AP English Language and Composition
Summer Reading and Brief Course Overview
M. Wenger
mwenger@ldsd.org
No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and
thought is viscous. ~Henry Brooks Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, 1907
Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow. ~Oliver
Wendell Holmes
Welcome to AP English Language and Composition!
What a daunting, laborious label for a class that seems to exude a sense of intimidation and dread. Can
you meet the challenge? A course that requires a rigorous reading and writing regimen with weekly
timed writings, full American novels assigned quarterly and daily class discussions where participation is
required. A course that analyzes non-fiction written by American icons, heroes, and critics, poetry and
fiction that mirrors the literary movements beginning with the Puritans to the American Modern era, and
visual images that parallel these works. A course that examines rhetoric and language partnered to
strengthen individual expository, argumentative, personal, and imaginative writing. A course that fulfills
collegiate expectations with reading that is extensive; writing so frequent that it will simply make your
hand cramp and convulse uncontrollably for days.
SOAPSTone Strategy
Speaker: Ms. Wenger
Occasion: beginning of new school year
Audience: in-coming juniors taking this AP course
Purpose: to inform and enlighten
Subject: introduction to course and summer reading
Tone: firm, formal, anxiety inducing with a tinge of humor
Syntax: parallelism (“ A course…”)
Diction: academic (“laborious”, “collegiate”, “regimen”)
Language: alliteration (“laborious label”, “rigorous reading..”)
rhetorical question (“Can you meet the challenge?”)
hyperbole (“…cramp and convulse uncontrollably for days)
sentenia (quotes at top of page)
enumeration (“… icons, heroes, and critics..)
While the above commentary is accurate for the course you are about to embark upon, by no means is it
entirely accurate in regards to tone. Admittedly, this course is challenging. If not, it wouldn’t have the
Advanced Placement label. Yes, we will read a lot and write a lot and talk a lot, but we will also share
with one another, laugh (at) and with one another, and learn from one another. I hope that you are up to
the challenge, because I certainly am! (metabasis)
So, let’s get to it!!!!! There is required summer reading for AP English Language and Composition that is varied
and applicable to what we will be discussing all year in regards to style and language that acts as a precursor to the
American Literature focus. Please see me ASAP with questions or concerns you may have regarding the summer
reading assignments.
Summer Reading Texts:
Anderson, Sherwood. Winesburg, Ohio
Davis, Kenneth. America’s Hidden History
Friedman, Thomas. Hot, Flat and Crowded
For the first day of class, please
1. bring your copy of the summer reading texts
2. complete double entry journals for each text or annotated copies of the text which highlights your thoughts,
questions, and insight. Look at language use, style of writing, organization and rhetoric as it is applied in the text
and ask what purpose such technique serves. These notes, thoughts, impressions will be used for in-class writings
and discussion for the first week of class and remainder of the course as they become applicable.
Left-Hand Side
Right-Hand Side
Quote from the text
Visual commentary (drawings, visual analogies,
doodles)
Quote from the text
Reactions (“This bugs, annoys, moves . . . me because .
. .”), reflections (”I wonder if. . .”), musings
(“Hmmm…”), questions (“I wonder why…”) with
possible answers (“Maybe because . . .”)
Quote from the text
Connections


Text to other text(s)—print, visual, aural
Text to self or Text to world
Quote from text
Significance in relation to piece as a whole; relating part
to whole.
Quote from text
Social Questions (Race, class, gender issues)
Quote from text
Naming Literary Techniques
Quote from text
Imitations or parodies of text’s content or style.
Quotes from text
In generating ideas for a paper, relating passages to
your thesis.
3. create a SOAPSTone for each text. I illustrate this technique from my introduction paragraph if you need to see an
example.
4. Print out a copy of literary terms, logical fallacies, and rhetorical devices. It is a great idea to keep these handy
during the reading of the chosen summer texts in order to familiarize yourself with the application of these
strategies.
If you have any questions regarding summer reading or any concerns about the class, please see me before the end
of school your sophomore year.