Summer Reading Assignments
2016-2017 School Year
Note to Parents and Students: Please purchase a copy of each book you/your student has to read, especially so that he/she
can annotate while reading and so that he/she will have it when it is used in the respective class during the school year.
Copies can be ordered online at several websites; you may purchase used copies.
Advanced Placement English Literature & Composition – Mrs. Lohfink (lohfink.melanie@stcharlescatholic.org)
**This
course is for students in the 11thor 12th grade who are enrolled in English IV-AP or V-AP.
Students in this class are either juniors and/or seniors who have requested to take this course. Students must pay the AP
testing fee of $92.00 by Book Day in order to stay in this class.
Please purchase a copy of each book you/your student has to read, especially so that he/she can annotate while reading and so that he/she will have it when it
is used in the respective class during the school year. Copies can be ordered online at several websites; you may purchase used copies.
Texts are listed in the order in which they should be read.
READING ASSIGNMENTS:
(A) How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines, Revised Edition 2014
(red cover) – Thomas C. Foster
This easy-to-read reference book will assist students in breaking down complex texts and will instruct them how to read “between the
lines.” Students are expected to annotate this text as it will be used as a reference throughout the school year. Students will also become
“experts” for some of the chapters, so they should read closely in preparation for selection of their expert chapters.
(B) Read ONE novel selected from
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte (1847)
Part of the bildungsroman genre, follows the emotions and experiences of eponymous character, including her growth to adulthood, and
her love for Mr. Rochester, the byronic master of Thornfield Hall.
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley (1931)
Dystopian novel set in London of AD 2540 (632 A.F.—"After Ford"—in the book), anticipates developments in reproductive
technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning that combine to profoundly change society.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain (1884)
Commonly named among the Great American Novels, written throughout in vernacular English, and characterized by local color
regionalism. Told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn and includes colorful description of people and places along the
Mississippi River.
Atonement – Ian McEwan (2001)
British family saga about understanding and responding to the need for atonement. Set in three time periods of
pre/present/post-World War II England/France and covers a young upper-class girl's half-innocent mistake that ruins lives, and
her adulthood in its shadow, which leads her into a reflection on the nature of writing.
The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize; a vigorous, darkly comic, and at times magical portrait of the contemporary North American
family. When his two-timing wife meets her just desserts, Quoyle, his aunt, and his two emotionally disturbed daughters return
to the starkly beautiful coastal landscape of their ancestral home in Newfoundland and try to cobble up new lives.
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS: (ALL of these assignments must be emailed to lohfink.melanie@stcharlescatholic.org )
(1) College Entrance Essay/Creative Writing Assignment due by 11pm on June 30.
AP students need to be comfortable with the writing process and to develop their writing voice as they will be expressing
themselves analytically and creatively throughout the year.
Choose one of the topics below and write a well-organized, personal 300-500 word essay. Have fun with this assignment; this
is a chance to show off your personality and to demonstrate who you really are. Don’t be afraid to take a risk and to go
somewhere unexpected.
(A) So where is Waldo, really? (Inspired by Robin Ye, student at University of Chicago)
(B) Science and society are filled with rules, theories, and laws such as the First Amendment, PV=nRT, Occam’s Razor,
and The Law of Diminishing Returns. In baseball, three strikes and you’re out. A green light on a roadway means
"go." Pick any law and explain its significance to you. (Courtesy of Tufts University)
(C) Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell us about
an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please
write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay. (Courtesy of Harvard University)
(**Students who are also taking Mrs. Bordelon’s AP or DE class have the assignment above. You may turn in the same essay; however, please realize
that you may not receive the same grade!)
(2) Fiction Analysis Assignment on your summer reading novel choice due by 11pm on July 31. Instructions for assignment in
Dropbox in the Assignments folder.