Name: _____________________________________

ACS Grade 10 Advanced Summer Reading Assignment

Students should purchase or borrow their own copy of the text Touching the Void, for
summer reading.
You will read Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, an autobiographical account of his
disastrous climb in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. While completing the reading you
must write one reading reflection log for each chapter, which will be due on the
second day of class. The reading reflection logs are an opportunity to process your
understanding of the book as you read and provide a bit of analysis. They are also an
opportunity to identify literary elements and gather quotations, which may be used in
future class assignments.
Listed below are common elements and techniques you can identify in your logs.
Please remember there should be an element of analysis as well. Simply identifying
an example of imagery is not enough you must go on to explain the effect it has on
the reader. See the next page for the reading log template.
Common Literary Elements
1. Plot: It is the logical sequence of events that develops a story.
2. Setting: It refers to the time and place in which a story takes place.
3. Characterization: It is the process by which the writer reveals the personality
of a character.
4. Narrator: A person who tells the story.
5. Narrative method: The manner in which a narrative is presented comprising
plot and setting.
6. Dialogue: Where characters of a narrative speak to one another.
7. Conflict. It is an issue in a narrative around which the whole story revolves
can be internal or external.
8. Mood: A general atmosphere of a narrative.
9. Theme: It is central idea or concept of a story.
Common Literary Techniques
1. Imagery: It is the use of figurative language to create visual representations of
actions, objects and ideas in our mind in such a way that they appeal to our
physical senses. For example: The room was dark and gloomy. -The words
dark and gloomy are visual images.
2. Simile and Metaphor: Both compare two distinct objects and draws similarity
between them. The difference is that Simile uses as or like and Metaphor
does not. For example: My love is like a red red rose (Simile)
3. Hyperbole: It is deliberate exaggeration of actions and ideas for the sake of
emphasis. For example: Your bag weighs a ton!
4. Personification: It gives a thing, an idea or an animal human qualities. For
example: The flowers are dancing beside the lake.
5. Alliteration: It refers to the same consonant sounds in words coming together.
For example: Better butter always makes the batter better.
6. Irony: It is use of the words in such a way in which the intended meaning is
completely opposite to their literal meaning. For example:The bread is soft as
a stone.

Name: _____________________________________

SAMPLE READING LOG FROM FARENHEIT 451

Reading Log 1:
Text Quote with page
number

Identify a literary element or literary

technique and explain its effect on
the reader.

New Vocab Terms

Defined by Context
(At least 2 per
reflection)

He was eating a light

supper at nine in the
evening when the front
door cried out in the
hall and Mildred ran
from the parlour like a
native
fleeing
an
eruption of Vesuvius.
Mrs. Phelps and Mrs.
Bowles came through
the front door and
vanished
into
the
volcanos mouth with
martinis
in
their
hands They were like
a monstrous crystal
chandelier tinkling in a
thousand chimes, he
saw their Cheshire Cat
smiles burning through
the walls of the house,
and now they were
screaming at each other
above the din. Chapter
2 page 93

This extract portrays the reminder

Montag receives of the lack of
individuality among the society he
lives in. Simile is used to describe
the state of desperation Mildred is
in for company (Mildred ran from
the parlour like a native fleeing an
eruption of Vesuvius), as she is
compared to someone running from
a volcanic eruption. Metaphor is
then used to compare the entrance
of the parlour to the volcanos
mouth- something of danger. Then
simile is used once again to
compare Mildred and the guests to
a monstrous crystal chandelier as
their
martini
glasses
make
thousands
of
high
pitched
disturbing noises all together, and
finally metaphor and allusion are
used to compare them to a Cheshire
Cat- a well known character from
Lewis Carroll's Alices Adventure
in Wonderland, most distinctively
known as the mischievous cat with
the constant broad grin. The theme
of sameness is found in the
citizens who are influenced by the
entertainment and media, allowing
themselves to be a copy of the ones
in their surroundings.

Vesuvius- a volcano
located in Naples,
Italy, famous for
destroying the
ancient city Pompeii
in A.D 79.

Din- a loud mixture

of noises.
(PLEASE
NOTE:
Vocabulary words do
not need to be from
the
quotation.
Instead, you can pull
words from anywhere
in the chapter)

Name: _____________________________________

Reading Log 1:
Text Quote with page
number

Identify a literary element or literary

technique and explain its effect on
the reader.

New Vocab Terms

Defined by Context
(At least 2 per
reflection)