AP English 12
AP English Literature Summer Assignment
Part 1 (keep your definitions for the first day of school)
Define the literary terms from the AP list. I recommend that you define each word separately on a
note card and include examples. These terms must be handwritten! Learn all of them. There will be a
test the first or second week of school. (Don’t worry too much. You already know most of them.)
Part 2 (DUE on August 11, 2014 in the main office!)
Reductions for the novels read in Honors English 11: The Scarlet Letter, The Catcher in the Rye, Their
Eyes Were Watching God. You should also complete a reduction for one of the two longer short stories
that we read, since they have been included as choices for the open-ended AP essay. Those stories
are “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” OR, if you read a
book for the final Eng. 11 H essay that is considered a classic and has “strong literary merit,” you
may do a reduction on that one instead of one of the short stories.
A reduction is a one-page reduction (clever, isn’t it?) of a literary work. The process of doing the
reduction will help you to think about what you have read and learned and retain the content of the
novel. It will also serve as a source for future reference (particularly at AP test time).
The reduction should be handwritten, but the page itself is an open canvas. Your goal is to create
something that will spark your memory of the novel, to the point that reading over the reduction will
make you feel as if you have re-read the book.
Information that you would typically put on a reduction include the following:
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Author and title
Setting(s)
Main characters and any points crucial to understanding their roles in the story
Plot development
Themes/underlying messages
Mood/atmosphere
Symbolism
Significance of title
Special style techniques of author
Significant quotations
The reductions are 100% for you, so tailor it to your liking. If you think better using pictures and
diagrams, use pictures and diagrams. The goal isn’t to copy down the text of Spark Notes to one
page of paper (which is why they have to be done by hand). Organize them as you like. Include
whatever you like in it. We will eventually do these for all of the works we read in class as well.
What I don’t want you to do is to create a one-page book report. Use a page without lines so that
you don’t feel limited.
Part 3 (due on August 11, 2014 in the main office!!!)
All AP students must read All the King’s Men- Robert Penn Warren
For AtKM, you need to do a double-entry diary (DED). It’s similar to a journal entry, but uses a
two-column format and is more specific, efficient, and easier to read. Here’s how the DED should
look and some of the ideas you might want to think about:
AP English 12
Passage from novel:
Response:
As you read, use post-it notes to mark interesting phrases, vivid
description, exciting events, or other parts of the story that
evoke emotion or response.
Write your response in the right side of your page.
Select a passage – a few words to a few sentences – that
captures you interest for any reason at all.
thinking as you read. Explain why the passage
engaged your interest. Some ways to respond to
show active reading are:
Quote that passage on the left side of your journal. Copy the
passage exactly using quotation marks. Be sure to include the
page number.
Each response should be about 1/3 to 1/2 page.
Responses shorter than this will not receive full
credit. This is where you show me what you are
Question: Ask about anything that puzzles you.
For example: Could this really happen? Are people
really this…
polite/mean/romantic/religious/violent, etc? What
does this word mean the way it is used here? Why
did the author choose this way to describe the
voice/character/action, etc?
Predict: Answer these questions: What will happen
next? Where do you think this is leading? Who is
the killer? Will these characters fall in love/end up
together?
Clarify: What do you understand now that you did
not get previously? Have your questions been
answered? Were your predictions accurate? Do you
understand something you didn’t before?
Connect: Text-to-Text (What other works or
literature, film, art, etc. does this remind you of?
What makes the connection for you?), Text-to-Self
(Is there some connection between the words on the
page and your life?), Text-to-World (Do you see
some reflection of the world or of society here?).
Evaluate: Give your opinion of the
character/event/word/sentence/message. What
makes this passage effective? What do you like or
dislike about it?
Analyze: How does the author impact the reader:
imagery, dialect, comparisons, etc…How original
and vivid is the passage?
Part 4: Read one of the following novels. Though there are no summer assignments specifically
related to reading this novel, you will be required to complete an in-class activity. So, if you
chose not to read this novel thoroughly, you will be unable to complete the activity with the
detail I expect.
1984 by George Orwell
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway