Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition
Summer Work
Teacher:
E-mail:
Mr. Lopez-Cepero
[email protected]
Hi. I’m Mr. Lopez-Cepero (Mr. L.C., if you prefer). I’m very excited about the upcoming
year. I think next year’s AP Lit is going to be a terrific course—exciting, provocative,
and challenging.
A little about myself: this will be my fourth year at PHS. In addition to AP Lit, I’ve also
taught freshman English every year (I love the babies). My wife (also a teacher) and I just
welcomed our first child, Isaiah, on May 6. The three of us, as well as our pit bull Suzy,
live in San Leandro.
I grew up nearby in Berkeley and went to college at a small liberal arts school in
Chicago. I love NBA basketball, science fiction, and the New York Times Crossword
Puzzle. My car is named Ronald.
Enough chit-chat—let’s get to your summer work!
General guidelines:
 All work should be typed in MLA format. (I’ve included instructions/model).
 All work (except the letter) must be printed and turned in on the second day of
school.
 All work must be submitted to Turnitin.com (we’ll sort this out when we return in
August—I just want to give you fair warning).
1. Letter of introduction
Due to me by email by 11:59 p.m. the night before the first day of school—before the
clock strikes midnight on the dream that is summer vacation. Actually, I love to read
these over the summer, so I prefer you get it to me earlier, if you can.
Write a minimum 1-page letter of introduction about who you are as a
person/student/reader/writer.
The most important thing here is: don’t be boring—no one wants to read about how
much you love sleeping or playing X-Box. Tell me about what makes you special or
interesting (or weird), what kind of student you are, a funny or dramatic story about you,
etc. This is your chance to make a first impression and stand out from the crowd—an
important skill for college and job applications.
2. Biblical allusions research project
See attached—you can check a Bible out from me before school ends, or you can use one
of the many online texts.
3. Summer reading assignment
See attached—I tried to pick titles covering a variety of interests, things that were
readable but also meaty enough for AP Lit. Plenty of options you can check out from the
PHS library or from me.
4. Literary devices multimedia scavenger hunt
5. How To Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster **optional**
 I can’t require you to purchase books, and I wish we had this to check out to
you, but we don’t. So this is optional, but it’s as close to a cheat or a hack for
literary analysis as exists out there—it’s readable and relatable, and it will
really help you with the class and the AP test. I highly recommend you pick
up a copy and add it to your summer reading.
Questions about any of this? Please email me—my address is at the top, and I’ll be
checking periodically throughout the summer.
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Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition
Biblical Allusions Research Project
ALLUSION (n) – an implied or indirect reference to another literary work or event in
history in literature.
Western literature is littered with allusions to the Christian Bible. That is not a religious
statement or a statement of belief, but a statement of fact. To be a literate reader, to fully
understand and unpack the meaning of many works, we need to decode these references.
Therefore, we will be taking an academic approach to the Bible, regardless of anyone’s
individual beliefs. In doing so, we will make every attempt to present Biblical material
with respect, and tolerance for different viewpoints will be maintained as a priority for all
class instruction, interaction, and assignments.
The assignment
1. Below is a list of 50 biblical allusions that recur often in literature, as well as a list
of where to find them in the Bible—I’ve provided these to narrow your search.
Find each allusion as it occurs in the text.
2. Write a few sentences for each of your allusions where you explain what the story
is and who is involved—basically, you are writing a brief (2-4 sentences)
summary of what the phrase means in context.
3. The assignment must be typed, printed, and submitted to Turnitin.com.
Example:
Golgotha – Matthew 27:33
After Jesus had been sentenced to death, the soldiers, followed by a crowd of
people, took him to a hill where he would be crucified. The place was called
Golgotha, which means “place of the skull”.
Bible newbies:
The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments, both made up of many individual
books with different names. Each book is further divided into chapters, which are then
broken into short verses. The notation of a verse or passage from the Bible always
follows the same format: book name (look this up in the table of contents to start), then
the chapter and verse(s), separated by a colon. For example:
Book
Chapter
Verse
Matthew 27:33
Bible veterans:
You may know some of these references from your background. I strongly suggest
looking them up, nonetheless, as you’ll likely find some detail or something in the
context that you didn’t know about.
The list
1. Adam’s rib
2. Alpha and Omega
3. Am I my brother’s keeper?
4. Ark of the Covenant
5. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
6. Babel
7. Be fruitful and multiply
8. Break bread
9. Burning bush
10. Camel through the eye of a needle
11. Cast the first stone
12. Water into wine
13. Chariot of fire
14. Consider the lilies of the field
15. Crown of thorns
16. David and Goliath
17. Daniel and the lion’s den
18. Doubting Thomas
19. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth
20. Forty days and forty nights
21. Four Horsemen and the Apocalypse
22. Gain the whole world but lose your own soul
23. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh
24. Golden calf
25. Golden rule
26. Good Samaritan
27. Harden your heart
28. Jonah and the whale
29. Lamb takes the scroll
30. Lamb to the slaughter
31. Let my people go
32. Loaves and fishes
33. Manna from Heaven
34. Mark of Cain
35. Methuselah
36. Noah’s ark
37. Parting of the waters
38. Prodigal son
39. Seven Pillars of Wisdom
40. Sodom and Gomorrah
41. Thirty pieces of silver
42. This my body
43. Tree of Knowledge
44. Turn the other cheek
45. Voice crying in the wilderness
46. Water into wine
47. Way of all flesh
48. Who lives by the sword shall die by the sword
49. Wisdom of Solomon
50. Words made flesh
BIBLICAL REFERENCES USED ABOVE
Genesis 1:22-23; Genesis 2:9, 16-18; Genesis 2:21-22, Genesis 3:17-19; Genesis 4:9-10;
Genesis 4:15-16; Genesis 5:25-27; Genesis 6:13-16; Genesis 7:12-14; Genesis 11:8-9
Genesis 18:20-21
Exodus 3:1-2; Exodus 4:21; Exodus 5:1; Exodus 14:15-17; Exodus 16:14-15; Exodus
21:23-25; Exodus 25:10; Exodus 32:4
1 Samuel 17:4, 8-9; Isaiah 40: 1-3; Daniel 6:16; Proverbs 9:1; Joshua 23:14; 1 Kings
3:16-28
Mathew 2:11; Mathew 6:26-34; Mathew 6:30; Mathew 7:12-16; Mathew 16:24-36;
Mathew 19:23-25; Mathew 26:14-16; Mathew 26:26-29; Mathew 26:49-54; Mathew
27:27-29; Mathew 14:15-18
John 1:1, 14-15; John 2:7-10; John 6:1-13; John 8:4-7; John 20:24-25
Luke 6:29; Luke 10:30-34; Luke 15:11-15
Revelation 1:7-8, 11; Revelation 5:1-10; Revelation 6
2 Kings 2:9-12
Jonah 1:2
________
Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition
Summer Reading
Hopefully, you’ll read much more over the summer than what’s assigned. If you are
feeling frisky and you want suggestions, I’m more than happy to oblige. Try reading
Serious Literature, but read genre fiction or even trash, too—summer should be about
treating yourself.
 Choose any 2 of the books below to read over the summer.
 You may choose to purchase your own copies, or check them out from a library.
o ++ titles are available in the PHS library
o ** titles can be checked out from me (while supplies last)
 Consider taking notes (though I won’t collect them). If you buy they book, mark it
up. Or try sticky notes. Or dialectical journal.
 If you read the book early in the summer, you’ll want to review before school
starts (that’s where the notes will help you).
 You’ll have a test in the first week of school. If you try to avoid reading and use
Sparknotes or some other online reference, you will not pass the test—I promise
you will need to have actually read the work.
For the True Romantic—all that kissy-kissy, lovey-dovey stuff
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen ++
Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel ++
My Antonia, Willa Cather ++
For the Deep Thinker
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig
Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder
For the Dystopic Futurist—the future is…not pretty
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
The Road, Cormac McCarthy **
1984, George Orwell ++
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley ++
“Memoirs” With An Edge
Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger ++
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers **
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey ++
Cheaper Than A Plane Ticket—books that transport you to a very different part of the
world.
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini **
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini **
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver **
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe ++
For a Good (Literary) Laugh
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
A Prayer for Owen Meaney, John Irving **
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Girl Power—female protagonists who kick…
The Awakening, Kate Chopin **
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
The Song of the Lark, Willa Cather
Graphic Novels—don’t call them “comic books”
Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
The Watchmen, Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons **
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi ++
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Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition
Literary Devices Multimedia Scavenger Hunt
Literary devices (sometimes called “literary elements”) will be an important part of our
work this year, and an important feature of the AP test. We will work all year on
defining, identifying, and analyzing these devices as they occur in literature. In many
ways, movies are the pop culture equivalent of novels, and song lyrics the equivalent of
poetry, and many of the literary devices we will study occur in these media as well.
For this project, choose 5 terms from the list below; familiarize (or re-familiarize)
yourself with their definitions, then keep your eyes open this summer. Look for
examples in context—in your summer reading novel (or anything else you read), in lyrics
to a song, on television, in a narrative video game, or in a movie.
Write-up:
For each term, write a few paragraphs in which you,
1. Research several definitions of the literary device, then describe it in your own
words.
2. Find your example, then identify the source and cite evidence—direct quotation
(where appropriate) or specific paraphrase.
3. Explain how the literary device applies.
4. Explain how the author/poet/songwriter/filmmaker’s usage of the literary device
relates to/develops/supports the meaning of the work as a whole.
Allegory
Motif
Alliteration
Parody
Allusion
Narrative Perspective/Point of View
Archetype
Round Character
Aside
Stream of Consciousness
Direct Characterization
Symbol
Indirect Characterization
Tone
Dramatic Irony
Tragedy
Metaphor
Tragic Flaw
Personification
Simile
Flat Character
Foil
Imagery
Situational Irony
Verbal Irony