Advanced Placement English Language and Composition
Summer Reading Assignment
DuBois Area Senior High School
I.
Introduction to AP Language Reading
The reading that you will do in AP Language may be different from reading you have done
in other classes. Before you begin your chosen text, visit the following website, read and
incorporate the skills into your text reading. Take notes on this reading. You will need to
submit those as part of the assignment.
http://guides.hcl.harvard.edu/sixreadinghabits
II.
Extended Reading (Source: Anne Arvidson NCTE Convention presenter)
Please select a text from the AP Language Summer Reading Suggested List. (If you would
like to choose a similar text not on the list, just clear it with me prior to the end of school.)
This assignment will give you practice in reading and writing strategies required to AP
Language and Composition. Please choose a book that you feel comfortable reading. Some
contain mature/controversial issues. It is your responsibility to research the books and choose
one that best fits you.
Part I: As you read, mark tonal, influential, remarkable, controversial, important, etc.
passages with sticky notes. Explain on each why you chose this passage. You are required
to have five (which I will assess), but, of course, you may have as many as you choose. Be
sure to include the page number and paragraph or line number to which the sticky note
corresponds. If you won’t have the book at the beginning of the year, also include enough of
the text so I will be able to connect the note to the text.
Part II: After completing the text, you have two writing options. Choose only one.
Writing Option A: Identify the central argument of the book. Agree, disagree, question, or qualify the
claim. Avoid summary. Provide enough evidence from history, literature, current events, valid personal
experience, etc. to support your assertions. These should be cited in text and in Works Cited page.
Follow MLA format for formal essay writing. (This can be found at OWL at Purdue University on the
web.) This paper should be 2-4 pages.
Writing Option B: Persuasive/argument writing can appeal to emotion, logic, or ethics. Discuss the
balance or imbalance of pathos, logos, and ethos in the book you read, Avoid summary. Remember to
cite specific bits of the book as support. Proper MLA format is required for the essay and the
parenthetical citations. (This can be found at OWL at Purdue University on the web.) No outside
sources are required. This paper should be 2-4 pages.
Both papers are to be written in formal English. Remember to proofread, revise, and edit your
papers to obviate any careless errors in spelling, mechanics, organization, and focus.
III. Short Readings
A. Read two essays or commentaries from professional writers and two editorial cartoons
for comprehension. Suggestions include those opinion/editorial writers who appear in
nationally recognized magazines/newspapers. These may follow controversial issues and
be of conflicting sides or may be separate essays on various issues. DO NOT USE
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. These are usually not from professionals.
B. Photo copy, print, or submit the two copies of the actual page to turn in as proof of your
reading. One should be clean; the other should have evidence of your annotations and
close reading skills. Cite the clean copy of the articles/cartoons using proper MLA
format.
C. On your second reading, focus on the language, style, evidence the author uses to support
the argument, the point, and the structure of the piece. For the cartoons, also examine the
images.
D. Toward the end of the summer, choose one of the essays/cartoons that you have read and
especially enjoyed or to which you have established a connection. This will be the basis
for your initial essay during the first week of school. You do not write the essay during
the summer; just establish your focus.
Below is a list to get you started but by no means is it comprehensive:
Essayists: Lou Dobbs, Mortimer Zuckerman, Gloria Borger, and John Leo in U. S. News; Fareed Zakaria, Jane
Bryant Quinn, George Will in Newsweek; Clarence Page, Cal Thomas, Maureen Dowd, James Lileks, William
Safire, Thomas Friedman, Leonard Pitts, Anne Coulter, and/or Rick Reilly.
Sources: Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Smithsonian, The Economist, Atlantic Monthly, The
Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal – most of these have online
components. Time and Sports lllustrated both end each issue with an opinion essay.
Here are some questions that may assist you in focusing your thoughts. DO NOT SIMPLY WRITE A
RESPONSE TO EACH QUESTION AND TIE THEM TOGETHER.
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What is the writer's general subject?
What is the writer's main thesis?
What does the writer hope to achieve?
What kind of audience is the writer addressing? (Educated, uneducated, male,
female, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc.?)
Does the writer seem biased? If so, explain how and where you detect the bias.
Discuss the writer's style. Include what you notice about diction, syntax, arrangement of detail, overall
tone. (Connect the vocabulary section to this.)
Which themes do you notice emerging in the essay?
Make personal connections and argue for or against the author's position.
What confused you? Angered you? Excited you?
III. Vocabulary Assignment: Language Flashcards
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Make flashcards for the rhetorical strategies and/or stylistic devices listed in bold below. I have
categorized them if you wish to do so to assist organization. (Notice that some terms are on more
than one list. This means that they have different meanings. You should include all meanings.)
Write the term neatly on the front of a 3" x 5" index card in large lettering.
Find the term in the following website: http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/reading_basic.html
Write the definition on the back; you may certainly use your own words to assist in your
learning. If you can find an example, that would also be helpful. Some may not be in the
glossary. Those will need to be found using your own resources.
NOTE: Your flashcards should be hand written in cursive or hand printed. Do NOT cut and paste
the definitions from the website onto your cards. Muscle memory helps learning.
Keep them together either with a rubber band, a card box, or a ring.
The first flash card should have your name, AP Language and Composition, Mrs. Hackett, Room
A305. This way, if they are misplaced, they will hopefully find their way home.
YOUR FLASHCARDS ARE DUE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, AND YOU CAN
EXPECT A TEST ON THE NON-BOLD TERMS THE SECOND FULL WEEK.
Vocabulary Terms to Know: (Please be able to pronounce them.)
Grammar
Appositive
Coordination
Parallelism
Voice
Phrase
Clause
Gerund
Participle
Tense
Subject
Predicate
Complement
Coordination
Syntax
Person
Noun
Pronoun
Adjective
Adverb
Verb
Preposition
Conjunction
Interjection
Run-on
Fragment
Direct Object
Indirect Object
Predicate Nominative
Predicate Adjective
Simple Sentence
Compound Sentence
Complex Sentence
Compound-complex Sentence
Declarative Sentence
Imperative Sentence
Interrogative Sentence
Exclamatory Sentence
Periodic Sentence
Hortative Sentence
Cumulative Sentence
Independent Clause
Dependent/Subordinate Clause
Antecedent
Balanced Sentence
Allusion
Antithesis
Chiasmus
Juxtaposition
Polysyndeton
Subordination
Trope
Anaphora
Archaic diction
Enthymeme
Metonymy
Rhetorical questions
Syllepsis
Zeugma
Trope/Scheme
Alliteration
Antimetabole
Asyndeton
Inversion
Motif
Scheme
Synesthesia
Figurative Language
Analogy
Colloquialism
Euphemism
Idiom
Metaphor
Personification
Anthropomorphism
Connotation
Figurative language
Imagery
Oxymoron
Pun
Cliché
Denotation
Hyperbole
Irony
Paradox
Simile
Aphorism
Mood
First person
Omniscient narrator
Parody
Satire
Malapropism
Dialect
Narration
Second person
Limited omniscient narrator
Speaker
Solecism Tone
Vernacular
Ad populum/Bandwagon
Bias
False dilemma
Non sequitur
Straw man
Appeal to false authority
Circular reasoning
Faulty analogy
Post hoc ergo prompter hoc
Aristotelian triangle
Authority
Concession
Deduction
Implication
Jargon
Maxim
Pathos
Polemic
Rhetoric
Subject
Syllogism
Topic sentence
Argument
Claim
Counterargument
Didactic
Induction
Litotes
Occasion
Pedantic
Premise
Rhetorical modes
Subordination
Thesis
Understatement
Literary Device/Term
Anecdote
Elegiac
Epigram
Person
Third person
Objective narrator
Style
Wit
Fallacies in Argument
Ad hominem
Begging the question
Either/or
Hasty generalization
Propaganda
Rhetoric/Rhetorical Devices
Absolute
Assumption
Climax
Credible
Ethos
Inference
Logos
Parenthetical
Philippic
Rebuttal
Rhetorical triangle
Synthesis
Thesis statement
If you have any questions, problems, other issues that arise over the summer, or if you just need some
reassurance, do not hesitate to call 375-9477 or email [email protected] I will address your
issue as soon as possible. I am anticipating a super year!
AP Language Summer Reading List Suggestions:
*These books are available for you to borrow over the summer either in A305 or in the DAHS library.
(You may not write your annotations in these texts. You must use sticky notes for all annotations.)
If you choose to read one of the others, you will need to purchase the text. You may also choose a book
which is not on the list. Just clear it with me prior to the end of the school year. Remember to research
the titles. Some contain mature themes/controversial issues. Choose a book that suits you and with
which you are comfortable.
Science
Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers – Mary Roach
The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe
*An Inconvenient Truth – Al Gore
*The New Cool – Neal Bascomb
*The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
The Hot Zone – Richard Preston
Isaac’s Storm – Erik Larson
First Do No Harm – Lisa Belkin
Sports
Friday Night Lights – H. G. Bissinger
*Lessons of the Game – Derek Sparks and Stuart Robinson
*Never Die Easy – Walter Payton
*Moneyball – Michael Lewis
*Vindicated - Jose Canseco
Business/Economics
The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century – Thomas Friedman
Hot, Flat, and Crowded – Thomas Friedman
The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers: The Story of Success – Malcolm Gladwell
The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead – David Callahan
*Nickeled and Dimed – Barbara Ehreneich
Education
*The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids – Alexandra Robbins
The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth – Alexandra Robbins
Gatekeepers: Inside the Admission Process of a Premier College – Jacques Steinberg
A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League – Ron
Suskind
Social Studies
Lincoln at Gettysburg – George Wills
*In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
*Escape from Slavery – Francis Bok
A Team of Rivals – Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Education of Henry Adams – Henry Adams
*The Greatest Generation – Tom Brokaw
*Eyes on the Horizon – Gen. Richard B. Myers
*Why We Can’t Wait – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Slouching Toward Bethlehem – Joan Didion
The Other Wes Moore – Wes Moore
*Letters to a Young Brother – Hill Harper
*All the President’s Men – Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson
In the Garden of Beasts – Erik Larson
Hunger of Memory – Richard Rodriguez
*Where Men Win Glory – Jon Krakauer
Under the Banner of Heaven – Jon Krakauer
*A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier – Ishmael Beah
*Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – Barbara Kingsolver
*The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama
The Greatest Story Ever Sold – Frank Rich
*Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand
*American Sniper – Chris Kyle
*Zeitoun – David Eggers
*Narrative of Sojouner Truth – Sojourner Truth
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*The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man – James Weldon Johnson
*Narrative of My Escape from Slavery –Moses Roper
Outdoors
*Into Thin Air – Jon Krakauer
*Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer
*A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson
*The Climb – Anatoli Boukrev
Miscellaneous
Amusing Ourselves to Death – Neil Postman (Show Business)
This Boy’s Life – Tobias Wolff (Memoir)
The Autobiography of a Face – Lucy Grealy (Memoir)
*Walden – Henry David Thoreau (Philosophy)
Must choose all three.