Apopka High School Summer Reading 2017
It is the expectation of the English teachers at Apopka High School that all students participate in summer reading. While we hope you spend some time this summer reading whatever literature you enjoy, we do expect that you will also read ONE book specifically chosen as part of our summer reading program. Books can be checked out from the AHS Media center, purchased at any book store, or online. You can also check the public library in your area. This list is accessible on the Darter Website at By the 3rd week of school, students should be prepared to complete assignments and take assessments on their summer reading book. Happy Reading!
11th Grade – Choose 1 book from the list below for Summer Reading.
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain- Huckleberry Finn is a young boy in the 1840s, who runs away from home, and floats down the Mississippi River. He meets a run away slave named Jim and the two undertake a series of adventures based on the Picaresque novel by Mark Twain. As the story progresses the duo exploit an array of episodic enterprises, while Huckleberry slowly changes his views of bigotry. Along the way, Huck and Jim meet the King and Duke, who ultimately send the protagonists towards a different route on their journey. As Huck begins to have a change of heart, he gradually begins to distinguish between right and wrong, and conclusively, Huck is faced with the moral dilemma between the world's prejudice, of which he's grown up with, and the lessons Jim has taught him throughout the story about the evils of racism.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller – This novelfollows Captain John Yossarian in his exploits as a bombardier (that is, a member of a fighter plane crew that is in charge of aiming and releasing bombs) in theU.S. Air ForceduringWorld War II. Yossarian has one wish: to survive the madness of war. He's convinced that everyone is trying to kill him, which is understandable seeing as how he's fighting in a war, where everyone reallyistrying to kill one another. Yossarian has to survive the dangerous combat missions he flies, while Colonel Cathcart continues to increase the number of missions his men must complete.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker - The Color Purpleis an epistolary novel, made up of letters written byCelieto God and byNettieto Celie. At the start of the novel, Celie is a fourteen-year-old, vulnerable, abused black girl who addresses her letters to “Dear God.” Thirty years later, at the end of the novel, she has forged her own life despite a male-dominated and racially prejudiced society. She fights her way through life and questions everything she has been taught. Her most ambitious challenge is to remake her idea of God as an old, white, bearded male—her antithesis—into a God who encompasses everything and lives within her.
**AP English Language – Both books are required Summer Reads.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
While reading, consider the arguments made in each bookregarding what Gertrude Stein referred to as "the lost generation." A one-page reflection (pen, front-only, skipping lines) on the ideas you gleaned from each book must be written.