Summer Reading: Sophomores

“Everest deals with trespassers harshly: the dead vanish beneath the snows. While the living struggle to explain what happened. And why. A survivor of the mountain's worst disaster examines the business of Mount Everest and the steep price of ambition.”
-Jon Krakauer

From Random House Publishing Group:

Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the bestseller Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world. A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall's team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996.

Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.

Assignment: Reader’s Response Journal
Into Thin Air
By Jon Krakauer

A reading response journal is a notebook in which you write about your reading. In it you communicate thoughts and feelings about the book you are reading.

What are the expectations?
* A minimum of one page of reflection per chapter.
* Date each entry and write the title of each chapter at the top of the page.
* Demonstrate an understanding of a text by making inferences and connections and going back to the text to support your ideas. What can you write about in your journal?
* Write from a character’s perspective.
* Make predictions about what might happen next.
* Agree or disagree with the message of the text.
* Show a personal reaction to the story.
* Describe main character’s personality.
* Ask questions/jot down unfamiliar terms or favorite lines.
* Discuss what you think are the pervasive themes of the book.
* Comment on characters.
* Relate the text to you personal life.
* Explain what you like or dislike about the story.
* Comment on the mood of the story.
* Comment on the author’s use of language or tone.
* State an opinion about the actions of the characters.
* Describe how a passage in the text created an image in your mind.
* Jot down ideas, images, details that strike you.
* Identify the author’s tone, his attitude toward what he is writing.
* DO NOT summarize the plot—respond to the plot.
* DO NOT reduce the response to “I like it.”
ENTRIES THAT APPEAR TO BE “TAKEN” FROM SUMMARY WEBSITES WILL RECEIVE A ZERO