Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.

Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)

Sunday, August 08, 2010

AP SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT

Summer Reading

A. Each student will be required to read two of the following titles:

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
by Erik Larson
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson
An American Childhood byAnnie Dillard
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
1776 by David McCullough
Nickled and Dimed in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall
Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming Of Age in Apartheid South Africa
by Mark Mathabane
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley

B. Assignments for the two texts

One type of writing we will be exploring this year is writing for the AP Test. In
preparation for this, you will be reading a variety of nonfiction as part of our
summer reading. You must complete a reader's response journal of your thoughts and
reactions as you read. This is a double-entry journal that will contain 15 significant
passages from each of the books. The passages can be of various lengths, but each
must be a minimum of three sentences and will be written on the left-hand side of your
page. The passages should be reflective of the entire text. A significant passage can
illustrate: insight into the author or character, prominent themes, or the use of tone, imagery, symbolism, or irony or other rhetorical devices. The right side of your page is your response to the passage.

Why is it significant?
Reading and reflection helps you become a better writer and increases your
vocabulary!! Please analyze the passages you find relevant in your reading. Also
include vocabulary words that seem unfamiliar to you by making a vocabulary list. Look
up these words. You will turn in a Double Entry Journal and Vocabulary list for each
book you choose. Your journal response should be a minimum of 50 words. THESE
MUST BE TYPED! You can set these up using a table inserted into a word document.
Some questions you may wish to consider in composing these responses are:
What is the author trying to tell your that is not written on the page?
How does the passage make you feel?
Can you predict what might happen next?
What insight have you gotten from this particular book?
What tone does the essay contain? Why?
What rhetorical devices are creating this tone?
What purpose is the purpose of the writing ... expository, persuasive, personal
narrative?
What specific devices can you pick out that this author tends to use in these to
shape the tone and style?

SAMPLE DOUBLE ENTRY JOURNAL
Your passage is written on the left side of the page, including the name of the speaker and the
page number where it appears. Your response is on the right side.