Independent Reading Semester 2

Review Your Grammar Test You must be ready to explain every 4th or 5th answer on the test. Why is the answer what it is? Take 3 minutes to review your questions. Take 5 minutes as a group to explain each answer (briefly). We can go over any challenging ones at the end.

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.” Mark Twain 

Justice Write your own responses to the following questions: Define justice. What was the greatest injustice of the required books from semester one? Explain why that is unjust. How do we know what is unjust? What is the purpose of punishment? In our society, do we usually reward the just or the unjust?

Other Questions to Consider How do we confront injustice? How do we cope with injustice beyond our control? When, if ever, is revenge justifiable? What are the consequences of revenge? How do we attempt to justify unjust actions? What are the strengths and shortcomings of our justice system? How far reaching are the harms of injustice? Does simply ending an injustice result in justice, or does achieving true justice require something more?

“A Fistful of Binkies” Watch and enjoy.

Justice in “A Fistful of Binkies” What is justice (according to the film)? What does the film suggest about justice? But look closely… WHY does justice prevail in the end? How do we ensure justice? What questions does the film leave us with?

Assignment During 2nd semester, you need to independently read at least one book from our independent reading list. Take an 18 Q Multiple Choice Test (skip 3) Still worth 25 points Come prepared for a group discussion Complete notes sheet ahead of time

Score out of 15 % Score out of 25 EC 15 100 25 5 14 93 24 13 87 22 12 80 20 4 11 73 18 3 10 67 17 9 60 8 53 7 47 6 40 33 27 2 1

The Alchemist Author: Paulo Coelho Year: 1988 Pages: 163 Topics: Destiny, dreams, journeys, Spain, Africa, wisdom, faith, hope, philosophy, love, sheep Reads like a fable.

The Alchemist “It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” “We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.”

Chronicle of a Death Foretold Author: Gabriel García Márquez Year: 1981 Pages: 122 Topics: Murder, community, honor, memory, masculinity, shame, guilt, Columbia, Catholicism, Be ready for some complex storytelling.

Chapter 1 “On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on. He'd dreamed he was going through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle was falling, and for an instant he was happy in his dream, but when he awoke he felt completely spattered with bird shit.”

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Author: Mark Haddon Year: 2003 Pages: 226 Topics: Mystery, autism, death, murder, math, family, divorce, justice I recommend this book to everyone I meet.

Chapter 2 It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs. Shears’s house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog. The points of the fork must have gone all the way through the dog and into the ground because the fork had not fallen over. I decided that the dog was probably killed with the fork because I could not see any other wounds in the dog and I do not think you would stick a garden fork into a dog after it had died for some other reason, like cancer, for example, or a road accident. But I could not be certain about this.

Murder on the Orient Express Author: Agatha Christie Year: 1934 Pages: 256 Topics: Mystery, justice, murder, and trains! Yes, there’s a movie. No that won’t do.

Serial: Season 1 Hosted: Sarah Koenig Year: 2014 Length: 12 episodes (8.5 hours) Topics: High school, relationships, gossip, murder, criminal justice system, evidence You will get hooked.

Serial It's Baltimore, 1999. Hae Min Lee, a popular high-school senior, disappears after school one day. Six weeks later detectives arrest her classmate and ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, for her murder. He says he's innocent - though he can't exactly remember what he was doing on that January afternoon. But someone can. A classmate at Woodlawn High School says she knows where Adnan was. The trouble is, she’s nowhere to be found.