Bartow High School and Summerlin Academy

1AP Literature Summer Assignment

Bartow High School and Summerlin Academy

AP Literature Summer Reading Assignment

Welcome to your senior year of English!

We are thrilled to have you in our classes in the fall! Do not hesitate to e-mail us with questions over the summer—we will answer as soon as we can.

Susan Kearns- Bartow High

Cat McDonald- Summerlin

The primary “suggestion” is this: do not, Do Not, DO NOT wait until the weekend before it is due to begin this work. Should you do so, your regret will be of a magnitude without parallel in the universe. Trust us.

Of course, AP English covers many other aspects of English besides the study of novels and plays. Since the tangible outcome of the class is to take a test in May, many of the activities prepare you for success. We congratulate you on your decision to take advanced placement classes.

Format for written assignments:

•Your entries MUST be typed and saved on a flash drive for electronic submission. You may also use Google Apps and give us permission to view using the emails and

•All margins must be one inch and use Times New Roman 12 point font.

•Each entry should be made on a separate sheet within the larger document.

•Include MLA formatted works cited page.

Loose leaf papers or handwrittenassignments will not be accepted. The Assignment will be posted on at Find the assignment under “Summer Assignments” link.

This assignment is worth approximately 25% of the first quarter grades.

First Assignment:

“How to Mark a Book” by Mortimer Adler, Ph.D.

This is where you must BEGIN your summer assignments. Go to and read Dr. Adler’s essay, “How to Mark a Book.”

Formally, we call this “annotation,” and it is not only recommended, it is REQUIRED. That being said, marking a book (or anything we read) is certainly an activity that is personal and unique to you as an individual. It is important that you create a system that works well for you—consider the possibilities of highlighters, colored pens or pencils, and post-it notes as some of your options. Your personal book marking system will develop over time.

Now choose a book of literary merit.

Select a novel or play of “literary merit” from the Second Assignment in order to annotate pages and be prepared to write about it.

• As you read, select five passages of 1-2 pages each in length (HINT: find pages that relate to questions you are going to answer.)
• Photocopy the 5 chosen passages.
• Annotate each passage according to the criteria established above.

Second Assignment: The goal of this assignment is to help you to prepare for Question 3 of the AP Examination, an open response on a piece of Literary Merit. We will study several major literary works this year in AP English Literature from which you may choose to respond to the third question on the AP examination.

Part A: First, you must readThe Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseni, and complete each of the tasks list below, organizing your ideas clearly and providing detail. Many of the questions are derived from prompts similar to those posed in prior exams. It is our hope that expanding your personal reading repertoire and experiencing questions similar in style to those on the AP Literature and Composition exam, that you will feel more comfortable upon taking the exam in May.

Part B: Choose a novel from the list below,

Emma (Austen) Hamlet (Shakespeare)

A Handmaid’s Tale (Atwood) Heart of Darkness (Conrad)

Life of Pi (Martel) Pygmalion (Shaw)

Snow Falling on Cedars (Guterson) Song of Solomon (Morrison)

The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare) Wuthering Heights (Brontë)

NOTE: The pieces and authors provided suggest the range and quality of reading expected in the course. Some of the pieces, such as The Kite Runner, include controversial themes and graphic content. We suggest parents review the information with their students to learn about these novels and plays through websites such as or to make a fully informed decision about the reading choices of your student.

It should be noted that one must read both pieces in their entirety before beginning this assignment and one must also use textual evidence to support each response. Reading and Re-reading should take place. Elaboration of each response to satisfy the prompt is also necessary to gain full credit for the assignment. If you are unfamiliar with a word, it is your responsibility to make it up.

Tasks:

1. What is the significance of the title? Explain and provide supporting textual evidence.

2. Compose two different theme statements for the work. Do any literary elements (motifs, images, symbols, setting details, etc.) appear repeatedly to reinforce each theme? Then, provide supporting evidence of two crucial scenes that reveal or encapsulate your stated themes of the book. Locate brief supporting quotations that you can memorize.

3. What is the function of setting in the work? Consider at least three specific aspects of setting (geography, time period, occupations, cultural environment, social relationships, religion, and moral standards) in your analysis. Provide supporting evidence.

4. Discuss the beginning and end of the work. What do these specific scenes reveal about the change that takes place in the work? Does the work begin in one state (such as chaos, discord, passivity, confinement, passion) and progress to some different state? Use two specific words to show the change from beginning to end of the work. Explain and provide supporting detail.

5. What are the central conflicts (external and internal) around which the work centers? Discuss in depth at least one external and one internal conflict. Explain and provide supporting detail and examples.

6. Identify and summarize the seven most important plot moments (zeniths or nadirs), those that highlight conflict (external or internal), aid in character development, and move the text toward resolution. Make sure to denote the climax or turning point of the work. Explain and provide supporting detail.

7. For prose works, identify the narrator(s), and the narrative style and point of view (first-person major, first-person minor, third-person omniscient, third-person limited, third-person limited omniscient, third-person objective)? How does the narrative structure affect the work’s meaning? For dramatic works, identify the work as comedy or tragedy or satire, and explain the significance of the genre to the work. Then, discuss how the form of the play contributes to meaning.

8. In analyzing the characters and their roles, create a chart (follow model below) that includes all the following elements: (a) List the most important major and minor characters (minimum of five) in the work. (b) Provide two precise and vivid adjectives (use a thesaurus) to describe each character. Use vocabulary words that you have learned this year. (c) Identify their type (round, dynamic, static, flat, stock). (d) Identify each of the characters by their function: for example, narrator, protagonist, antagonist, archetype, foil, confidant, or mentor. (e) How do these characters and the roles they play impact the plot and meaning? Support your assessment of the characters with two examples of their actions or statements. For the protagonist, cite two brief quotations that you can memorize to include in an AP exam essay.

You may download this format from and type directly into the downloaded document. (5 character minimum) Remember that all work must be in MLA style. If you have any questions about MLA style, please see

ANY assignment not submitted using appropriate MLA style and documentation will not receive full points.

Name Character

adjectives

type

function

impact

Third Assignment: Literary Vocabulary Word Maps

Complete word maps for the following literary devices. If you cannot apply them to analytical writing, you will find yourself struggling with poetry and literary analysis throughout the year. These are in addition to the basic understanding of figurative devices such as simile, metaphor, imagery, and personification. Complete a word map for each of the devices listed below. Answers must be typed. Download the form to complete in WORD or PDF from the BHS or SA website.

1AP Literature Summer Assignment

Academic (adj)
Aesthetic
Anachronism
Anthropomorphism
Antihero
Archetypes
Atmosphere
Black humor
Bombast
Caricature
Catharsis
Coinage (neologism)
Epic
Epitaph
Farce
Gothic
Hubris
Pastoral
Paradox
Parallelism
Persona
Omniscient
Limited Omniscient
Tragic flaw
Travesty
Truism
Zeugma
Imperfect

1AP Literature Summer Assignment

Fourth assignment: Write an analytical essay.

You will select one of the following prompts from a previous AP Literature Exam. After reading the two pieces from Assignment 2, select the prompt which best suits the novel or play.

Read the prompt. Know the tasks required to satisfy the prompt, and type a well organized essay, remembering to use MLA documentation and citations.

1982. In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose a work of literary merit that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary.

2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.