AP Language and AP Literature Summer Reading 2012 (Non-Humanities)
Dear English AP Literature and Language Students:
You are to be commended for choosing exciting and challenging English courses in preparation for
your life goals. Alfred Lord Tennyson considers in his poem “Ulysses,” that “all experience is an
arch” leading to unknown adventures. We wish you a summer filled with wonderful journeys—
whether, like Ulysses, you will sail to faraway places to taste of the beauty and diversity of this
planet or explore opportunities to test your own inner strengths, convictions, compassions and
commitments.
We hope that your experience in AP Literature/Language and Composition this year will be an
adventure into your own academic and personal growth. We hope you will appreciate how the
canon of great thought covered in our courses reflects the sometimes tragic, sometimes comic,
sometimes controversial, sometimes enlightening paths that all humans—including you—must
follow. Required books can be obtained from Mrs. Horan or Mrs. Hegmann in room 22A before the
end of school. Students can also purchase their own copies for annotation and note taking.
For AP Language, students will read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. This
controversial text, set in the antebellum period of American history, satirizes southern society and
is acclaimed for its use of dialects typical to the region and the times. Also read All the Pretty
Horses by Cormac McCarthy. This coming of age novel, by an author once proclaimed as Faulkner’s
heir, won the National Book Award for fiction in 1992 and the National Book Critic Circle Award for
fiction in 1993. Finally, read An American Childhood, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard’s
poignant, vivid memoir of growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950s. Students will complete a 5X8
index card of specific reaction for each; the criteria for the index cards are outlined on the next
page. Students will work further with these texts by preparing to write essays, completing
research, and delivering presentations that will be assessed according to standard AP criteria. To
prepare you to engage in this type of critical study, please complete an index card with the
required criteria for each text and bring them and your books to class on the first day of
instruction.
For AP Literature, read Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, a novel which explores the duality of
nature as it coincides with the broken character of Tayo, a young man who struggles with his own
duality. Then read the play Othello by William Shakespeare. In this classic tale of revenge,
suspicion, and intrigue, a veteran soldier, who feels himself slighted for various reasons, decides to
seek vengeance against his general . . . and everyone else who has, supposedly, wronged him.
Complete the two assignments outlined below and bring them to class on the third day of
instruction.
We hope you have a wonderful summer vacation and return, like Tennyson, “yearning in desire/To
follow knowledge like a star,/Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.”
Sincerely,
Poolesville High School AP Teachers
Go on to the next page.
AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION (Grade 11)
Mrs. Liu and Ms. Gomer
* If you do not wish to purchase your AP summer reading books, see Mrs. Horan/Mrs. Hegmann in room
22A by June 11th to borrow them from PHS.
Required Reading:
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
All the Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy
An American Childhood
Annie Dillard
Assignment: Fill out a 5 x 8 index card for each book; include the following:
Side one: author (last name, first name); title (remember to underline); date you started reading; date you
finished reading. Also copy a short quotation from the book which impressed you. Put quotation marks
around it and give the page number in parentheses.
Side two: Part I: In three or four carefully constructed sentences, indicate the theme(s), if fiction, or the
author’s purpose in writing the book, if non-fiction. Part II: In three or more carefully constructed sentences,
write out your personal reactions to the book.
Bring in these three 5 x 8 index cards and your books* on the first day of instruction. A timed writing
assignment will be given within the first week that will test your close reading skills and your ability to write
about literature.
AP LITERATURE & COMPOSITION (Grade 12)
Mrs. Horan/Mr. McKenna
* If you do not wish to purchase your AP summer reading books, see Mrs. Horan/Mrs. Hegmann in room
22A by June 11th to borrow them from PHS.
AP Literature and Composition
Literary Analysis Annotations
Summer Reading Assignment #1:
McKenna/Horan
Summer 2012
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Prompt: Silko’s use of symbolic imagery often makes use of contrasting opposites: dryness and wetness,
mountains and canyons, city and country, sunrise and darkness. Choose one of these contrasts (or another
that you have observed) and, in no more than 300 to 500 words, analyze the values that each of the two
symbols represent and evaluate how these symbols reveal the meaning of the text as a whole.
Please be sure to:
1.)
Include at least four (4) direct quotations from various places in the text (do not just quote from the
first fifty pages of the text).
2.)
be sure to provide proper, detailed analysis of the text (should not simply be a quoted summary).
3.)
type your essay and double space using Times New Roman 12 point font.
4.)
include proper MLA citations.
5.)
come to the third day of class with a hard copy prepared and stapled.
NOTE: Do all of your work independently and do not discuss this assignment with any classmates or consult
any online sources.
This assignment is worth 30 formative points based on the AP Rubric Scoring Guide attached.
AP Literature and Composition Exam Scoring Guidelines
The score reflects the quality of the essay as a whole—its content, its style, its mechanics. Students are rewarded for
what they do well. The score for an exceptionally well-written essay may be raised by 1 point above the otherwise
appropriate score. In no case may a poorly written essay be scored higher than a 3.
9-8
These essays offer a well-focused and persuasive response to the prompt. Using apt and specific textual support , these
essays fully respond to the demands of the prompt and the complexities of the text. Although not without flaws, these
essays make a strong case for their interpretation and discuss the literary work with significant insight and
understanding. Generally, essays scored a 9 reveal a more sophisticated analysis and more effective control of language
than do essays scored an 8.
7-6
These essays offer a reasonable response to the prompt. These works have insight and understanding, but the analysis
is less thorough, less perceptive, and/or less specific in supporting detail than that of the 9-8 essays. Generally, essays
scored a 7 present better-developed analysis and more consistent command of the elements of effective composition
than those scored a 6.
5
These essays offer a plausible response to the prompt, but they tend to be superficial or underdeveloped in analysis.
They often rely upon plot summary that contains some analysis, implicit or explicit. Although the students attempt to
fully discuss the issue raised in the prompt, they may demonstrate a rather simplistic understanding of the work.
Typically, these essays reveal unsophisticated thinking and/or immature writing. The students demonstrate adequate
control of language, but their essays lack effective organization and may be marred by surface errors.
4-3
These lower-half essays offer a less than thorough understanding of the task or a less than adequate treatment of it.
They reflect an incomplete or oversimplified understanding of the work, or they may fail to fully respond to the prompt.
Their assertions may be unsupported or even irrelevant. Often wordy, elliptical, or repetitious, these essays may lack
control over the elements of college-level composition. Essays scored a 3 may contain significant misreadings and
demonstrate inept writing.
2-1
Although these essays make some attempt to respond to the prompt, they compound the weaknesses of the papers in
the 4-3 range. Often, they are unacceptably brief or are incoherent in presenting their ideas. They may be poorly
written on several counts and contain distracting errors in grammar and mechanics. The remarks are presented with
little clarity, organization, or supporting evidence. Essays that are particularly inept, vacuous, and/or incoherent must
be scored a 1.
0
These essays make no more than a reference to the task.
See next page for AP Literature Summer Reading Assignment #2.
AP Literature and Composition
Literary Analysis Annotations
Summer Reading Assignment #2:
McKenna/Horan
Summer 2012
A.
Please read the play, Othello, by William Shakespeare. In the play, a classic tale of revenge, suspicion, and
intrigue, a veteran soldier, who feels himself slighted for various reasons, decides to seek vengeance against his
general . . . and everyone else who has, supposedly, wronged him. As you read the play, consider and take
careful notes on the following questions:
a.
To what extent is each character responsible for the outcome of the play?
b.
What are Iago’s various motives? Which is the dominant motive in the play?
c.
To what extent can human beings manipulate others? How does Iago manage to be so
persuasive throughout the play?
d.
How are characters’ most outstanding traits related to their flaws?
e.
Do you consider Desdemona to be nobly idealistic or merely naïve?
f.
To what extent does Iago succeed?
B.
Choose ONE of the Iago’s soliloquies (his extended monologues of 14 lines or more). Using the “Insert
Comment” function (or footnotes, if unavailable), you must make 8 annotations of key literary devices in the
passage. Each annotation should 1) use a rhetorically accurate and specific verb (each annotation MUST have a
different strong verb) and 2) offer a strong analysis of what the word, phrase, image, metaphor, or other
technique specifically does to reveal Iago’s motives and/or character in the speech. Please do not simply name
the technique used, comment on the effect or impression created by the technique. It is possible, for example,
that the speech has a pattern of word choices; comment on how the particular word choice develops this larger
pattern. Finally, at the bottom of the page write a summative statement of how the chosen passage relates to
the play as a whole. Perhaps the passage distinguishes the private aspects of Iago’s character from his public
persona. This assignment must be submitted by the third day of school.
NOTE: Do all of your work independently and do not discuss this assignment with any classmates or consult any online
sources.
This assignment is worth 30 formative points (2 points per acceptable annotation + 6 points for the summative
statement).