Summer Reading Assignment for Rising AP European History Students
UMS-Wright Preparatory School, Summer, 2015
The assignment:
Choose one of the non-fiction books at the bottom of this page. Read and then review the book. Your
book review should contain all of the following elements. You should elaborate on each element with
specific evidence from the book you read. Please be ready to submit your book review on the first day of
school in August.
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A summary of the book
What parts did you find most interesting? Why?
What parts do you have further questions or interest about? Explain why.
What did you learn about European history by reading this book? Please elaborate.
Would you recommend this book to others? Why or why not?
How may the review be completed?
The school will give you your Mac Book in early June and will offer several “Meet Your Mac” training
opportunities this summer. You may type your book review in a Word document. If you prefer to review
your book using an alternative method that incorporates technology, you may:
- create and produce a movie trailer to advertise the book (as if it were a movie)
- create and produce a History Channel-type documentary to review the book
- create and produce an interactive website devoted to the book
- create and/or participate in a blog or threaded discussion with other AP Euro students from
UMS-W who read the same book as you, or who may have chosen one of the other books
If you choose one of these alternative methods of reviewing your book, you must still meet all of the
criteria for a book review (under “The Assignment”). How you do it will be up to you!
How will the assignment be graded?
_____ 10 points = summary of the book’s contents
_____ 10 points = parts you found most interesting (and why)
_____ 10 points = parts you have further questions/interest about (and why)
_____ 10 points = what you learned about European history by reading this book (with elaboration)
_____ 10 points = recommend to others, why or why not?
Total: 50 points (the assignment will go in the Major Assessment category; the Major Assessment
category is 70% of your 1st Quarter grade)
Books (choose 1 of the following to read and review)
1. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King
2. Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King
3. Peasant Fires: The Drummer of Nicklashausen by Richard Wunderli
4. A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos by Dava Sobel
5. Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel