AP Language & Composition 2013 Summer Reading
For summer reading this year, you will choose one book from each column to read for a total of TWO books to read.
Narrative Nonfiction:
Personal Memoir:
In Cold Blood- Truman Capote
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier- Ishmael Beah
The Devil in the White City- Erik Larson
This Boy’s Life- Tobias Wolff
The Right Stuff- Tom Wolfe
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight- Alexandra Fuller
The Professor and the Madman:
The Woman Warrior- Maxine Hong Kingston
A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and
the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary- Simon Winchester
Assignment:
You will write two essays over your two books. Each essay needs to be 500-700 words in length. Your essays need to
contain the following information:
Subject- the general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text; state the subject in a few words or a short phrase.
Occasion- the time and place of the piece; the current situation- it is particularly important that you understand and
explain the context that encouraged the writing to happen.
Audience- the group of readers to whom the piece is directed. The audience may be one person, a small group or a large
group; it may be a certain person or people.
Purpose- the reason behind the text (i.e. to inform, persuade, entertain, gain sympathy, encourage, gain support)
Speaker- the voice that tells the story. The narrator and author are usually are not the same- if they are (in the case of
memoir), give clear evidence as to why.
Tone- to pinpoint the tone, infer the way the author feels toward the subject or characters, or events, or audience. Does
the narrator or author shift tone? Examples of tone include proud, bold, sarcastic, mocking, joyful, affectionate,
admiration, compassion, happiness, disgusted, fearful, anxious, ironic, intimidated, shallow, confident, insecure,
innocent, playful, anguished, enraged, repulsed, appalled
Authorial Devices and Structures in the Argument- think about the author’s techniques in delivery and how effective
author’s methods are for rhetorical purposes - the use of subtleties, patterns, style, structure, etc.
Changes in point of view/emphasis
Crucial language/vocabulary- not just a word that you don’t understand, but one that seems crucial to understanding
the argument- look these up.
Stylistic techniques: irony, satire, humor, exaggeration, repetition/patterns, possible symbols, significant metaphors and
other notable literary and rhetorical devices
How the author’s structure of the argument/book influence the reader and relate to the subject, audience and purpose
Essay Format Criteria: All essays should be typed using 12 point Times New Roman font. They should have an original
title. All book titles should be italicized, and all book quotes should be punctuated with the page numbers of the quote.
The essay lines should be double-spaced, and all paragraphs should be indented.