INDEPENDENT BOOK PROJECT
Mr. Watson, AP Literature and Composition
100 points
Due Date: _______________________________________
Your goal is to read a book of your choice and demonstrate what you’ve learned in a twopart project.
Book guidelines:
1) It needs to come from the AP list of books provided on the following page.
2) For each of my AP classes, only one student can read each title. First come, first
serve!
3) The book should be one that the student has not read before the project (or plans
to read as part of the current academic year’s classes).
You must tell Mr. Watson your book and Part Two project choice as soon as you decide.
I also reserve to right to limit the number of students who can do the same Part Two idea,
so the sooner, the better!
After you have read the book, you must complete two parts of your Project.
PART ONE (worth 50 points total):
Please TYPE up the answers to the following. You may write it in an essay format.
I.
Summarize the book in no more than two paragraphs, but be detailed in
character names, plot events, and main conflict/resolution.
II.
What is the main theme of the book? Remember, a theme is a full sentence
that can be argued. Give at least three examples from the book that illustrate /
prove the theme you indicate.
III.
How does the book connect with any of our major texts that we’ve read as a
class this year (Catch-22, Pride and Prejudice, one of our short stories, etc.)
OR literary books that you’ve previously read? (Note: Harry Potter, the
Twilight series, etc. do NOT count as "literary." Pick books you would expect
to show up on an AP Exam test.) Give at least three pairs of examples; make
sure to explain why/how your book connects to other text(s).
PART TWO (worth 50 points):
Pick one of the twenty ideas on the following pages to demonstrate your comprehension
and understanding of the book by synthesizing your knowledge with a creative product.
The key here is creative; use the guidelines for each idea as a minimal requirement for
completion.
If you have any questions along the way, please ask me! Each student will share their
summary and Part Two project with the rest of the class on the due date given.
Have fun!
IBP: AP Literature and Composition List of Books (2010)
Author
Robert Penn Warren
William Faulkner
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Kate Chopin
Herman Melville
Ralph Ellison
James Joyce
Toni Morrison
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George Orwell
Rudolfo Anaya
Fyoder Dostoyevsky
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Alice Walker
Alan Paton
Arthur Miller
Tennessee Williams
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Anton Chekhov
Charles Dickens
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Henrik Ibsen
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Peter Shaffer
Jane Austen
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Ernest Hemingway
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Mary Shelley
John Steinbeck
Joseph Conrad
Title
All the Kings's Men
As I Lay Dying
The Sound and the
Fury
Absalom, Absalom!
Light in August
The Awakening
Moby-Dick
Invisible Man
Portrait of an Artist as
a Young Man
The Bluest Eye
Beloved
Song of Solomon
1984
Author
Leo Tolstoy
Charlotte Bronte
Thomas Hardy
Title
Anna Karenina
Jane Eyre
Jude the Obscure
Gustave Flaubert
Virginia Woolf
Richard Wright
E.M. Forster
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Tom Stoppard
Bless Me, Ultima
The Brothers
Karamazov
Crime and
Punishment
The Idiot
The Color Purple
Chinua Achebe
Samuel Beckett
Madame Bovary
Mrs. Dalloway
Native Son
A Passage to India
The Scarlet Letter
Rosencrantz and
Guilderstern are Dead
The Stranger
The Plague
Brave New World
Their Eyes Were
Watching God
Things Fall Apart
Waiting for Godot
Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights
Henry James
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Kurt Vonnegut
William Shakespeare
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August Wilson
Ivan Turgenev
Leslie Marmon Silko
Cormac McCarthy
Mark Twain
The Portrait of a Lady
The Turn of the Screw
Slaughterhouse-Five
King Lear
The Tempest
Fences
Fathers and Sons
Ceremony
All the Pretty Horses
The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
Cry, the Beloved Country
Death of a Salesman
A Streetcar Named Desire
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
The Cherry Orchard
David Copperfield
Bleak House
Great Expectations
An Enemy of the
People
Hedda Gabler
Equus
Emma
Sense and Sensibility
Mansfield Park
A Farewell to Arms
The Sun Also Rises
For Whom the Bell
Tolls
Frankenstein
Grapes of Wrath
Heart of Darkness
Albert Camus
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Aldous Huxley
Zora Neale Hurston
1. CHARACTER ASTROLOGY SIGNS. After reading brief descriptions of astrology or
sun signs, figure out which signs you think THREE of the main characters from your
book was born under. Write an explanation of why you think they fit the signs, drawing
on their actions, attitudes, and thoughts from the book.
2. HEROES AND SUPERHEROES. Take your protagonist and select THREE people your
character would think of as a hero or superhero. (Heroes can be real people or
imaginary.) Describe the characteristics of each hero and why those characteristics
would be important to your protagonist, AND at least ONE characteristic/superpower
from EACH hero that your protagonist would most want, and why.
3. COLLEGE APPLICATION. Get or print off a real college application (from the Internet
is fine). Fill it out from the point of view of one of your main characters; base it as much
as what the book tells you and infer the rest. For the essay portion, type at least one
double-spaced page. (If no essay section, see Mr. Watson.)
4. CREATE A HOME PAGE. Select one of your main characters and create a home or
MySpace page. This can be “virtual” (on a piece of 22” x 28” or bigger posterboard) or
actually posted on the web; however, print off pages to share, since we will not be able to
access the site at school. Include pictures, appropriate backgrounds and text, and at least
FIVE website favorite links. Be sure to write up a short explanation of how you made the
decisions you did and what you believe this tells us about the character.
5. CHAT ROOM / INSTANT MESSAGE CONVERSATIONS. Imagine that TWO or
more or your characters meet online and begin talking. (If it’s a chat room, which room
and why?) Write at least one page of the transcript of their conversation.
6. CARTOON STRIP / COMIC BOOK. Create a comic strip or book of at least SIX boxes
or panels to dramatize a dramatic event from the book. Use a piece of posterboard (22” x
28” or bigger), folded or kept flat. Be sure to use both text and images.
7. DREAM VACATION. Where do you think one of your main characters would most like
to go on vacation? Pick a spot, and print at least TWO pages from the Internet (or get a
travel brochure) detailing the location. Type up a one page paper that gives a seven day
journal/itinerary detailing the character’s trip; be sure to explain in your first “entry” why
he or she would go there.
8. MUSIC SOUNDTRACK. Divide your book into at least FIVE sections. Find a piece of
music or a song that you feel best captures the feel or tone for each section. Type up a
one page paper describing each song/piece and explain why it best fits each section.
(You may bring in the music to share if you like.)
9. POETRY. Write THREE poems in response to the novel. The poems can be about the
characters, setting, or the themes of the book. One of these poems can be a Found Poem,
taking a passage from the book that you feel has particularly powerful or interesting
imagery and words and rearranging them in verse form. (See F451 example.)
10. FILE A COMPLAINT. Adapt the persona of one of the characters of the book who you
feel was unfairly portrayed in a sexist, homophobic, or racist manner. Write a letter of
complaint to the publisher explaining what you feel was unjust in your portrayal (give at
least THREE examples) and explain the actions you would like the author to take to
remedy the biased portrayal.
11. TALK TO THE AUTHOR. Write a letter to the author of the book explaining to him or
her why you think he or she wrote the book and what he or she was trying to show
through the book (bigger themes, morals, etc.). Be sure to explain what you got out of
the book. If the author is still alive, mail him or her a copy of the letter via the publisher
of the book!
12. CHARACTER MONOLOGUE. Take one significant event/moment in the story, pick
the point of view of ONE character, and write a one page monologue based on their
perspective of the event. You can adapt the text and embellish as necessary. Perform the
monologue in character for the class; before beginning, make sure to briefly introduce
what is going on in the scene so we can follow the action. Make sure it's a dramatic
moment, not just narration!
13. ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGES. Select FIVE characters from the book and
record an appropriate answering machine / voice mail greeting for each. These greetings
should reveal character and information from the book. Pay particular attention to diction
and tone. Turn in the recordings on a CD-R (which will be played for the class) along
with a copy of your “script.” (Note: for added realism, use mobile phones to make
beeps, and actually call through a speaker phone so the voice sounds “canned.”)
14. NAME ANALYSIS. Select THREE characters from the book. Look up each name in
name books / web searches (baby name books and sites can help!). Write your found
meanings down, and write a paragraph for each character explaining in what ways the
name is suitable and in what ways the name does not fit the character.
15. ADVERTISEMENTS. Pick ONE major character of the book. To show your
understanding of the character, go through several magazines and newspapers looking for
advertisements of FIVE goods you think your character would like. Do not make up or
draw advertisements; find existing ones! Cut out the pictures, post them on posterboard,
and under each picture explain why each product would appeal to your character.
16. DRAW A SCENE, CHARACTER OR OBJECT. Pick ONE important scene, character
or object from the book and draw it the way you see it. (Material and media is up to the
artist, but size should be at least 22” x 28”.) Type up a short explanation for what the
focus is, and why you represented it the way you did. Note: no reproductions of book
covers or movie posters! The picture should be original.
17. CREATE A CHARACTER’S ROOM. We learn a lot about people by what they keep in
their closets, what they have on their walls, what they select to put in a room. Select
ONE character you know well and create a living room, bedroom, kitchen, etc. that
would mean a lot to the character. Create a diorama, draw it, or write about it. Make
sure to include an explanation of your choices of style, objects, etc. in the room.
18. CD COLLECTION / MP3 PLAYLIST. Design a CD collection or playlist for ONE
character you know well, being sure that the collection includes music that expresses as
many aspects of the character as you are aware of. You must include at least FIVE CDs /
songs. Make sure to explain each CD/song choice. (You may bring in the music to share
if you like.)
19. CHARACTER ALPHABET. Choose ONE character you liked and then create sentences
based on the alphabet scheme that demonstrates your knowledge of the character. For
example:
A is for the ABSENCE that made Romeo’s heart grow fonder for Juliet.
B is for the BANISHMENT of Romeo after killing Tybalt. . . .
20. COMPOSE A SONG / RAP. Write a two-minute song or rap that you will perform for the
class. The song can be a parody or completely original; it must be age-appropriate; it should
concentrate on ONE character, major event, or theme from the book. On the day of the
performance, you must introduce the song first (explain its point of view and what it’s about) and
turn in the lyrics to Mr. Watson. If the song is vulgar or crude, you will get a zero for Part B of
the project.
Adapted from Diana Mitchell’s “Fifty Alternatives to the Book Report (Teaching Ideas),” English Journal 87.1 [January 1998]: 92-95.
Fahrenheit 451 Found Poem
WHERE THEY BURN BOOKS,
THEY WILL END . . .
It was a pleasure
to Burn
to see things eaten
blackened
and changed.
With the brass nozzle in his fists
This great python
Spitting its venomous kerosene
upon the World
The blood pounded in his head
His hands
The hands of an amazing Conductor
Playing all the symphonies of
Blazing and
Burning to
Bring down the
Tatters and charcoal ruins of
History.
---Adam Watson, 2007