Welcome
Welcome to AP Literature. I look forward to working with you next year. Ahead, we have a great amount of interesting and engaging literature waiting to challenge us.
From the start, I want you to know that I come to class each day prepared and with the assumption that you enjoy reading, analysis, and writing and that honest, informed discussion about literature interests you as well. I expect each of you to contribute to our community of learners as it explores our readings and to listen/respond respectfully to the ideas others express in class.
From the start, I want you to know that I come to class each day prepared and with the assumption that you enjoy reading, analysis, and writing and that honest, informed discussion about literature interests you as well. I expect each of you to contribute to our community of learners as it explores our readings and to listen/respond respectfully to the ideas others express in class.
Over the summer I expect you to read a group of three novels, each in its entirety, and to complete two types of writing assignments.
Neither reading "Cliff Notes" (or any other print or on-line equivalent) nor watching a film version is an acceptable substitute for the experience of reading a novel. While it may supplement your experience, do not attempt to substitute one of these activities for actual reading - either now or during the school year.
To begin, select one of these groups of related novels/plays
All Quiet of the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway OR A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway The Importance of Being Ernest Oscar Wilde Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte OR Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte |
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou The Help Kathryn Stockett Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neal Thurston OR The Color Purple Alice Walker |
1984
George Orwell OR Brave New World Aldous Huxley The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck |
To aid yourself in your book selection, go to the "Meet the Books" page under the "Summer Reading" tab.
As the Henry David Thoreau quotation on our homepage says,
"Read the best books first, or you may not have time to read them at all."
With that quotation in mind, choose books with which you are not familiar.
Assignments
Because everyone may not have a Thinkpad on the first day, please turn in paper copies of your work on Monday, August 10th. Please have access to your files.
1. Reading Journals. (250-300 words each, MLA style, worth 90 total points)
Complete a reading journal of 6 individual entries. This writing exercise will require an eye for significant detail and your ability to state a thesis and support it with specific references to a text.
See the "Rubrics" page under the "Summer Reading" tab for the Reading Journal rubric.
- One comparison or contrast: the main character from two of the three novels.
- One comparison or contrast: a theme from two of the three novels.
- One comparison or contrast: analysis of a literary technique (e.g. author's use of symbolism, imagery, point of view, or setting) from two of the three novels.
- Choice of three passages - one from each novel: select a specific passage and discuss its relevance to the novel as a whole. Feel free to add your personal comments or questions. Include the passage with each entry. The passage may be submitted as a separate file if necessary.
See the "Rubrics" page under the "Summer Reading" tab for the Reading Journal rubric.
2. A Personal Essay. (3-5 typed pages, MLA style, worth 100 points)
Write a personal essay in which you discuss your experience of reading these three works individually and as a group. Along with discussion of your general experience(s), please include your answers to the following questions:
- Did you enjoy reading one book more than the others, and if so, why?
- Did you find yourself more emotionally involved in the character's experience in one book than the others?
- To what extent did you notice, and perhaps appreciate, the writing style of each author?
- What questions, if any, do you have about the books you read?