Ridley High School
Advanced Placement Literature Course #145
Summer Reading Assignment 2015
DUE: Tuesday, September 8, 2015
This year you will be selecting your own summer reading from a series of
choices. Select one book from Column A, one book from Column B, and
one book from Column C. The numbers in parentheses in Column A indicate
how many times the book has appeared as a choice on the AP English open
response. Although the size of Invisible Man or Moby Dick seems daunting, your
diligence may be rewarded when it appears as a literature choice on the AP test.
After you have read your selected pieces, you will respond to them in several
short essays, similar to what you will produce for the AP exam. In each essay,
you will analyze a major theme derived from your chosen work, using textual
evidence (excerpts) to examine how this theme is developed and presented
throughout the work. Each essay should address the “big idea” -- the major
concern driving the piece. You should fluidly incorporate quotations (excerpts)
that demonstrate these ideas and devote significant time to analyzing each
quote.
In order to produce an essay of this depth successfully, you must keep detailed
notes as you read each text. Your notes should record significant events,
characters, themes, quotes, and include page numbers for reference. These
notes can--and should--also include your personal reactions to the text. Please
use the attached “AP Literature Novel Review Sheet” to record your notes.
Please note that your essays will not be accepted without your note
sheets.
Summary of Requirements:
* Choose three texts to read, one from Column A, one from Column B, and
one from Column C.
* Three sets of notes, one for each text (mandatory)
* Three essays, each 1 to 2 pages in length, typed, MLA style, using a
minimum of 3 quotes, addressing a major theme in each work (3 essay
grades)
This class will be intensive and time-consuming, but the benefits and rewards will
be equal to the amount of effort you invest. As Sophocles wrote, “Success is
dependent on effort.” It is imperative that you begin this year in a way that
insures your success. Completion of this assignment is essential to that success.
There are no excuses in AP English. If you have any questions or difficulties
completing this assignment, or if the expectations set forth here are unclear, you
must contact the course instructor:
Mrs. Theresa Gawbill (tgawbill@ridleysd.org) I look forward to meeting each
of you in the fall. Enjoy your summer and happy reading!
COLUMN A
* Frankenstein Mary
Shelley (4)
*Moby Dick by Herman
Melville (15)
*Invisible Man by Ralph
Ellison (26)
*As I Lay Dying by
William Faulkner (9)
*Ceremony by Leslie
Marmon Silko (11)
*The Bluest Eye by Toni
Morrison (3)
*Native Son by Richard
Wright (9)
*Anna Karenina by Leo
Tolstoy (8)
*Candide by Voltaire
(9)
* Tess of the
D’Urbervilles by
Thomas Hardy (5)
* The Jungle by Upton
Sinclair (8)
* A Passage to India by
E. M. Forster (8)
* Madame Bovary by
Gustave Flaubert (7)
* Portrait of a Lady by
Henry James (7)
* The Age of Innocence
by Edith Wharton
* Gulliver’s Travels by
Jonathan Swift (6)
* Moll Flanders by
Daniel Defoe (6)
* Mrs. Dalloway by
Virginia Woolf (6)
* The Sun Also Rises by
Ernest Hemingway (6)
*Lord Jim by Joseph
Conrad (7)
COLUMN B
* A Prayer for Owen
Meany by John Irving
* Slaughterhouse Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
* Snow Falling on
Cedars by David
Guterson
* Woman Warrior by
Maxine Hong Kingston
* The Kite Runner by
Khaled Hosseini
* Atonement by Ian
McEwan
* Cat’s Eye by Margaret
Atwood
* The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
* The Color Purple by
Alice Walker
* Lord of the Flies by
William Golding
* The Member of the
Wedding by Carson
McCullers
* Native Speaker by
Chang-Rae Lee
*Going After Cacciato
by Tim O’Brien
* Bless Me, Ultima by
Rudolfo Anaya
* All the Pretty Horses
by Cormac McCarthy
*In the Time of the
Butterflies by Julia
Alvarez
*Ragtime by E.L.
Doctorow
*Reservation Blues by
Sherman Alexie
*Brave New World by
Aldous Huxley
Obasan by Joy Kogawa
AP Literature Novel Review Sheet
COLUMN C
* A Raisin in the Sun by
Lorraine Hansberry
*Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
by Tennessee Williams
* The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
*The Piano Lesson by
August Wilson
*Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
* The Cherry Orchard
by Anton Chekhov
* Equus by Peter Shaffer
* Hedda Gabler by
Henrik Ibsen
* Fences by August
Wilson
* The Little Foxes by
Lillian Hellman
* The Importance of
Being Earnest by Oscar
Wilde
* Long Day’s Journey
Into Night by Eugene
O’Neill
* No Exit by Jean Paul
Sartre
* Angels in America by
Tony Kushner
*Antigone by Sophocles
* Dr. Faustus by
Christopher Marlowe
* Medea by Euripedes
*Mrs. Warren’s
Profession by George
Bernard Shaw
* Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern are Dead
by Tom Stoppard
* Our Town by
Thornton Wilder
Title:_______________________________Date Published/Movement:____________________
Author:_____________________________Genre/s:__________________________________
Prominent Characters:
Major Plot Events:
Point of View:
Notable Text Structure Features:
Climax of the Story:
Characteristics/ What they represent in the novel
Resolution:
Major Themes/Philosophical Arguments of the work (MEANING OF THE WORK AS A
WHOLE):
Major Literary Devices:
List Any Significant Quotes:
Thesis Statement #1:
Thesis Statement #2: