AP Language and Composition
Summer 2015 Reading Assignment
Mrs. Galimore and Mrs. Shaffer
We are so excited that you will be joining us this year in our adventure together in AP Language and
Composition. As you know, AP Language and Composition is a rigorous class that will challenge you as a
reader, writer, and thinker. We are looking forward to getting to know each of you this year and to explore
together great literature, to push ourselves as writers, and to put into question issues we face in our world today.
We hope you will leave our class this year with the tools you need to succeed in higher education but also to be
an active and responsible member of our society.
This summer we are asking you to complete two assignments. With each assignment we have tried to give you
as much choice in your reading selections as possible. You will be responsible for finding your own copy of the
novels that you choose to read. Having your own copy will allow you to take notes and annotate as you read.
This will help you to become a stronger reader, and it will also help you once you begin the written
assignments. If you borrow one of the school’s copies of the novels or if you get your book from the local
library, you may want to use post-it notes to take notes on as you read.
We have created an Edmodo page so that you can ask questions and post interesting ideas and topics that you
come across in your reading throughout the summer. We will check the page throughout the summer to see how
everyone is doing!
https://edmo.do/j/fhzg8b
Due Dates
 All work is due to your teacher by Friday, August 14, 2015, no matter what semester you are enrolled
in AP Language and Composition. Late work will not be accepted for this assignment.

Feel free to email your assignments to cgalimore@enterpriseschools.net. When I receive your e-mail, I
will respond to you so that you know that I received it. You may also print a hardcopy and turn it in on
Friday, August 14.
Assignment 1
AP English Language and Composition students will select ONE memoir from the list to read, complete an
analysis and create a Pecha Kucha-style presentation (see attachments). I highly recommend viewing Amazon
or Barnes and Noble websites to read book summaries in order to find a favorite. You also may want to visit
commonsensemedia.org to find out about mature content and language. Some books deal with more mature
themes and have stronger language than others. I also recommend purchasing used copies of books to save
money.
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Memoirs
1. Signs of Life by Natalie Taylor
2. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
3. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson
4. Mom and Me and Mom by Maya Angelou
5. Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas
6. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
7. If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home by Tim O’Brien
8. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
9. True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall by Mark Sulzman
10. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
11. Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robison
12. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time by Greg
Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
13. One Writer’s Beginnings by Eudora Welty
14. Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall: How I Learned to Love My Body by Not Looking at It for a Year by
Kjerstin Gruys
15. The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan
16. When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
17. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
18. Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Albright
19. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
20. The Know-It-All : One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J.
Jacobs
21. Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story by Dame Daphne Sheldrick
22. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
23. Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom by Ken Ilgunas
25. Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College by Andrew Ferguson
26. I’m Down by Mishna Wolff
27. Notebooks by Tennessee Williams
28. With and Without Her: A Memoir of Being and Losing a Twin by Dorothy Foltz-Gray
29. Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson
30. Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survival by Carmina Salcido
31. Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrel
32. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks* by Rebecca Skloot
33. All Over But the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg
34. The Other Wes Moore by Wes More
35. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
36. American Sniper by Chris Kyle
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Name_____________________________________
Memoir Discussion Questions
Directions: In paragraph form, answer the following questions after you have read your
selected memoir.
1. What made you want to read this memoir? Did it live up to your expectations? Why or why not?
2. What do you think motivated the author to share his or her life story? How did you respond to the author’s
“voice”?
3. Do you think the author is trying to elicit a certain response from the reader, such as sympathy?
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4. Discuss the book’s structure and the author’s use of language and writing style. How does the author draw
the reader in and keep the reader engaged? Does the author convey his or her story with comedy, self-pity, or
something else?
5. Were there any instances in which you felt the author was not being truthful? How did you react to these
actions?
6. What is the author’s most admirable quality? Is this someone you would want to know or have known?
Why?
7. What did you like or dislike about the book? Were you glad you read this book? Would you recommend it
to a friend? Do you want to read more works by this author?
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Pecha Kucha PowerPoint Presentation
What is it?
Pecha Kucha (pronounced “pe-chak-ka”) presentations started in Tokyo, Japan to keep presentations concise
and interesting. The word “pecha kucha” means “chit-chat” in Japnese. Pecha Kucha presentations follow a
STRICT format. Check out youtube.com and find “Pecha Kucha: Get to the PowerPoint in 20 Slides” by
Daniel Pink.
What is the format?
20 X 20 = 6 minutes and 40 seconds
THAT MEANS…
20 slides X 20 seconds per slide = a 6 minute and 40 second presentation (PowerPoint)
How do you create a pecha kucha presentation? Here are (appropriately) 6 steps:
1. Write your script and time it.
2. Create 20 slides that include a little text and large, striking images (ONE picture on a slide. No more
than THREE lines of text using 30 point font or higher. NO picture and added text on the same slide. Balance
out your pictures and text so that one is not too dominate. DO NOT animate your text or pictures.)
3. Write your script in the note pane of each slide so that you know what you will say for each slide.
Recheck the timing.
4. Set the slides to advance after 20 seconds. Choose “VIEW”>”Slide Sorter”>and select all of the
slides. (Click the first one, press and hold “Shift” and click the last one.)
5. On the Slide Sorter toolbar, click the “Transition” button. (In 2007 choose “Animation”) In the
Advanced Slide section, uncheck the “On Mouse Click” box and check the “Automatically After” box. In the
“Automatically After” text box, enter 00:20.
6. PRACTICE your presentation until you can deliver it within the allotted time.
What will you do with it?
You will create a pecha kucha presentation for the memoir that you choose to read over the summer. This is
your summer assignment. Presentations will be given the first full week we are back to school. Through your
presentation we, as the audience, should have a clear understanding of the author and the story he or she tells.
You can send your presentations to me via e-mail (cgalimore@enterpriseschools.net) or save them to a flash
drive. Even if you do not have AP English Language your first semester you are required to turn in your
presentations! If you have any questions over the summer feel free to e-mail.
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Pecha Kucha Presentation
Criteria:
*20 slides
*20 seconds per slide (6 minute and 40 second presentation) Slides should automatically transition from
one slide to the next
*One picture on a slide
OR
*No more than three (3) lines of text on a slide
(Do not have ALL pictures or ALL text. Try to even this out)
*Text no smaller than 30 point
*You can add your script on the notes pages of the slideshow and print it out to use in your presentation.
Pecha Kucha PowerPoint Presentation Rubric
0
1
2
3
No slides
1-9 slides
10-19 slides
20 slides
No seconds per slide
1 -9 seconds per slide
10-19 seconds per
slide
20 seconds per slide
No presentation
Presentation shows
major lapses in timing
and delivery
Presentation shows
some lapses in timing
and delivery
Presentation is timed
and delivered well
No slides
Only a few slides
meet requirements
Most slides meet
requirements
All slides meet
requirement
(either one picture
per slide or no more
than three lines of
text)
No presentation
Overall presentation is Overall presentation is Overall presentation is
below average
satisfactory
exceptional
Total Score: ___________________
0-4 = F (50)
5-7 = D (70)
8-10 = C (80)
11-13 = B (90)
14-15 = A (100)
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Assignment 2
We are not going to start our class lightly. We will immediately dive into an issue that is of great importance in
our world, especially in light of the barrage of information we face every day in the age of technology. We
hope that the materials you will encounter this summer will challenge your perspectives on what you read and
view on all of the screens we have available to us: the computer screen, the television screen, and the film
screen.
Address the Issue of Censorship
1. Read the following texts:
 Pick One of the Following Novels:
o Brave New World- Alduous Huxley (We have a few copies of these if you need to borrow one).
o 1984 George Orwell
 “With a No. 2 Pencil, Delete” – Anna Quindlen (this article can be found at the following link:
http://performanceassessment.org/articles/pa_no2.html or by scanning the QR code)
2. Find an article, essay, or blog on censorship
 This source can be from any website. However, make sure that you use a source that is credible and
reliable. You may want to use the following publications’ websites to start your research: Newsweek,
Time, USA Today. Make sure that the source you find has been published since 2008 so that it presents
a current view of censorship.
3. Keep a double-entry journal as you read either 1984 or Brave New World:
 Your journal needs to include at least 15 entries. These entries may include the following:
o questions
o concerns
o connections from personal experience or other materials you have read, movies you have
watched, images you have seen, etc.
o reactions
 You will turn in your double-entry journal during the second week of school
 Your journal should look like the example below (use page numbers instead of chapter titles):
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Double-Entry Journal for Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Quotations
Reflections
"To be awake is to be alive." (from "Where I Lived
and What I Lived For"
I think that you can go through your whole life asleep if
you don't stop and think about what you're doing. It's
important to make conscious choices, especially when
you're my age.
"I should not talk so much about myself if there were
anybody else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I
am confined to this by the narrowness of my
experience." (from "Economy")
I disagree with what Thoreau says here. I think that you
can know another person as well as you know yourself. I
know my best friend as well as I know myself.
Sometimes, I don't think I know myself well at all.
5. Write a two page typed (double spaced) essay, reflecting on the issue of censorship:
 Address your author’s perspective of censorship as is presented in the novel you chose
 Address your own feelings about censorship; you may want to address the issue of banned literature
 Make sure to include citations from two of the sources I have given you (your novel and “With a No. 2
Pencil, Delete”) as well as citations from the source you found
 Include a works cited list of the sources you chose to incorporate in your essay. There are several web
sites that help you to organize a works cited list. The following are especially helpful:
o https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/
Format of Essays:
 Your essay should follow MLA guidelines (use the websites listed above if you have questions)
o This means that the essays should be typed in Times New Roman, 12 point font, double-spaced
 Make sure that you include a heading on the first page of the essay that includes:
o Your first and last name
o AP English: Language and Composition
o The date you complete the essay
 Make sure that you also include a unique title for your essay
We look forward to learning with each of you this year. Hope you have a great summer. Happy reading and
writing.
Sincerely,
Catherine Galimore & Amber Shaffer
Enterprise High School
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