English 329: Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition                  May 2009

Summer Reading Assignment

Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition is designed to be a college/university-level course that will provide students with the intellectual challenges and workload consistent with a typical undergraduate university course.  At the end of the course, students are encouraged to take the AP English Literature and Composition Exam.

In order to be prepared for the rigors of an AP-level class, it is important for students to continue to read throughout the summer.  Students registered to take AP Lit and Comp will be asked to read either The Kite Runner (Hosseini) or The Road (McCarthy) prior to the start of the school year.  Students are expected to get their own copies of The Kite Runner or The Road from a bookstore or borrow from a library. 

Students are expected to keep a reading log which will be collected the first day of class in August, and students will be assessed using an AP-style writing prompt.  Reading logs for your chosen novel should include the following:

1.  Theme – Identify one major theme in the novel.  Use bullet points to cite examples of detail (which

     may include quotes or dialogue) which show that theme.  List page numbers of bulleted points.

2.  Character – Choose two major characters from the novel.  Create a list of significant character traits

     and examples that prove these traits.  Include page numbers of examples.  Remember that readers can

     learn about a character through his words, actions, and what others say about him.

3.  Language – Copy at least three effective passages (3-5 sentences each) in the novel and tell what

     makes each passage effective.  Passages may be effective due to a number of reasons, such as vivid

    word choice, unusual syntax, intriguing figurative language, and dynamic dialogue.

4.  Quotes – Choose 3 quotes which are significant to theme development or characterization.  For

     each quote, write an analysis which includes these elements:

     A.  The quote itself, including page number

     B.  The context of the quote, including who said it, to whom, and the circumstances of the plot.

     C.  The literary significance of the quote.  Why is it significant to either theme or character

           development?  Do not merely paraphrase, but look at each quote in terms of symbolism,

           foreshadowing, irony, etc.   What does the reader learn about character or theme because of this

           quote?  What makes it significant to the understanding of the novel?

On the back of this page is a list of recommended readings.  Many of these titles have been options for free-response essay questions on past AP Literature tests.  We encourage students to read any titles that interest them.

Feel free to contact us if you have questions.

Mr. David Calisch           Mrs. Christine Jenkins         Ms. Megan Skinner

dcalisch@d211.org         cjenkins@d211.org             mskinner@d211.org  

Fiction

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Emma by Jane Austen

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

King Lear by William Shakespeare

The Odyssey by Homer

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

Snow Falling on Cedars by Richard P. Wasowski

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Sula by Toni Morrison

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zorah Neale Hurston

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Poetry Anthologies- Poetry by the following authors:

Robert Frost

Emily Dickinson

Walt Whitman- Leaves of Grass

William Carlos Williams

W.B. Yeats