June 2, 2015
Dear AP English Language and Composition Student,
Below you will find the required summer reading list for the course. We recommend
keeping a critical reading response log in which you record your observations and reflect
on themes and issues that link the works. You can find the Orwell and Huxley books at
most libraries and bookstores.

1984 by George Orwell

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
We also recommend you acquire a style manual to guide you as you refine your writing
skills. Diana Hacker’s Pocket Style Manual or Joseph Williams’ Style: the Basics of
Clarity and Grace are excellent, as is the old standby, Strunk and White’s Elements of
Style. There are also many helpful online guides such as Grammar Girl
(http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ or the Purdue Online Writing Lab
(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/)
You should also become familiar with a columnist/writer who publishes essays on a
weekly/monthly basis. We will ask you to discuss your writer’s unique style when the
course begins (right after Thanksgiving). You may look to the following publications for
examples, or seek out your own publications:
The Detroit Free Press
The Detroit News
The New Yorker Magazine
Harper’s Magazine
The New York Times
Vanity Fair
The Washington Post
Time
The National Review
The Weekly Standard
History News Network (www.hnn.us)
Salon.com
The Atlantic Monthly
The Wall Street Journal
Newsweek
US News and World Report
If you have questions or concerns over the summer, you may contact
Amy Voigt (av01bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us),
Dan Inloes (di01bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us)
While the course will not begin until the second trimester, we recommend that you read
and keep your response logs over the summer.
Amy Voigt
Dan Inloes