Advanced Placement English 12 Summer Reading Assignment
1) Choose one pair of works from the list below. Be sure to choose works that you have not read before.
2) Read the work on the left-hand side first and complete a typed, 30-entry dialectical journal for this novel. Your dialectical journal should focus on Formalistic aspects of the work. You may also apply other critical perspectives; however, you should move beyond Reader Response entries.
3) Read the corresponding work from the right-hand side of the list and complete a typed, 30-entry dialectical journal for this work. Your second novel complements the first in some way, so you should consider their relationship in your entries. This journal should integrate several critical approaches, particularly the Formalistic, Sociological, Historical, Marxist, and Feminist.
4) You will turn your journals in on the first day of school. Be prepared for a timed writing the first week of school. Absolutely no late work will be accepted. If you have questions, please e-mail me at akrall@bcps.org.
Othello William Shakespeare and Native Son Richard Wright
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte and Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
A Passage to India E.M. Forster
Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton and and
The Inheritance of Loss
July’s People
Kiran Desai
Nadine Gordimer
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
Return of the Native Thomas Hardy and and and
Things Fall Apart
Frankenstein
Sula
Chinua Achebe
Mary Shelley
Toni Morrison
Great Expectations Charles Dickens
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte and Bless Me,Ultima Rudolfo Anaya
Vanity Fair
William Makepeace Thackeray
Portrait of a Lady Henry James
and One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel Garcia Marquez and and
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
Nervous Conditions Tsitsi Dangarembga
Be sure to include your name and the title and author of the work at the top of the first page of each journal. Please staple or paperclip your journals so that you do not lose any of your work.

How Should I Prepare for My Senior Year?
1.
Read independently. Read your summer reading choices. Read other fiction choices. Read nonfiction. Read the newspaper. Read about potential colleges. Read!
2.
Research colleges. Talk to older siblings and friends about their college selection process. Look over the websites of potential colleges. Request that they mail you viewbooks. (You do not have to begin applying or writing essays yet. We will complete these processes in English class this fall.)
3.
Visit colleges and take tours. Try to see a variety of schools—different sizes and different locations—to get a better idea of what’s out there and what’s right for you.
4.
Volunteer. Volunteering looks good on your resume, and more importantly, makes you a better person and the world a better place.
5.
Work. Working also looks good on a resume (and helps you pay for college), but the skills that you gain from the experience are even more valuable.