What is the reasoning behind the summer reading choices for sophomore honors?
The theme for the sophomore honors class is man’s universal journey. The sophomore honors teachers selected these works for their diversity of writing style and compliance with the theme. Their Eyes Were Watching God demonstrates poetic writing, giving students a sense of wonder in language. The 13th Warrior plays with the Beowulf story (a standard in the English canon), which students will likely read in the future (probably in college). The dry, journalistic style and interesting use of footnotes exemplifies verisimilitude and presents much fodder for discussion. The Chosen explores the duality of the monomyth and demonstrates how the journey can be so much more than physical. The major study of sophomore honors is the concept of the monomyth, the journey that forms the universal basis for story telling. These books were selected for their diversity of topics, settings, and characters as well as writing style. English II Honors summer reading provides students with purposeful variety
