AP English Summer Reading
2014-2015
The Return of the Native
Thomas Hardy
Students enrolled in AP English for the 2014-2015 school year are required to actively read and
complete journal entries on the following texts:
Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native
This assignment will comprise a major portion of the first quarter grade. A written evaluation on
these texts will be the year’s first test grade, and the journal, collected on the first class after Labor
Day, will count as two test grades. Furthermore, much of the first quarter will be devoted to reading
and discussion of Far From the Madding Crowd, and we will continually reference both texts
throughout the year. The quality of your work on this assignment will have far-reaching
consequences, so please put in your strongest effort and complete this in a punctual manner.
Below are some specifics about these books and the accompanying journal. A scoring guide for
each journal entry is attached.
How to Read Literature Like a Professor
This book is an easy-to-read introduction to the patterns of symbolic meaning in literary texts, and is
a helpful secondary source for AP English.
You are to complete two journal entries after (or while) reading this book. You are to choose
two separate “texts”—a text could be a scene from a movie, poem, play, story, chapter from a novel,
song lyric, etc.—and explain how each text reflects one or more of Foster’s ideas. The texts you
write about must not be one discussed in Foster’s book, or The Return of the Native. See the
additional specifics about the journal entries at the end of this handout.
The Return of the Native
The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy’s sixth novel, was originally published serially in 1878; Hardy
revised it for later editions afterwards. It is the second of a series of works to be set in “Wessex,” an
imaginary rural region of Southwest England. It tells the story of passion and romantic intrigue
involving four people who live in an especially remote and untamed area called Egdon Heath, and
explores such topics as love, sexuality, and the relationship of fate to human happiness. It is a
complex and poignant novel, and if you read it with care and rise to its challenges you may find it to
offer a rich and rewarding reading experience.
You are to complete seven reflective journal entries, one directly after reading each of the following:
Entry 1: Book I, Chapters 1-5
Entry 2: Book I, Chapters 6-11
Entry 3: Book II
Entry 4: Book III
Entry 5: Book IV
Entry 6: Book V
Entry 7: Book VI (This last one should be particularly reflective about the book as a whole, as well
as these specific chapters.)
Tips for reading The Return of the Native:

With a novel this long, you need to keep track of both names and places. I suggest starting a
list of them (separate from the journal entries), updating the list as you finish each chapter,
and referring to that list when you need to.

Read with a pen in hand, making notes in the margins of the text when you are confused,
amused, moved, or find some startling significance in a particular passage.

Please read slowly, and pay careful attention to detail. If you burn through a novel of this
complexity you will get very little of value from it.

Don’t read SparkNotes or any other such materials with The Return of the Native. You want to
have an original reading experience, and such aids can ruin such an experience. (And you
should think of reading a work of imaginative literature as just that, an experience.)
Specifics about the journal entries:

You should have a total of nine journal entries: seven on The Return of the Native and two on
How to Read Literature Like a Professor.

The journal entries are to be completed as you read The Return of the Native, not afterwards.
They are meant to help you read the novel actively.

You may type or handwrite the journal. If you type it, make sure you double-space; if you
handwrite it, make sure it is written neatly.

Label the journal entries so I know which installments or chapter(s) you are referring to.

The journal will be collected the shortly after Labor Day and will comprise two test grades.
There will be a ten point deduction if handed in late, more if excessively late.

Above all, please try to make your journal entries interesting, lively and responsive narratives.
In Summary
Just to make it clear what you have to do, here’s the summer reading assignment simplified as far as
possible:

Read The Return of the Native and complete seven accompanying journal entries.

Read How to Read Literature Like a Professor, and complete two accompanying journal entries.
That’s it…enjoy the summer!