A listing of the books most frequently banned in the United States is from Banned in the U.S.A by Herbert N. Foerstel (Greenwood Press, 1994).


Impressions Edited by Jack Booth et al.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Blubber by Judy Blume
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
Christine by Stephen King
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Cujo by Stephen King
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
I Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
My House by Nikki Giovanni
Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz

Summer Reading:

A reminder:

You have your Summer reading prompt today. Good luck!

Soph Lit:

Today in class:

We took a quiz on your reading. I collected your final drafts. Please remember that you continue to loose 10 points a day for a late paper assignment. Please get them in ASAP!

We held our first debate on the topic of censorship.

Have a great weekend.

Brit Lit:

Today in class:
We watched sections of Beowulf in class. I passed back your assignments thus far. Please remember to make up any missing work as soon as you can. It is your responsibility to find out what you missed and make it up if you are out. This is a great place to find that information, BTW.

With Summer reading today, I have delayed assigning your first paper. I will assign this and go over it in detail Monday. Over the weekend, please thing of a movie that you enjoyed that follows the hero's quest. Have a great weekend

World of Shakespeare:

Today in class:

Something to do if you are bored online:
http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/

I passed out some interesting speculation on Shakespeare. These are different than the factual dates. Most of the things that we talked about are speculation.

I finished my notes on the Globe. Please look over your notes, as they will show up on future quizzes.

HW: Please find one (or more) lines from a play or sonnet that has meaning to you. We will be doing different things with your line, so please do not pick something that you do not connect with. It will be far more interesting to us both if you connect to what you bring in.

Here is more information on your last bonus question if you are interested:
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/death.html

Brit Lit:

Today in class:

We went over a Hero's Quest. I introduced your 1st paper on this topic. I will have an assignment sheet for this on Friday if you wish to start it.

I used the film Dumbo to show some examples of the hero's quest.

I collected any late kenning examples.

No HW this evening.

Soph Lit:

Today in class:

We started with journal topic #3:
It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.
Jeseph Joubert


We discussed what is in a title. We then looked at the title of the novel and explored where it came from. I tried to rap it unsuccessfully. Here is the promised link to here it and see the lyrics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comin'_Through_the_Rye

We looked at your 1st draft and I answered questions that you had. We exchanged papers and did a peer edit to the checklist given. For edutainment, I asked you to grade it.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time and postponed our debate until Friday.

HW: Please type your final draft. Please make sure to look over the checklist, as I will be basing my grade on these requirements.

World of Shakespeare:

Today in class:

We took a quiz on your reading. I began my lecture on the life and times of WS. I collected S. Alive!!. HW: Please read the History of Elizabethan Theatre.

We will finish with our notes, and continue on in Othello Thursday.

Soph Lit:

Today in class:

We played our first three strikes and we quiz.

We wrote on writing prompt #2: Education is what remains after one has forgotten everthing one learned in school. Albert Einstein

We talked about the reading last night. I ended class breaking you into 4 groups to quickly improve a scene from the book.

HW: Please read CH 5-6. Thursday in class we will be having a debate on censorship.

Brit Lit:

Today in class:

You had your first quiz. We reviewed Beowulf and continued reading.

HW: Please finish Beowulf. Thursday we will be looking deeper into the Hero's Quest and take a look on how the movie Dumbo follows this same path. You will never look at the movie the same way. Cambell was on to something....

We will also watch select parts of the animated Beowulf and discuss the ending.

World of Shakespeare:

Today in class:

We talked about some of the racial issues that we are about to encounter in Othello. We acted out Act 1, sc1 in class. I introduced the costumes.

HW: Please read Ch 2-4 in S. Alive! Be prepared for a short quiz on the reading.

Tomorrow, I will be giving a lecture on the life and time of Shakespeare. Please make sure to have a notebook ready for class.

Think:

111,111,111 X 111.111.111= 12,345,678,987,654,321. Why?

Word O' the Week:

Draffsack: A bag of garbage

Brit Lit:

Today in class:

Caesura: Pause in the line of verse

Kenning: A colorful, indirect way of saying something

Epic Poem: A long narrative poem that tells a story; Often oral.

I broke you into rows and asked you to use the above terms.
We looked at storytelling in terms of: pictures, words, and actions.

HW: Please read pg 26-27 in Beowulf.
Find an example of a kenning in a modern song and bring to class. Remember, as always, make sure that it is appropriate for school.

Soph Lit

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

Directions: Write a narrative essay about an incident that
happened to you this year in school, and do so from Holden's
point of view.

To start, think about an incident that remains especially
clear to you.

Next, write the incident using Holden's style and his
philosophy of life.

Holden's Style
~ slang
~ sarcasm
~ judgmental
~ repetition
~ exaggeration
~ digressions
~ addressing the reader directly
~ expressions such as "It really did," "I swear," "It's true.
It really is," "If you really want to know the truth," and
"I'm not kidding" to emphasis a point
~ frequent use of the expression "...and all"
~ an ambivalent* tone of both sadness and humor

Holden's Philosophy
~ disliking phonies
~ confusion about girls and sex
~ feeling isolated
~ sad about Allie's death
~ loves his sister
~ at moments very depressed, lonesome, and almost suicidal

A length of 2-3 double-spaced typed pages (or 5-7 double-
spaced handwritten pages)