HUMANITIES
2015 Summer Assignment(s)
HUMANITIES I
Read and annotate (using post-its) "Introduction: Pre-history and the Birth of Civilization" inThe Humanistic
Tradition issued during Summer Bridge. As you read, focus on the following essential question: What are the
elements of culture? Your annotations should include summary notes, questions and text to self, text
to world, text to text connections. Please note key dates and terminology. You will have a reading quiz on the
first day of school. *Summer assignment attached – 16 pages.
HUMANITIES II
Purchase and read the following novel:
• Pudd’nhead Wilson (ISBN: 0553211587) by Mark Twain
Assignment: In novel, you must determine what the author is saying about the way in which culture is defined
in our society. Highlight passages in each text that provide textual evidence of your conclusion. Return to
school prepared to participate in a class discussion in which we will examine how culture has been defined in
America throughout our history. You must come to class with your novels highlighted with notes in the
margins. (This applies to e-Readers users too!). Students should be prepared for a reading assessment on the
first day of class.
HUMANITIES IV
Purchase and read the following novel:
• The Alchemist, Paulo Coehlo
There will be a formal assessment the first day of class
AP LITERATURE
Purchase and read the following novel:
• Weep Not Child, Ngugi Wa Thiongo
There will be a formal assessment the first day of class
AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
Assignment number 1: All Juniors will be expected to read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of
Success ISBN-13: 9780316017930. This text will be discussed in various ways across disciplines in your
classes. In AP Language and Composition, we will use the text as a means to define good writing, as an
example of argument, and as an examination of supporting evidence and structure.
Assignment number 2: Read and annotate Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Be
sure to get the revised edition: ISBN-13: 9780062301673. We will use this text throughout the year as a
guide for interpretation, allusion, symbolism, motifs, and more.
Assignment number 3: Choose and read one text listed below. Compose an essaythat reflects how the
style and form of the work makes an impact on the author’s purpose. Avoid plot summary. This essay must
be a minimum of four pages long (typed), must follow MLA documentation and rules, and is due the first
day of class.
• Autobiography
Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez
• Fiction
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
• Political Writing
The Souls of Black Folk by WEB DuBois
• Science and Nature Writing
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
You have three texts to read and an essay to write. Please be sure to start your work no later than midJuly in order to complete all assignments by the 1st day of school.