Mrs. Johnson’s American Literature Class Blog

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http://shannondesmond.blogspot.com/

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http://dlegates718.edublogs.org/

http://11thgradesummerreading.blogspot.com/

Found some pics that I thought were interesting about the setting-Himmel Street-Molching, German…Let’s see if the images come through though-

This is an excerpt from another blog about The Book Thief:

This is a Google map, modified to show the geography of The Book Thief. It seems that Molching is a fictional town that Marcus Zusak invented for his story, but it seems reasonable that Molching is based on Olching (the blue arrow), a town that meets the critera for Molching, being that it is both on the outskirts of Munich, and imaginably on the road to Dachau (the green arrows).

I suppose this also makes locations within Molching (like Himmel Street) fictional, and therefore not coincidental. Why do you suppose much of the story is set on a street called “Heaven”?

I’ve been looking for images for Himmel Street.  This is obviously an abstract metaphorical representation of Himmel Street.  The artist called this a “set,” which means he/she used other found images to overlay to create one layered image.  The original url is pasted below if you want to go to it and see the sources of all the individual images.  Check out www.polyvore.com.  You can try making your own.  This might be a good assignment for you guys with a book we read.  Hmm. 

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-set/BQcDAAAAAwoDanBnAAAABC5vdXQKFk11NUF2Y0x6M1JHVV96TFNMUmFoT3cAAAACaWQKAXgAAAAEc2l6ZQ.jpg

Starting this book was not easy- it dragged at the beginning and soon I felt myself getting a bit frustrated with the seemingly overly descriptive passages.  Where is the plot?  Where are the characters? How could the narrator (Death) be so in touch with the loveliness of color?  When I arrived at the chapter entitled, “Arrival at Himmel Street,”  I still wasn’t into the book, but after this chapter, I was.  Meeting Liesel saved the book for me and soon her story, as told by Death, started to hook me. 

2009 SUMMER READING BOOK LIST~ Honors American Literature

2009 SUMMER READING BOOK LIST~ Honors 9^th Grade English

Summer reading directions:  Below are the book lists for this summer.  Once you have selected your books, you will create a blog for these books on www.blogger.com or www.edublogs.org.  These two websites have free accounts and you can sign up just as easily as 1-2-3! Once you sign up and create your blog, you can begin blogging about your books.   Make sure you note your login information down somewhere where you won’t lose it- this way when it comes time for you to present it to the class, you will be able to log in easily!  A word of advice though, don’t wait until the last minute…this is not an assignment that takes five minutes-it is an ongoing reflective process that needs to be done while you are reading the book!  Go to my blog for directions and to see what I’m reading for the summer. The blog provides examples of blogs from last year’s students.  Look through them as models for how to set your blog up or to answer any questions you might have.   There is a set of directions/guidelines for how to set up your blog name, etc.  Visit my blog first to read these guidelines under Summer Reading Assignment (to the right of the page under “Extra, Extra Read All About It!”) before you make your own blog.  Here is the link:  http://capehenlopenschoolsjohnson.edublogs.org.  After you have set up your own blog, email me your link (the url address) and I will paste it to my page. 

Recommended online site to purchase books:  Amazon.com

*Usually at Amazon.com you can find the books used and sometimes I have found great titles for only a quarter (beware the shipping though)!

Recommended free places to get books:  Lewes Public Library, Milton Public Library, and Rehoboth Public Library.  IF there is a public library closer to you, and they don’t have the book, they can have it sent to your library for you! 

Contemporary Summer Reading List (choose one):

Scorpions by Myers

Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser

The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak

 Classic Summer Reading List (required to read both): 

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

http://dominicp.edublogs.org/

http://jcrupp.edublogs.org/the-pearl/
http://jcrupp.edublogs.org/2008/09/01/the-glass-castle/
http://jcrupp.edublogs.org/2008/09/01/7-habits-of-highly-effective-teens/