KERR HIGH SCHOOL
PRE-AP English II
Summer Reading
Purpose
One of the goals of the Pre-AP English II course is to prepare you for AP English classes. As
you know, our accelerated block schedule at Kerr can limit our time studying novels during
the school year. Therefore, we are giving you challenging books to study during the summer
so you can take more time to think through the deeper meanings of each work. We will also
be re-visiting these works during the school year, addressing and analyzing certain aspects
of the selections offered on the summer reading list. Moreover, all of these titles are often
used on AP exams. However, regardless of whether you intend to continue with AP courses
or plan to take AP exams, all these choices are examples of famous novels written by
prominent American authors and portray historical and cultural aspects of our nation's past.
Reading Selections
Mandatory for all students:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
Fiction Choices (Pick any one selection of your choice from the list below):
 The Scarlet Letter by N. Hawthorne
 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
 The Awakening by Kate Chopin
 The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
 The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Due Dates
Summer Reading Assignment
The assignment is due on the 2nd day of school, August 26. Summer Reading Assignment
will count as a minor grade. You will need to turn it in with a grade slip in the English
Center. If you need help with turning in the assignment, ask for assistance from Mrs.
Siminic (the counter clerk) or Ms. Volkova. Your will find the directions for the Summer
Reading Assignment below.
Summer Reading Test
The test over summer reading will be on Monday, September 15. The test counts as a
major grade. This test is mandatory for all Pre-AP English II students. You have to
take the test even if you are not taking the course until the second semester.
Failure to take the test will result in a zero. There will be no late testing dates or re-takes. If
you are taking Pre-AP English II during the spring semester and are unable to make
arrangements to switch and take the test during the school day on September 15, make
plans to take the test after school on that same day. Report to the English Center by 2:30
p.m.
If you have any questions or concerns about the summer reading assignment or
the test, please contact Ms. Volkova as soon as possible.
Pre-AP English II Summer Reading – Kerr HS
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Materials Needed
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Required books (see the list above).
One spiral notebook, 70 or more pages, college-ruled suggested.
Pen (blue or black) or pencil (dark lead only please).
Set Up Your Notebook
 On the inside cover, please put your name and your advisory teacher.
 Divide the notebook into 3 sections: How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Fiction
Selection, Nonfiction Selection.
 YOU MUST HANDWRITE YOUR NOTES! Typed notes will NOT be accepted.
 You will use approximately 20 pages for your Summer Reading. The pages you have left
over can be used for work you do throughout your English II Pre-AP course.
Make sure you cite each item of information in your Cornell Notes. Include
the author’s name and page number like you were taught in class. For
example: (Hawthorne 7).
How to Read Literature Like a Professor Section (about ten pages)
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Read the following chapters: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 22, 23, 24.*
Create a set of Cornell Notes for each of the chapters.
Each set of Cornell Notes must have at least ten bulleted items in the record section,
appropriate topics in the recall section, and an effective summary 3-5 sentences long
in the reduce section.
If you follow the directions above and use the model as a guide, you will use about
10 sheets of your notebook paper.
Use the model for How to Read Literature Like a Professor Cornell Notes in this
summer reading packet as a guide.
* If you did not take Pre-AP English I during your freshman year, it is highly
recommended that you read chapters 2, 10, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 25 as well.
However, you are NOT required to take Cornell Notes over these chapters.
Nonfiction and Novel Selections (about 5 pages each)
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Select five chapters from each book: one from the beginning, three from the middle,
and one from the end.
Each set of Cornell Notes must have at least ten bulleted items in the record section,
appropriate topics in the recall section, and an effective summary 5-7 sentences long in
the reduce section.
Your recall section should focus on the major conflicts, character development, and
theme(s). Your record section should provide a mix of quotes, details, and commentary
(mostly quotes). Your reduce section should summarize and explain the significance of
the notes taken for that chapter and their connection to the book in general.
If you follow the directions above and use the model as a guide, you will use about five
sheets of notebook paper for each selection.
Use the model for To Kill a Mockingbird Cornell Notes in this summer reading packet as a
guide
Pre-AP English II Summer Reading – Kerr HS
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Model of Cornell Notes for How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Title: How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
Genre: Reference
Topic: Chapter 1: Every Trip is a Quest
Recall
Record
Quest
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Quester
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Quest consists of a knight, a dangerous road, a Holy Grail, and at
least one dragon, one evil knight, and one princess (Foster 2)
Quest can be broken down into parts: quester, place to go, stated
reason to go, challenges, and a hidden reason to overcome
challenges (Foster 2)
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Quester: hero or protagonist (Foster 3)
Quester does not have to look heroic (Foster 3)
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Some task (usually noble) must be achieved
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Stated reason is never the real reason to complete the task (Foster
3)
The real reason for the quest is always self-knowledge (Foster 3)
Once the real reason is acknowledged the stated reason often fades
away (Foster 5)
The task is just an excuse to go on the journey (Foster 5)
The challenges provide a breaking point for the protagonist where
they have to show their inner strength in order to survive (Foster
5)
Task
Stated Reason
versus
Real Reason
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REDUCE: When a protagonist goes on a journey, that journey is significant because it acts as
a quest. The protagonist may not realize it, but he or she is on the road to self-knowledge.
The challenges the protagonist faces will require that they summon their best self, and this
will transform the protagonist, hopefully for the better.
Pre-AP English II Summer Reading – Kerr HS
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Fiction/Nonfiction Model of Cornell Notes
Title: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Genre: Fiction/Historical
Topic: Chapter 1
Recall
Protagonist
Setting
Man versus Society
Record
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"I was almost six and Jem was nearly ten..." (Lee 7)
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"Our mother died when I was two.." (Lee 7)
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"She [Calpurnia] was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking
me why I could not behave as well as Jem”, "...and I had felt her
tyrannical presence as long as I could remember” (Lee 7)
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"...Atticus always took her side..."(Lee 7)
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The protagonist is also the narrator in the novel and remembers
events she witnessed as a child. After losing her mother as a
toddler, she is reared by her father and their black cook Calpurnia.
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"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town..." (Lee 6)
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"There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy
and no money to buy it with..." (Lee 6)
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"Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear
but fear itself" (Lee 6)
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The novel takes place in a small, sleepy town of Maycomb,
Alabama, during the Great Depression. The allusion to FDR speech
helps enhance the setting by painting the picture of a small sleepy
town in the deep South during the Great Depression, where people
are set on their ways, and little if anything happens or changes.
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“…kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb”
(Lee 9)
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“Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” (Lee 8)
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“Mr. Radley’s boy was not seen again for 15 years” (Lee 10)
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The legend of Boo Radley shows that the people of Maycomb are
generally narrow-minded and prejudiced, willing to turn Arthur
Radley into a source of superstition, a fantastic creature used to
scare the children.
REDUCE: The opening chapter introduces the setting, the protagonist (also the narrator),
and showcases a variety of conflicts. First, the reader sees that the children are fascinated
with their neighbor, Arthur Radley, whose legend has made him a sort of “phantom” (Lee 8)
in the community. Adults and children are scared of him to the point that they believe
superstitions about him including that “Radley pecans would kill you” (Lee 9). There are also
numerous man versus man conflicts including mild ones between Jem and Scout and Jem and
Dill as well as Calpurnia and Scout. The most significant conflicts seem to be the man versus
society ones that revolve around race, religion, and crime. Later on in the book, all of these
conflicts evolve. Scout earns a special respect for Calpurnia; Jem, Scout and Dill develop tight
bonds; Arthur Radley’s true personality emerges, and the Tom Robinson case shows how
race, hypocrisy, and injustice can mix into the distasteful brew of oppression.
Pre-AP English II Summer Reading – Kerr HS
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