Babienko AP English Summer Reading Assignment Date: To: From: Re: June 9, 2005 AP English 12 Students Dr. Babienko Summer Assignment Welcome to AP English 12. I look forward to working with you all next year. AP English is a fun, exciting, and challenging course. It is a college level course and you may be able to earn college credit through the AP Exam held in the spring. Your enrollment in the class implies that you are academically motivated students and as such are planning to attend college. Nothing you can do academically will better prepare you for your future studies than reading books – lots of them – and then writing about what you’ve read. Sustain, revive or develop a daily reading habit. Take the time this summer to read as many works of literary merit as you can. In order for us to be able to jump right into the course in August, please complete the following assignment before the start of school: THE TEXTS: Life of Pi by Yann Martel & How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster & Big Fish (film) In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Pi is a young boy in Indian whose father runs a zoo. Pi finds teachers in many places: from an atheist, a Hindu, a Catholic, and a Muslim, and Pi confounds his parents and teachers by embracing all these religions. He tells them, “I just want to love God.” But perhaps his greatest teacher is the one he confronts on the high seas. Sailing from India to Canada, Pi’s ship sinks and he finds himself on a life boat with a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. His survival depends on what he has learned in the past and what he learns each moment on the boat. Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor gives you some insight on how teachers and professors figure out all that meaning stuff about literature. It divides major concepts (symbol, archetype, allusion, pattern, etc.) up into small, easy-to-digest chapters and relates them to popular movies, TV, and literature (for example, there are references to mythology, The Simpsons, Cinderella, The Great Gatsby, The Odyssey, Oedipus, Gilligan’s Island, the Bible, Mark Twain, Shakespeare, and Ghostbusters). Fun and easy to understand, Foster’s book will help ease you into the wonderful world of literary analysis. This book should make for interesting reading and prove to be a valuable resource. Big Fish, a recently released film, is about a young man trying to discover the truth of his and his father’s past. His father is dying and he tries desperately to figure out which stories he’s been told are true and which are false. This film, based on the book by Daniel Wallace, raises fundamental questions about what constitutes reality, and examines the importance of storytelling and mythmaking. (Over>) Babienko AP English Summer Reading Assignment THE BASICS: After you have read the two books and watched the film, write two response papers of 3-4 double-spaced, typed pages (that’s 3-4 pp. for each paper – see prompts on next page). Use 12 point Times New Roman font. Use MLA formatting and citation guidelines (refer to links on my web site if you don’t “remember” these). Make sure that you proofread your work carefully before submitting it – very few things are as distracting as proofreading mistakes. Please put your name and a title on each paper. Be thoughtful and creative, and make sure to refer to the works specifically in your responses. You can read How to Read Literature Like a Professor first and then apply what you learned to Life of Pi and Big Fish OR you can read the book and watch the film and then read How to Read Literature Like a Professor and think back and apply it to the book and film. I think the first way will work best, but it’s your choice. If you’ve already read Life of Pi, read it again after you read How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Remember, the purpose of this assignment is to allow us to start the year off with a common experience. But beyond that, I hope you enjoy reading the books, viewing the film, and become intrigued by the ideas they explore. THE PROMPTS: Response Paper #1: Select A or B. Although these two questions do not ask you to specifically consider How to Read Literature like a Professor, you should use what you have learned about pattern, symbol, archetype, and meaning in write these two papers and direct references to How to Read Literature like a Professor will increase your grade. Title your paper either “Archetypal Patterns” or “Fantasy and Reality” and provide your own subtitle. Example: Archetypal Patterns: The Importance of Water in Life of Pi and Big Fish Remember: Put your title on the top line of your paper and do not use quotation marks or underline it (except for titles of books) A) Archetypal Patterns: In some ways, you couldn’t find two more different stories---one of an American son and father in conflict regarding the truth of the past, one of a young boy from India abandoned on a life boat with a tiger for a companion. Nevertheless, these two stories share some important similarities: Our heroes face challenging problems, must learn how to face and deal with them. What archetypal patterns (journeys, heroes, quest, self-discoveries, metaphorical images) do Life of Pi and Big Fish share? OR B) Fantasy and Reality: In Big Fish, when father Ed Bloom claims, “I tell facts,” his son counters, “You tell lies, dad.” In Life of Pi, Pi encounters similar disbelief about his story from the Japanese transport ministers who insist his story cannot be true. Later in Big Fish one character comments of a story, “I like your dad’s version better.” Regardless of which version of either story you like best, it’s clear that fantasy and reality often compete with one another and even blur in the minds of these characters. How do fantastic tales help or hurt the characters in these two works? What do these two novels suggest about the role of fantasy in man’s existence? AND Response Paper #2: You have just read How to Read Literature like a Professor. Apply at least 3 concepts/ideas that you learned from the book to Life of Pi. The title of your paper should indicate what three concepts/ideas you are discussing. It’s okay if your title is a little long or awkward (Over>) Babienko AP English Summer Reading Assignment Note: Be sure to cite and analyze ample evidence from the text(s) - literary and cinematic - in both of these papers! A FEW MORE THINGS: 1. There will be a test on How to Read Literature like a Professor during the first week of school. You should mark key terms and concepts in your book and know them well; you’ll want to be able to refer back to this book during the year as well. 2. You will be writing an in-class essay on Life of Pi when you return to school. This will take place sometime during the first ten days of class, but only after we have had a chance to discuss the novel in seminar. 3. Optional reading - This year’s AP students wrote down a number of tips for incoming AP students. One of the most common was: develop your knowledge of Greek mythology and the Bible (especially Genesis, Exodus, and the Gospels). Much of Western literature contains biblical and mythological allusions, so if you get a chance to read up on these you’ll be ahead of the game. 4. Discussion Board – Although you won’t be required to post on the discussion board over the summer, you are more than welcome to do so. This is a great way to share your insights, communicate with your peers, and raise questions about the texts. To post on the discussion board, simply go to my website, click on “AP English,” select the link to the discussion board and read the instructions for registration (no login/password required – just beware of bogus “surprise” assignments; my posts will always appear in red). 5. Bring your two 3-4 page response papers and your books to class on the first day of school. Late assignments will not be accepted for credit unless arrangements have been made with me well ahead of time (not the night before the due date). Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the assignment or the course. My web site is located at: http://schools.nsd.org/~nbabienko. I will be adding useful links and additional information over the summer, including a list of some of the major works we will be studying so that you can purchase your own copies if you so desire (highly recommended by this year’s AP English graduates). I look forward to seeing you at the end of August! Sincerely, Nancy Babienko nbabienko@nsd.org