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2014/2015 A.P. English Language Students
Mrs. Volansky and Mrs. Maguire
June 2014
Summer Reading Assignments for Next Year
Welcome to A.P. English Language. In this course, you will work to become a “skilled reader of prose written in a
variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and (to become) a skilled writer who composes for a variety of
purposes…. (making you) aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as
well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing” (from AP
English Language and Composition Course Description). To better prepare you for the rigor of the class and for our
initial units of study, the most important thing you can do is begin filling your contextual pool of knowledge by reading.
To that that end, we have selected some of our favorite books that correspond with the thematic questions of our three
units in the fall. You will be required to obtain a composition notebook for AP English Language, in which you will
work to improve your reading, writing and thinking. The following assignments will be your first entries.
For Unit 2 – Education:
Unit Question:
To what extent do our schools serve the goals of a true education?
1. Select one of the three books below to read.
● The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
○ Walls’s memoir about growing up in an incredibly disfunctional family - with educated, intelligent
parents who chose to be homeless drifters.
● Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
○ Douglass recounts his transformation from former slave to abolitionist leader..
● The Smartest Kids in the World… by Amanda Ripley
○ Ripley explores the differences between education in the U.S. and in other higher-scoring countries by
working with three American students who discover what it is like to attend school in Finland, Poland
and Korea.
2. Write a constructed response discussing how the book you have selected enters the unit’s discussion (i.e. how it
responds to the unit’s question). Your response should be around 500 words or so.
You will then again follow the procedure described above for the next two units.
For Unit 3 – Work:
Unit Question:
How does work shape or influence our lives?
Book choices:
● Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
○ Boo immerses herself in the slums of Mumbai to learn the heartbreaking stories of those trying to
survive in a world of inequality.
● Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
○ Schlosser explores “the seismic changes the [fast food] industry has wrought in food production,
popular culture, and even real estate.”
● Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
○ Ehrenreich goes undercover to work in minimum wage jobs at various locations across the country to
see if she can survive on this income.
Unit 4 - Gender:
Unit Question:
What is the impact of the gender roles that society creates and enforces?
(see back)
Book choices:
● I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe
○ Fiction based on a true story about a woman who disguised herself as a man and fought alongside her
husband in the Civil War.
● March by Geraldine Brooks
○ This fictional tale retells the classic, Little Women, from the perspective of the father who writes and
reflects on the harsh realities of war - realities that he completely euphemizes for his wife and
daughters.
● Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
○ This graphic novel tells the true story of a young woman’s coming of age during the Islamic
Revolution; she struggles with discovering her role as a woman in a society with strict gender roles.
● Billy Long’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
○ This satirical tale explores how our culture treats heroes when they return from war. *Please note:
This book contains strong language and deals with adult themes. Please do not choose this book if that
will make you uncomfortable.
Please bring your composition notebook with the three constructed responses on the first day of class. We look
forward to meeting you in the fall!