You read 3 (or more) books this past summer. Which book from the summer reading list did you find to be the most "interesting"? In a paragraph or two, tell me what it takes to make a book interesting (in your opinion) and how the summer book you chose met the standard of "most" interesting. If NONE of the books qualified for that title (again, in your opinion) tell me where and why they fell short of your standard.

Finally, tell me what things you read OTHER than assigned books? Did you read magazines, other novels, travel guides for a vacation, instructions for how to work something, whatever? Think it over, this could be a longer list than you first imagine! Which of these other things was the most interesting.... did you use the same standard as you did for paragraph one? If not, why not? 

     If I had to choose one of the three books which was the most interesting, it would be Charlette Bronte's Jane Eyre. For a book to grab my interest it needs to have some action, a plot twist, and a growing relationship between a man and a woman. I like books where there is a forbidden love. A book where the main characters have to find a way to get around the rules and be together when society will not let them. These examples describe the type of book that interests me. Jane Eyre met my standards slightly but not entirely. It had a love that was forbidden but there was not much action at least not the kind that interests me. The plot twist where Jane finds out that Mr. Rochester is married helped to keep me intrigued.

I read descriptions of the excurtions that were offered on a cruise. They were interesting because they made me want to sign up for all the excursions. I did not read many things other than little paragraphs, such as emails. I used a different standard because what I read was not made as a book is made. I only read littles descriptions not entire chapters on an idea.

** So who's your favorite author when you are picking books with characters who find their way "around the rules" as you said??

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Consider the novel you read for the theme SELF-DISCOVERY.

What exactly was it that the novel's main character discovered about himself/herself? Explain how this discovery was an integral part of the novel's substance or core.

How was this discovery applicable to you as the reader? In what sense could it be applicable to ALL readers? What did you learn about YOURSELF as you watched the character change within the novel?

I read Nathaniel Hawthorn's, the Scarlet Letter, for the Self-discovery theme. Hester Prynne, the main character of the novel, committed the sin of adultery. She was forced to wear in public a piece of fabric that had the scarlet letter A for "Adulterer" on her chest. By wearing this scarlet letter it was a constant reminder of her sin. She wore it for 7 years straight and never went a day without it. She began to discover that it became a part of her. This letter did not make her who she was but it helped her to become the opposite of what it implied. She became the most generous and unselfish person in the town. Hester discovered that even though she may have committed a sin that to most seemed one of the worst, she is only human and there are ways to overcome what people think of you. Throughout this entire novel Hester was discovering herself. She met several different challenges one when her husband whom she assumed to be dead showed up in town. He doesn't reveal himself to anyone but her and she is forced to keep his secret.

I could sense that Hester was discovering that the scarlet letter did not make her who she was. Instead it encouraged her to overcome her difficulties in life, a major one being the scarlet letter and the how people saw her as an outcast. She took steps to becomeing a better person that were obvious to me and probably any other reader. She proved to society that she was better than what she was labeled. I learned that you don't have to submit yourself to society's claims because we are all sinners and no sin is greater than another. Also we know that there is forgiveness and sometimes the hardest is to forgive ourselves and eventually Hester did.