AP English – Literature and Composition - Summer Reading
Mr. Trainor
Required Reading and Writing Assignments:
1) Mythology – Edith Hamilton - Provided
Understanding Mythological allusions is important in the analysis of many pieces
of classical literature. Instead of teaching allusions as they arise, I would like for
you to read the Hamilton’s Mythology.
You will have a test on the information in Mythology when you return to
school. Take NOTES to use as a study tool!!!! (Test 1st week of school – 100
points)
2) Biblical Allusions chart – Purchase or read online
Understanding Biblical allusions is important in the analysis of many pieces of
classical literature. Instead of teaching allusions as they arise, I would like for
you to read the biblical passages listed below. (Note: the purpose and design of
this assignment is in no way religious; it is designed to provide students with the
background necessary to identify and interpret references to the Bible in
literature).
You will have a test on these allusions upon your return to school in September.
Take NOTES to use as a study tool!!!! (Test 1st week of school – 100 points)
ALLUSION
Creation Story; Fall of Man
Cain and Abel
The Flood
Golden Calf
Jepthah’s Oath
Samson and Delilah
King Solomon’s Wisdom
Patience of Job
Shadow of Death
Seven Deadly Sins
LOCATION
OLD TESTAMENT ALLUSIONS
Genesis 1, 2, and 3
Genesis 4: 1-16
Genesis 6: 9-25
Exodus 32
Judges 11
Judges 16:16
I Kings 3
Job 1, 2, 3; 40, 41, 42
Psalm 23
Proverbs 6: 6-19
NEW TESTAMENT ALLUSIONS
The Beatitudes
Matthew 5:1-12
Fall of a Sparrow
Matthew 10: 27-31
John The Baptist Head on a Platter
Matthew 14: 1-12
Rich man/camel
Matthew 19: 16-26
Judas/silver coins
Matthew 26: 14-16
Golgotha
Matthew 27: 29-34
Gethsemane/ Temptation of Christ
Mark 14: 32-42
Blind leading blind
Luke 6:39-42
Two Foundations
Luke 6:46-49
Parable of the soils
The Good Samaritan
Parable of the Lost Sheep
The Prodigal Son
Render Unto Caesar
Lazarus
Revelation
Luke 8:4-15
Luke 11:29-38
Luke 15:1-7
Luke 15:11-22
Luke 20:19-26
John 11
The Book of Revelation
(Chart and concept borrowed from East Greenwich High School AP Summer reading requirement)
3) Self-Selected Novel or Drama – Purchase or library
Students must read one novel or drama from the AP Book List below. Students must
complete a Literary Analysis Guide (50 Points) and write a 3 page paper (100 Points)
tracing the development of a theme through the piece of literature that has been selected.
The Literary Analysis Guide (50 Points) and the Theme Analysis Paper (100 Points)
are due on the first day of school, Monday, August 27th. Late assignments lose 10%
per day; after 3 days, no late work is accepted.
AP Summer Reading Book List
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
King Lear – William Shakespeare
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austin
Light in August – William Faulkner
The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
A Raisin in the Sun – Lorraine Hansberry
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neal Hurston
Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
The Merchant of Venice – William Shakespeare
The Awakening – Kate Chopin
The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
An Enemy of the People – Henrik Ibsen
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Tennessee Williams
A Doll’s House – Henrik Ibsen
Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy
The Handmaid’s Tale –Margaret Atwood
Billy Budd – Herman Melville
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Wise Blood – Flannery O’Conner
All the Pretty Horses – Cormac McCarthy