LITERATURE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE!Peekskill 9th Grade Summer Reading Assignment

LITERATURE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE! Focusing Activity/DO NOW:

Think of how YOU read in your daily life.

How does reading affect you as an individual?

What are some experiences you have gone through that have been

influenced by reading?

LITERATURE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE! There are several different types of literature

you will encounter as a reader…

Fictional Literature• Drama (plays and theatrical performances)

Short Stories• A story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than

a novel

LITERATURE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE! Novel• A fictitious book of length, typically depicting

characters and action with some amount of realism

o Nonfiction Literature• Nonfiction is the telling of a story or

subject area as fact

LITERATURE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE! Personal Journal Entry

• Writing about oneself and one’s goals, dreams and aspirations

o Biography• An account of someone's life written by

someone else

o Autobiography• An account of a person's life written by

that person

QAR ~ QUESTION ANSWER RELATIONSHIPS

What are the different levels of questioning?Right there (literal)Think and search (inferential)

On your own (critical)

Right There LiteralLevel

“Read the Lines”

The answer is directly stated in the

text.Sometimes the words in the

question are in the answer.

Think and Search

InferentialLevel

“Read Between the Lines”

The answer comes from suggestions made by the text

combined with the reader’s background

knowledge.

On Your Own CriticalLevel

“Read Beyond the Lines”

The question is based on the text,

but the answer comes from the

reader’s background knowledge and

experiences.

SMASHED: STORY OF A DRUNKEN GIRLHOOD

"Of course, Coors isn't crank or coke or crack.   And Heineken isn't heroin.   And vodka isn't Valium.  

"And nothing that's mixed with cranberry juice will score you respect with the folks who cop drugs in the public bathroom in Tompkins

Square Park.  

But don't tell that to my brain because when I'm drunk, it purrs with the ecstasy of being thoroughly high . Amstel Light is my upper and my downer, it is my euphoric bump, my sweet nod into vagueness,

the hallucinogenic that contorts my world into one that's worth living in.”

Literal – What is the author’s “upper and down” Inferential – How does the author escape the pains of everyday life? Critical – How will the author’s behavior cause problems to arise,

especially towards those around her?

SMASHED: STORY OF A DRUNKEN GIRLHOOD Written by Koren Zailckas (Penguin, 2006)

Autobiography about a young girl who begins drinking at age 14 and finds her life slowly spiraling dangerously out of control.

Koren chronicles her real life experiences of alcohol poisoning, insignificant abusive relationships and depression as she battles her personal demons

SMASHED: STORY OF A DRUNKEN GIRLHOOD

What do you already know about Smashed:

Story of a Drunken Girlhood

(Prior Knowledge)

What do you want to learn about the

book?

What did you learn about

Smashed: Story of a Drunken

Girlhood?