Orange County Schools
2014 Summer AP English Language & Composition Required Reading
Required Assignment for all rising 11th grade AP Language and Composition
students
We have selected the following two books for our summer reading. We have attempted to
select texts which will nurture in our students a love of reading. We recommend that students
and parents read the descriptions carefully and make an informed decision, selecting titles that
are appropriate titles for their summer reading.
We have included a short summary of our selections. Should a selection be objected to,
we have listed an alternate text as well. 1. No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the
Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the
Process, by Colin Beavan
Summary: What does it really take to live eco-effectively? For one year, Colin Beavan swore
off plastic and toxins, turned off his electricity, went organic, became a bicycle nut, and tried
to save the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his young daughter and his
Prada-wearing wife along for the ride. Together they attempted to make zero impact on the
environment while living right in the heart of Manhattan, and this is the sensational, funny,
and consciousness-raising story of how they did it. With No Impact Man, Beavan found that
no-impact living is worthwhile--and richer, fuller, and more satisfying in the bargain.
(Summary taken from Amazon.com)
2. Alternate selection: The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
Summary: “Is Google making us stupid?” When Nicholas Carr posed that question, in a
celebrated Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the
Internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As
we enjoy the Net’s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply?
Now, Carr expands his argument into the most compelling exploration of the Internet’s
intellectual and cultural consequences yet published. As he describes how human thought has
been shaped through the centuries by “tools of the mind”—from the alphabet to maps, to the
printing press, the clock, and the computer—Carr interweaves a fascinating account of recent
discoveries in neuroscience by such pioneers as Michael Merzenich and Eric Kandel. Our
brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences.
The technologies we use to find, store, and share information can literally reroute our neural
pathways. (Summary taken from Amazon.com)
These reading selections have been reviewed by a district committee consisting of a school
level administrator, English Language Arts teachers, a district director, and school media
specialists. These books may have been challenged by other districts which is why we have
provided a summary of the selections, as well as an alternate text, so that you and your
family may make an informed choice.
THE ASSIGNMENT:
Assignment Goals We believe that we learn to read through reading. With this in mind, the purpose of the summer assignment is multi­fold: • To learn and practice close reading skills essential to becoming successful AP students. • To focus on more than just plot, looking at HOW the author creates meaning, uses diction, style, structure, and literary elements. • To reap the intrinsic and long­term rewards of reading, like empathy for human issues and increased vocabulary. Evaluation In order to achieve the above goals, you must try and complete every assignment. Your efforts will be evaluated in the following ways: • Your reading journal, due first day of class, will be evaluated for completion and effort. • During the first weeks of school, you will use the novel as an in­class text to complete various assignments with instructor guidance. • In the second or third week of class, you will write an in­class commentary/essay. Your instructor will select a significant passage for you to analyze with a focus on author purpose and style. * You will need to bring the novel with you for the first two to three weeks of class. Assignment Specifics • You may opt to complete the assignment in a notebook or as a Google Document. No matter which mode you choose, you should format the assignments following the guidelines below and have the completed assignment ready to submit on the first day of class. • Divide the novel you choose into three equal parts. Each third comes with its own entries. • Label each of the assignments with date completed, assignment title, and page numbers addressed in the assignment. See below: July 14, 2014 MLA Bibliographic Entry pages 1­93 First Third of the Book: As you continue to read through the first section of the text, go back and add to your responses for this section's activities so they reflect an understanding of the section as a whole. Assignment Instructions Title Length Specificatio
n MLA
Citation/
Expectation
1 citation,
1 paragraph
Write or type an MLA citation for the book: (1) author, last
name first (2) Title of book (3) Publication place, publisher,
latest copyright (4) date of original punctuation.
After the citation, read the front and back cover of the book
and then write a paragraph about what you expect from the
book.
Speaker
Who is the voice behind the text? Do not describe the speaker ½ page as the author, but instead as the voice behind the message.
Write a paragraph about the speaker and consider the
questions below:
• Does the speaker have any particular bias that could influence the message? • What experience(s) does the writer/speaker bring to the text? • What is the speaker's attitude toward the subject and events in the book? How do you know? Occasion Identify the context of the novel. What prompted the author to ½ page write this novel? How do you know? Include at least 2 specific references to the text. Consider the time at which the novel was
released or written. Why did the author write the book Audience To whom do you think the author INTENDED his message? 1 paragraph How do you know? Use at least two specific references from the
text. Is there any audience you feel that the speaker was not directing his message towards or was neglecting? Support your answer. Style­ Figurative Language Rhetoric is essential to an author who sells this type of book­ the All parts a­c author must create memorable phrases that drive home his/her addressed claim. Find an example of a figure of speech (metaphor, simile, personification, oxymoron, irony, hyperbole, symbol, allusion, etc.) (a) Record the example (b) identify the technique (c) explain
its meaning in the context of the book. How is it important to the
author making his point? Style­ Syntax Find an example of a rhetorical technique (rhetorical question, All parts a­c parallelism, repetition, anaphora, paradox, antithesis, addressed parenthesis). (a) Record the example (b) identify the technique (c) explain how it is used for effect more than saying it another way. How is important to the author making his point? Diction Choose one page from this section and choose 5 significant List and 1 words. Label each of the words as having a positive or negative paragraph connotation, or as neutral. Is the diction formal? Informal? Make
use of colloquialisms or slang? Freewrite and discuss how the diction is important to your understanding of the book and the author's purpose. Second Third of the Book: As you continue to read through the second section of the text, go back and add to your responses for this section's activities so they reflect an understanding of the section as a whole. Assignment Instructions Title Length Specification StyleFigurative
Language
All parts a­c addressed Find an example of a figure of speech (metaphor, simile,
personification, oxymoron, irony, hyperbole, symbol, allusion,
etc.) (a) Record the example (b) identify the technique (c) explain its meaning in the context of the book. How is it important to the author making his point? Style­ Syntax Choose one paragraph from this section and do a syntactical Chart and 1 analysis: Construct the following chart for each sentence of the paragraph paragraph: Column 1: First 4 words Column 2: All verbs Column 3: Figurative language/imagery Column 4: Repetition/Parallelism Column 5: Total number of words Then, in a paragraph, respond to the observations you made and
the revealings of the chart. Comment on author style. Diction Choose one page from this section and choose 5 significant List and 1 words. Label each of the words as having a positive or negative paragraph connotation, or as neutral. Is the diction formal? Informal? Make
use of colloquialisms or slang? Freewrite and discuss how the diction is important to your understanding of the book and the author's purpose. Key Passage Choose a striking passage from this section that you find Copied important to the overall meaning of the novel­ a passage may bepassage and a line, quote, any amount of text. Copy the passage into your 1 paragraph journal and then freewrite about the passage, answering at least
two of the following questions: What is the author trying to achieve with this passage? Why is it striking or important? How
is this passage typical of the author's style? Final Third of the Book: As you continue to read through the last section of the text, go back and add to your responses for this section's activities so they reflect an understanding of the text as a whole. Assignment Instructions Title StyleFigurative
Language
Length Requirement Find an example of a figure of speech (metaphor, simile,
All parts a­c personification, oxymoron, irony, hyperbole, symbol, allusion, addressed etc.) (a) Record the example (b) identify the technique (c) explain its meaning in the context of the book. How is it important
to the author making his point? Style­ Syntax Find an example of a rhetorical technique (rhetorical question, All parts a­c parallelism, repetition, anaphora, paradox, antithesis, addressed parenthesis). (a) Record the example (b) identify the technique (c) explain how it is used for effect more than saying it another way. How is important to the author making his point? Diction Choose one page from this section and choose 5 significant List and 1 words. Label each of the words as having a positive or negative paragraph connotation, or as neutral. Is the diction formal? Informal? Make
use of colloquialisms or slang? Freewrite and discuss how the diction is important to your understanding of the book and the author's purpose. Tone (Consider the whole book) Nonfiction titles often differ from fiction in tone; they may
often be argumentative, investigative, journalistic, satirical,
scholarly, etc. Find five words that describe the tone of this
novel (You may find a tonal chart on Barnhardt's website if
you need it) and explain each choice. Explain how the tone is
effective for the author's argument.
1 page
Personal
Response
Each of these nonfiction books is essentially an argumentinquiring into problems, examining, solutions, trying to
¾ page
(Consider the whole book) persuade others to notice something, think about something,
change something. They are trying to challenge the status quo
or norms. What do you believe is the author's central
argument or claim? Explain how it is relevent to you and
agree or disagree with the author's argument.