SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT – 2013
In just a few more months, school is out for summer. That means it is a time for
celebration, relaxation, and reading! That is right reading. Admit it: you like to read, or you
would not have registered for Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition. If this is
not so, you may seriously want to reconsider taking this course. This is simply to remind you that
summer has its distractions, and it has a way of ending way too soon. In order to keep up with
the assigned reading, it is essential that you pace yourself; otherwise, you will end up hating the
reading and me for assigning it.
Your enrollment in AP English Literature and Composition also tells me that you have a
talent for writing and an aptitude for the study of literature. More importantly, it suggests to me
that you share my love for literature - for unearthing the mysteries of a work, for unraveling the
layers within characters, for contemplating the reasons authors write and the motivations for the
way in which they write. Talent, desire, and intrinsic motivation are necessary for the student
who will succeed in the AP curriculum. Attention to the STYLE of writing – famous authors’
and your own – will be the focus of the entire course. Understanding the strategic style choices
authors make and how those choices impact theme, will allow you to understand all content at a
deeper level. Understanding how to convey your thoughts about the style choices authors make
will be crucial to your success in the writing components of the class. Please be aware that all
students will write an in-class essay during the first two weeks of school where you will have the
experience of writing about your summer reading selection in an AP style prompt. A reading
quiz over your novel choice will be administered during the first week of school. You may use
hand written notes (no typed notes allowed) for the quiz, so expect some specific questions.
Annotating the novel may help you prepare for the quiz.
The summer reading assignment consists of reading your choice of one novel from the
suggested list, and a short list of poems that can be found on the Internet. By "read," I mean you
read the entire work. If you use Sparknotes or a deriviative thereof, you may use them in support
of the actual reading (in other words, the Sparknotes or other help is extra reading along with the
novel). Watching a film version instead of reading also does not count as truthfully completing
the summer reading assignment, though you are certainly welcome to watch a film version as
something extra.
If you are a slow reader, you may listen to an unabridged version of the novel on audio
books. ("Unabridged" means that nothing has been deleted from the original work in order to
make it shorter.) As long as you listen to the entire work, or listen and/or read in some form of
combination that completes the whole work then you will have completed assignment truthfully.
I would recommend reading along with the audio book, which helps reinforce visual reading
skills. Take handwritten notes if you decide to listen to the entire book, or review the written
book during the week before school.
A cautionary note: my reading quizzes are picky, specifically so people who just read
Sparknotes, etc., cannot get the A grades. In this way, I am trying to protect and honor those who
do the complete reading. Because reading quizzes are picky, I recommend reviewing the novel
carefully the week before school starts and creating handwritten notes.
A further note: if you cannot read one novel and a handful or poems over the course of
the summer because of time constraints, you most likely will not be able to do the bulk of the
homework in the class. Please make a schedule change if you do not intend to do the reading for
the class. This course is taught as a college-level English class, and as such, it includes a heavy
workload, especially outside reading. Be prepared to schedule reading into your study time and
to receive frequent writing assignments.
If you have questions, I will check my school email from time to time over the summer.
In the event you need to contact me with ideas and/or questions, email
mary.bentley@saladoisd.org.
Choose one novel from the following list. Read it over the summer.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
1984 by George Orwell
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
Required Poetry reading: “The Mending Wall” by Robert Frost; “To the Virgins, to Make Much
of Time” by Robert Herrick; “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owens; “Ozymandias” by
Percy Bysshe Shelley; “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes.