SUMMER SENIOR

READING/RESEARCHING/WRITING
PROJECT/S
Despite protestations to the contrary, your brain does not shut down between May and August. It needs food
stimulation. This summer you will give your brain that food. You will read and research and reflect.
As one of our focuses next year will be world literature, the book noted below will introduce you to a young
man your age whose culture and its issues, etc. are very different from your own.
Book: a long way gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
In order to give this book, an autobiography whose teller lived in Sierra Leone, Africa, a context, you will
research such areas as the modern history and politics of the country, education, human rights, economics, etc.
Possible sources for Sierra Leone include the CIA Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library, the United Nations
website, and Sierra Leone Web www.sierra-leone.org.
1.

NO WIKIPEDIA!!
Your documented research will include the following:
Handwritten research notes (NO printed web pages) on attached sheet
Proper MLA documentation of your site
Eight instances from Beahs autobiography that are reflected in your research. These examples must be
from varied areas that you have researched, not just. If I find like examples among the worksheets
(copies or plagiarisms), those worksheets will receive a score of 0 -- no questions asked!.
Have in hand, on the first day of class, your research.
II. The second part of your summer reading involves The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and
Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal, ISBN 0-8052-1060-1.
In this book Wiesenthal, a concentration camp survivor, first relates an event from his life and then asks a very
provocative question. As you read The Sunflower annotate your text, making notes, comments, etc. Then
answer #s 1-6 from the handout. Type your responses. You will have writing assignments and discussion
groups in conjunction with this reading.
Coming to class with the above will start your semester in the plus column. Empty hands will place you in the
minus column, not a good start to your senior year. Bring all materials -- books, research, responses -- the first
day of class.
Also have in hand, the first day, the following novel:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
HAVE A GREAT AND SAFE SUMMER!!!!!

Research worksheet for a long way gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

RESEARCH NOTES

SOURCE
(MLA
DOCUMENTATION)

If you need additional space write on the back of this sheet.

PASSAGE FROM BOOK