2015 SUMMER READING
AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
You are required to read the three books listed below before entering AP Language and Composition in
August 2015. You may find the books at the library, online, checked out from the school or you may buy
your own.
For Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Warren’s All The King’s Men, annotate the first and last
chapters only. Look to find sections that reveal important aspects of SETTING (especially in the first
chapter), CHARACTER and PLOT development, THEME, and STYLE (a broad umbrella term that
incorporates the author’s language, perspective/narrator, to name just a couple). The annotations may
be written in the book itself, on sticky notes in the book, or typed using chapters and page numbers.
How and What to Annotate?
When it comes to annotation, less is often more. That is, you should not have
post-its on every single page, nor should you have one- or two-word comments
in the margins merely identifying a literary element or stating the obvious or
banal (e.g., “simile”; “ha-ha, funny”; “he’s angry” – these are of no use at all),
nor should you simply underline or highlight without any indication why; rather,
try to isolate parts in each novel’s opening and concluding chapters about which
you can write more meaningful “mini-follow-ups” or comments. To put another
way, “write more notes in fewer places,” not vice versa – it’s about strategic note
taking. There is no special formula dictating how much one writes or how many
pages need comments. It’s a personal conversation with the text that will vary
from reader to reader.
For The Elements of Style, write a 20 question quiz (multiple choice, short answer and/or fill in the blank
– done on a word processor) with at least 2 questions from each of the five sections. Include the correct
answers. Your quiz and your annotations will be collected on the first day of class.
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, 4th edition
Publication Date: August 2, 1999
ISBN-10: 020530902X | ISBN-13: 978-0205309023
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Publisher: Scribner (October 17, 2006)
ISBN-10: 0743297334
ISBN-13: 978-0743297332
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren (please make sure your edition features “Willie
Stark,” not “Willie Talos” as the main character.)
Publisher: THOMSON LEARNING; Reprint edition (1996)
ASIN: B001U2M15O