mail for 40% off Monday and Tuesday (7/14 and 7/15); 20% off Wednesday and Thursday (7/16 & 7/17); 30% off Friday and Saturday (7/18 & 7/19); and 50% off on Sunday (7/20). Although the biggest savings is on Sunday, the stores will also have the least inventory (having been picked over the previous days).

This is a great opportunity to save on the texts you'll need for next year:

• Animal Farm by George Orwell (your summer reading)
• The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• Native Son by Richard Wright
• The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Free Audiobooks: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice and While the World Watched

Two audiobooks are available for free from SYNC this week (through July 17th).

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
by Phillip Hoose
On March 2, 1955, a slim, bespectacled teenager refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Shouting “It’s my constitutional right!” as police dragged her off to jail, Claudette Colvin decided she’d had enough of the Jim Crow segregation laws that had angered and puzzled her since she was a young child.

But instead of being celebrated, as Rosa Parks would be when she took the same stand nine months later, Claudette found herself shunned by many of her classmates and dismissed as an unfit role model by the black leaders of Montgomery. Undaunted, she put her life in danger a year later when she dared to challenge segregation yet again–as one of four plaintiffs in the landmark busing case Browder v. Gayle.

Based on extensive interviews with Claudette Colvin and many others, Phillip Hoose presents the first in-depth account of a major, yet little-known, civil rights figure whose story provides a fresh perspective on the Montgomery bus protest of 1955-56. Historic figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks play important roles, but center stage belongs to the brave, bookish girl whose two acts of courage were to affect the course of American history.

While the World Watched
by Carolyn Maull McKinstry with Denise George
Fifteen-year-old Carolyn Maull McKinstry was just a few feet away when the Klan-planted bomb that killed four of her friends exploded in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It was one of the seminal moments in the Civil Rights movement, a sad day in American history . . . and the turning point in a young girl’s life.

Carolyn’s story is a poignant and gripping eyewitness account of what it was like to grow up in the Jim Crow South–from the bombings, riots, and assassinations to the historic marches and triumphs that characterized the Civil Rights era.

A unique and moving exploration of how racial relations have evolved over the past five decades, While the World Watched is an incredible testament to how far we’ve come–and how far we have yet to go.

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To get either audiobook (or both!), click the link in their title, above, or start at the download page.

For the SYNC audiobooks, you'll need to install the OverDrive® Media Console™ first, but the page walks you through that. The audiobooks have download buttons below the green sync-head thing in the third column of the page.

Enjoy!

Free Audiobooks: Torn from Troy and Peter and the Starcatchers

Two audiobooks are available for free from SYNC this week (through July 10th).

Torn from Troy
by Patrick Bowman
Two-and-a half millennia after it was created, Homer’s Odyssey remains one of humanity’s most memorable adventure stories. In this re-creation of Homer’s classic as a young adult novel, we see the aftermath of the Trojan War through the eyes of Alexi, a fifteen-year-old Trojan boy. Orphaned by the war and enslaved by Odysseus himself, Alexi has a very different view of the conquering heroes of legend. Despite a simmering anger towards his captors, Alexi gradually develops a grudging respect for them. As the Greeks fight off the angry Cicones, weather a storm that pushes them far beyond charted waters, and nearly succumb to the blandishments of the bewitching Lotus-eaters, he realizes that they are not the demons they were said to be, but people like himself.

Peter and the Starcatchers
by Dave Barry
and Ridley Pearson
In an evocative and fast-paced adventure on the high seas and on a faraway island an orphan boy named Peter and his mysterious new friend, Molly, overcome bands of pirates and thieves in their quest to keep a fantastical secret safe and save the world from evil. Bestselling authors Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have turned back the clock and revealed a wonderful story that precedes J.M. Barrie’s beloved Peter Pan. Peter and the Starcatchers is brimming with richly developed characters from the scary but somehow familiar Black Stache and the ferocious Mister Grin to the sweet but sophisticated Molly and the fearless Peter. Riveting adventure takes listeners on a journey from a harsh orphanage in old England to a treacherous sea in a decrepit old tub. Aboard the Never Land is a trunk that holds a magical substance with the power to change the fate of the world – just a sprinkle and wounds heal and just a dusting and people can fly.

Towering seas and a violent storm are the backdrop for battles at sea. Bone-crushing waves eventually land our characters on Mollusk Island–where the action really heats up.

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To get either audiobook (or both!), click the link in their title, above, or start at the download page.

For the SYNC audiobooks, you'll need to install the OverDrive® Media Console™ first, but the page walks you through that. The audiobooks have download buttons below the green sync-head thing in the third column of the page.

Enjoy!

Free Audiobooks: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, October Mourning, and The Count of Monte Cristo

Two audiobooks are available for free from SYNC this week (through July 3rd).

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
by Matthew Quick
In addition to the P-38, there are four gifts, one for each of my friends. I want to say good-bye to them properly. I want to give them each something to remember me by. To let them know I really cared about them and I’m sorry I couldn’t be more than I was–that I couldn’t stick around–and that what’s going to happen today isn’t their fault.

Today is Leonard Peacock’s birthday. It is also the day he hides a gun in his backpack. Because today is the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather’s P-38 pistol.

But first he must say good-bye to the four people who matter most to him: his Humphrey Bogart-obsessed next-door neighbor, Walt; his classmate Baback, a violin virtuoso; Lauren, the Christian homeschooler he has a crush on; and Herr Silverman, who teaches the high school’s class on the Holocaust. Speaking to each in turn, Leonard slowly reveals his secrets as the hours tick by and the moment of truth approaches.

In this riveting book, acclaimed author Matthew Quick unflinchingly examines the impossible choices that must be made–and the light in us all that never goes out.

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard
by Lesléa Newman
On the night of October 6, 1998, a gay twenty-one-year-old University of Wyoming student named Matthew Shepard was lured from a bar by two young men, then savagely beaten, tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, and left to die. Five days later, Lesléa Newman arrived on campus to give the keynote speech for the University of Wyoming’s Gay Awareness Week. October Mourning is Lesléa Newman’s deeply personal response to the events of that tragic day and its brutal aftermath. This work of poetic imagination explores the impact of the vicious crime through fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence to which Matthew was tied, the deer that kept watch beside him, and even Matthew himself. This stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as an illumination for readers too young to remember and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard’s life and legacy.


The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexander Dumas
Bonus Title: I don't know how long this will be free, but if you're looking for a classic tale of suspense/adventure, check this one out. Also comes with a free e-book. See Note at the top of the description for how to get the book free.

For Edmond Dantes, life couldn't be better. At 19, he is soon to be captain of his own ship and about to be married to his true love, Mercedes. But his life is suddenly turned upside down when on his wedding day he is arrested. Without a fair trial, he is condemned to solitary confinement in the miserable Chateau d'If. Soon, it is clear that Edmond has been framed by a handful of powerful enemies, jealous of his success.

While locked away, Edmond learns from another prisoner, Abbй Faria, of a secret treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. Faria teaches Edmond history, science, languages, and philosophy, turning him into a well-rounded individual. Edmond concocts a daring and audacious plan: escape and find the treasure. But years pass before Edmond can escape. Once he does, he transforms himself into the Count of Monte Cristo and launches his plan for revenge against those who imprisoned him.

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To get either of the first two audiobooks (or both!), click the link in their title, above, or start at the download page.

For the SYNC audiobooks, you'll need to install the OverDrive® Media Console™ first, but the page walks you through that. The audiobooks have download buttons below the green sync-head thing in the third column of the page.

Enjoy!

Free Audiobooks: Code Name Verity and The Hiding Place

Two audiobooks are available for free from SYNC this week (through June 11th).

Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth Wein
Oct. 11, 1943–A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a shot at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s barely begun. When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she’s sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution. They’ll get the truth out of her. But it won’t be what they expect. As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure, and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from a merciless and ruthless enemy? Harrowing and beautifully written, Code Name Verity is the story of an unforgettable friendship forged in the face of the ultimate evil.

The Hiding Place
by Corrie ten Boom
The amazing story of Corrie ten Boom, a heroine of the Dutch Resistance who helped Jews escape from the Nazis and became one of the most remarkable evangelists of the 20th century, is told in her classic memoir, now retold for a new generation.


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To get either audiobook (or both!), click the link in their title, above, or start at the download page.

You'll need to install the OverDrive® Media Console™ first, but the page walks you through that. The audiobooks have download buttons below the green sync-head thing in the third column of the page.

Enjoy!

Free Audiobooks: All Our Yesterdays and Julius Caesar

Two audiobooks are available for free from SYNC this week (through June 11th).

All Our Yesterdays
by Cristin Terrell
From Cristin Terrill, a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice. “You have to kill him.” Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain. Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present–imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called “the doctor” while war rages outside. Marina has loved her best friend, James, since they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was. Em and Marina are in a race against time that only one of them can win.

Julius Caesar
by William Shakespeare
The skies over ancient Rome blaze with terrifying portents, and soothsayers warn Julius Caesar of approaching doom. As conspiracy swirls through the city, Shakespeare explores the deep repercussions of political murder on the human heart. A classic tale of duplicity, betrayal, and murder, masterfully performed by an all-star, all-American cast in this BBC co-production.


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We barely got into Julius Caesar, so take this opportunity to listen to the play (as you read along in your copy of the text). Shakespeare really does do some cool stuff.

To get either audiobook (or both!), click the link in their title, above, or start at the download page.

You'll need to install the OverDrive® Media Console™ first, but the page walks you through that. The audiobooks have download buttons below the green sync-head thing in the third column of the page.

Enjoy!

Free Audiobooks: Confessions of a Murder Suspect and Murder at the Vicarage

Two audiobooks are available for free from SYNC this week (through June 4th).

Confessions of
a Murder Suspect
by James Patterson
& Maxine Paetro
Tandy Angel isn’t a normal girl, and she knows it. For one thing, her family is magnificently wealthy and lives in a massive apartment in the famous Dakota building in New York City. Her parents are the head of a prominent hedge fund and the CEO of a large pharmaceutical company. She has been told from a very young age that her detachment from any kind of emotion is a superb trait. In fact, her parents have tried to cultivate a lack of emotion in all four of their children in order to encourage perfection of the highest level. But now the four siblings are tested in a way they never imagined–their parents have been murdered, and the kids are the number one suspect. Tandy decides that she’ll have to solve the crime and clear their names, but digging deeper into her parent’s affairs is a dangerous–and revealing–game. Spurred by her findings, Tandy begins to remember flashes of past events that were long ago buried in her memory, and she’s suddenly unable to trust anyone, not even her siblings to tell her the truth. She might not even be able to trust herself. Who knows what the Angel children are truly capable of?

Murder at the Vicarage
by Agatha Christie
The first Miss Marple mystery, one which tests all her powers of observation and deduction.

“Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe,” declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, “would be doing the world at large a favor!”

It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later–when the Colonel is found shot dead in the clergyman’s study. But as Miss Marple soon discovers, the whole village seems to have had a motive to kill Colonel Protheroe.


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To get either audiobook (or both!), click the link in their title, above, or start at the download page.

You'll need to install the OverDrive® Media Console™ first, but the page walks you through that. The audiobooks have download buttons below the green sync-head thing in the third column of the page.

Enjoy!

Free Audiobooks: Cruel Beauty and Oedipus the King

Two audiobooks are available for free from SYNC this week (through May 28th).

Cruel Beauty
by Rosamund Hodge
Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom–all because of a reckless bargain her father struck. And since birth, she has been training to kill him.

Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people. But Ignifex is not what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle–a shifting maze of magical rooms–enthralls her. As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. But even if she can bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Oedipus the King
by Sophocles
The anguished tale of Oedipus, who, having solved the riddle of the Sphinx and become King of Thebes, gradually realizes the crimes he has, unwittingly, committed, remains a drama of unremitting power 2,500 years after it was written. With full drama values, this production brings the atmosphere of the Greek amphitheater to audio, with the outstanding young actor Michael Sheen—recently seen as Henry V (RSC) and Amadeus (West End) and on film and TV.


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Oedipus the King is one of the Classics of Western Literature and has influenced not only literature (as a model of tragedy, as well as with its iconic characters), but psychology as well. The text is available for free here; the translation might be different, but give it a try.

To get either audiobook (or both!), click the link in their title, above, or start at the download page.

You'll need to install the OverDrive® Media Console™ first, but the page walks you through that. The audiobooks have download buttons below the green sync-head thing in the third column of the page.

Enjoy!

AP III Summer Assignment (Prezi)

If you missed today's presentation on George Orwell and Animal Farm, please view the Prezi below and take decent notes. Consider bookmarking the Prezi, so you can refer to it--especially the timeline--as you read.



More on your Summer Assignment HERE

AP III Summer Assignment

AP English Language and Composition – Grade 11 Summer Reading and Writing Assignments

AP English Language and Composition, a college-level elective exploring the uses and power of language, challenges students to develop habits of analytical reading, critical thinking, and persuasive writing. It is actually two courses for the price of one, in that the journey we take toward becoming “effective citizen rhetoricians,” as the College Board intends, travels along the road of literature. Everything we study in some way touches on the two essential questions: “How and why do writers do what they do to say what they say?” and “What is American?” Your summer assignments will introduce you to the fundamental reading and writing processes we will continue to develop throughout the course, as preparation for the AP English Language and Composition Exam next May, as well as for rich and rewarding lives using and enjoying the power of language.

Major Works
Animal Farm by George Orwell. You are to read and annotate this novel and use it as your basis for the essay prompt. You are expected read actively and analytically, which will be demonstrated by the notes you take in your copy of Animal Farm. Simply underlining sections of the novel is not sufficient.

Essay
As we will explore this year, much of our study of literature and rhetoric revolves around the idea that America is itself an argument, both as an idea as well as a tension arising from the conflict between competing ideas. Choose one of the following prompts and compose an essay (not to exceed two typed, double-spaced pages) in which you articulate your argument.

1. George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In a well organized essay, defend, challenge or qualify the validity of this statement. Use examples from your own reading, observation, or experience to support your position.
   
   
2. Ralph Waldo Emerson an American rhetorician and essayist wrote, “The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.” In a well organized essay, defend, challenge or qualify the validity of this statement. Use examples from your own reading, observation, or experience to support your position.

All assignments are due on the first day of class in August. No exception or any excuses will be accepted. Obviously, since you enrolled in this course, you already enjoy language and ideas. In addition to the above, we hope you will also read books of your own choosing for pleasure anyway this summer (which we strongly encourage you to do).

For questions about your assignment or the course, please contact:
Mr. Mikesell: cmikesell@dallasisd.org

Free Audiobooks: WARP and The Time Machine

Two audiobooks are available for free from SYNC this week (through May 21st).

WARP: The Reluctant Assassin
by Eoin Colfer
Riley, a teen orphan boy living in Victorian London, has had the misfortune of being apprenticed to Albert Garrick, an illusionist who has fallen on difficult times and now uses his unique conjuring skills to gain access to victims’ dwellings. On one such escapade, Garrick brings his reluctant apprentice along and urges him to commit his first killing. Riley is saved from having to commit the grisly act when the intended victim turns out to be a scientist from the future, part of the FBI’s Witness Anonymous Relocation Program (WARP). Riley is unwittingly transported via wormhole to modern day London, followed closely by Garrick.

In modern London, Riley is helped by Chevron Savano, a nineteen-year-old FBI agent sent to London as punishment after a disastrous undercover, anti-terrorist operation in Los Angeles. Together Riley and Chevie must evade Garrick, who has been fundamentally altered by his trip through the wormhole. Garrick is now not only evil, but he also possesses all of the scientist’s knowledge. He is determined to track Riley down and use the timekey in Chevie’s possession to make his way back to Victorian London where he can literally change the world.

The Time Machine
by H.G. Wells
When the Time Traveller courageously stepped out of his machine for the first time, he found himself in the year 802,700–and everything had changed. In another, more utopian age, creatures seemed to dwell together in perfect harmony. The Time Traveller thought he could study these marvelous beings–unearth their secret and then retum to his own time–until he discovered that his invention, his only avenue of escape, had been stolen.


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The Time Machine is among the more influential works of science-fiction. Listening to/reading it will help build a greater appreciation for the genre as well as enable you to understand allusions to Morlocks, Eloi, and other components of the book not only in science-fiction stories but in a broad range of literature. The text is available for free here; follow along with the audiobook or read it on your own.

To get either audiobook (or both!), click the link in their title, above, or start at the download page.

You'll need to install the OverDrive® Media Console™ first, but the page walks you through that. The audiobooks have download buttons below the green sync-head thing in the third column of the page.

Enjoy!

Free Test Prep e-Book

If you have the Kindle app on your computer or smart device, you may download a copy of Advanced Reading, Writing, and Grammar for Test Prep from the Amazon store for free.

(You must download the book from your computer or web browser on your smart device; the book will by synced to the app the next time you run it.)

If you have the Kindle app on your computer or smart device, you may download a copy of Julius Caesar from the Amazon store for free.

(You must download the book from your computer or web browser on your smart device; the book will by synced to the app the next time you run it.)

Tips for the 2014 EOC Test

Update: Now includes gorilla-suit pix!

PLEASE MAKE SURE 7TH PERIOD SEES THIS !!!

Watch Othello on YouTube

Several people have uploaded Othello on YouTube. Over the course of the break, please spend a couple hours (not necessarily all at once; I wouldn't want you to strain yourself) watching the movie.

For those of you who are motivated by such things, there is brief nudity. For those of you who are offended by such, the nudity is brief.

Enjoy!

Othello Reading Assignment for March 3

Please read the first half of Othello, Act 2, Scene 1 by Monday, March 3. Once Othello ENTERS, you may stop and give yourself a treat.

Enjoy!

Iago's Web

Track the web of destruction Iago generates as he manipulates Othello toward his doom. (see partial example at bottom of post)

Step One:
Place the following character names in a circle extending to near the edges of your paper.

• Brabantio
• Cassio
• Desdemona
• The Duke
• Emilia
• Othello
• Montano
• Roderigo

Step Two:
Draw lines citing the relationship between the characters prior to Iago’s campaign of manipulation. (For instance, the line between Brabantio and Desdemona would be labeled “father/daughter.”)

Step Three:
Then place Iago somewhere within the web you’ve made and in a different color, connect the relationships he has with the characters and how his involvement has tainted the other characters’ relationships. (For instance, a red line between Brabantio and Desdemona labeled “Brabantio disowns Desdemona.”

Step Four:
Keep adding “Iago lines” until the end of the play. (The new line connecting The Duke to Othello will be one of the last added.)

Due Date: April 26, 2013


Your project will have more information than this on it.

Free: Othello

If you have the Kindle app on your computer or smart device, you may download a copy of Othello from the Amazon store for free. (You must download the book from your computer or web browser on your smart device; the book will by synced to the app the next time you run it.)

While you're at it, get Julius Caesar, too.

The Giver and Some Other Books Being Made Into Movies

Some of these may be a bit mature for sophomores, so please use your discretion. Nevertheless, here are some movies being adapted from books that will be released later this year.

Give the books a try before you watch the movie. Books are better (honest, and I'm not just saying that because I'm an English teacher).

"What Drives Your Dream?" Essay

Prompt: What drives your dream? (Your thesis should answer this question, but don't forget to develop the idea of "what your dream is" to begin with.)

As you share your thoughts about what drives your dream, think about

• What inspires your dream; who or what inspires you to achieve it; what motivates you and gives you the extra drive to move forward even in difficult moments;
  
  
• How your dream will positively impact others; and
  
  
• What you are doing or will do this school year to achieve your dream.

Come to class on Wednesday with ideas for revising/editing your draft (2nd period, you'll do this Thursday, due to the assembly).

Anthem e-Book

If you have a digital device, please download a copy of Ayn Rand's Anthem. I only have a limited number of paperbacks, so embrace the Twenty-First Century with its e-books and electronic readers and what-not. Plus, it's what the cool college kids would do.

If you don't already have a Kindle Reader app, download one here!

Please read Chapter I by Friday, 1/10.