Portland High School Advanced Placement English Language and
Composition Summer Reading Assignment
Welcome to Advanced Placement English Language and Composition. This is an
intensive, college/university level writing class which will require you to read, analyze,
and write non-fiction texts. Because you will take the AP exam in early May, I assign
summer work to frontload our curriculum with the following essential texts and
assignments:
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Read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and write three essay responses.
(This is also the Honors English 11 summer reading selection.)
Read 10 non-fiction essays from One Hundred Great Essays and complete a
reading sheet for each essay.
Purchase a copy of un*Spun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation by
Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Bring it to class with you on
the first day of school. (We will read this book the first week of school.)
Longfellow Books offers discounts to PHS students for Brave New World and un*Spun.
Used books are also available at Amazon. I have 30 copies of each book to lend on a first
come, first served basis. Students planning on borrowing a copy of un*Spun must reserve
a copy before the last day of school, June 17, 2016.
ü You will be tested over Brave New World and the ten essays on the first day of
school.
ü I will collect all summer work on the first day of school. Late summer work is
not accepted.
Manage your time well, think for yourself, and do your own work. Plagiarized work
will receive a zero.
Plagiarism is against school policy and will be dealt with severely. According to the PHS
Family Handbook, “A student shall not copy the words or ideas, even if in different
words, from a source without giving the source proper credit and citation.” The “source”
is the work of another person, whether in print, audio, video, digital or any other form.”
Please know that I read your work and check for plagiarism if I suspect the work is not
your own words, thoughts, and ideas.
If you have any questions, please e-mail me at [email protected]. See
assignment details on the back of this sheet.
Enjoy your summer reading as you transition from imaginative literature to the world of
non-fiction. I look forward to working with you in the fall.
Sincerely,
Terese Myatt, Portland High School AP English Language and Composition Teacher
Brave New World Assignment: Read Brave New World, a 1932 dystopian novel.
Complete three of the five writing tasks in response to your reading of Brave New
World. Word process your tasks in MLA format. Each task should be at least one page in
length. All responses must be your own original ideas written in your own words and
writing style. Choose from the following tasks:
Task One: The novel opens with a visit to the Central London Hatchery and
Conditioning Center. What does the motto ‘Community, Identity, Stability’ mean for all
people in society? Consider chapters 1 and 2. How and why is the past, particularly
parenting, demeaned?
Task Two: What is the purpose of the games that are played in this society? Refer in
particular to the Director’s statement at the beginning of Chapter 3 and the sayings in the
rest of the chapter. To what extent in this novel has this society reduced life to a series of
clichés and sex to a game?
Task Three: How and why is Bernard Marx different? Also consider whether he really is
different. Make a list of Bernard’s own inadequacies and the real reasons for their
existence. In other words, do not just take the other characters’ explanation that it was
too much alcohol in his birth surrogate.
Task Four: John the Savage frequently quotes Shakespeare, yet it is clear from the text of
the novel that he does not really understand the words. How is John the Savage
intellectually different from the Alphas of civilized society? In what ways is John
emotionally different from the Alphas? Why are the Shakespearean words raised when
he is thinking of Pope and Linda?
Task Five: As a reader in the present day, do you see any truths in Huxley’s 1931
predictions? Is there any element of truthful fate in what he was writing about?
10 Non-fiction Essays and Analysis
Read TEN essays from the collection One Hundred Great Essays (Second Edition)
by Robert DiYanni. Complete one double-sided READING ANALYSIS SHEET for
each essay. (10 analysis sheets total). Neatly handwrite your reading sheets in blue
or black ink.
“Road Warrior” by Dave Barry (91)
“On Seeing England for the First Time” by Jamaica Kincaid (411)
“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan (729)
“Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell (580)
“A Woman’s Beauty: Put-Down or Power Source?” by Susan Sontag (682)
“The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell (337)
“Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (686)
“Arriving at Perfection” by Ben Franklin (310)
“More Than Just A Shrine-Ellis Island” by Mary Gordon (351)
“Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin (70)