Usually, there are two required summer reading assignments. Given how the 2019-2020 school year ended, there will only be one required assignment this year.  I will still provide the second assignment here, but it is optional. You are only responsible for completing Assignment #1. If you are feeling up to it, please complete Assignment #2 for extra credit.

You will eventually write a paper in class based upon Assignment #1 below.  While the paper on the readings will not be due until the end of the first quarter for Assignment #1, the reading and note taking will be due on October 1 as the material covered will be an important part of our work early in the year. Please TYPE the notes you take and have them ready to submit on October 1.

ASSIGNMENT 1: (REQUIRED)

The first quarter of the class is devoted to literary analysis and learning to read closely.  The quarter will culminate in a paper applying those reading and analytical skills to the Hemingway and Faulkner novels you read independently for this assignment. Read two novels: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway and either As I Lay Dying or The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner.  Pay particular attention to and take notes on the authors’ unique styles.  You should produce about two pages of notes for each novel.

In your notes….

• identify at least 3 characteristics of each author’s style.
• include 3-4 quotations illustrating each characteristic.
• for each quotation, develop a thorough explanation of how it illustrates the style characteristic.
• include a section comparing / contrasting the styles of the two authors.

Keep in mind that notes do not need to be complete sentences, so don’t worry about sounding great here.  Just get your ideas down, so you have a point of reference for the paper you’ll eventually write on these novels.

Approximate Assignment 1 paper due date will be the end of the first quarter.  You will write a paper developing a relationship between the styles of the two authors using the two summer reading novels to support your thesis.

NOTE: Part of this process will include reflecting on your changing reading practices as you learn to read in the way the AP exam requires. To that end it is important this reading is done over the summer as you will be asked to compare that initial independent reading of the two novels to subsequent more focused readings in preparation for your paper that take place after a quarter of instruction on reading closely. 

 

ASSIGNMENT 2: (OPTIONAL)

In addition to improving our reading skills, we need to become more precise and careful writers this year.  We will begin that process with the second summer reading assignment.  Read the books about writing listed below.  Examine the features of effective writing both identify and then reflect on your own writing, making an honest and thorough evaluation of the extent to which your writing exhibits those features.  What do the texts suggest is the value of writing in the way they discuss?  What are your strengths? How do you need to improve? No need to take notes on these, but please consider the questions above as you read

 

Text#1: Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark (read Chapters 1-25 only)

Text#2: On Writing Well by William Zinsser (read sections I, II and IV only)