Mrs. Keeton’s AP Language

Summer Reading Requirements 2013-14

Congratulations on your decision to take Advanced Placement Language and Composition! It is a college-level class that will require commitment and hard work. You will take an AP exam at the end of the year that could potentially grant you college English credit. This course covers a broad range of materials usually associated with the reading analysis and writing expected in college freshman composition. Through frequent timed-writing practices, at least one research paper, and several formal essays, students will cultivate an effective writing style and college level voice. The course includes organized study of the grammatical structure of sentences, paragraphs, and larger rhetorical structures.

Summer reading is required. The books on the summer reading list are important works in literature, but do not let this designation frighten you. They were not written for English students to study but for people to read and enjoy. Because the Language AP focuses more on nonfiction and rhetorical style, this summer you will be required to read nonfiction as well as fiction works. For the nonfiction (The Glass Castle) you will complete SOAPSTONE ; for the fiction, Card Tricks. Please type and save all work. Also annotate significant details/ideas (look for universal statements and links to the title of works; note colors and their symbolism, repetition, characterization, and write a meaningful title for each chapter (Life of Piand The Glass Castle) or letter (Color Purple).These titles should be placed on the inside front or back cover of the book with a page number to serve as an index. For the 2 essays in 50 Essays, please annotate significant ideas and word usages and clues to the answers to the questions at the end of each selection. Also type the answers to the questions at the end of each selection.

NONFICTION:

Cohen, Samuel, ed. 50 Essays 3rd edition

(ISBN-13: 978-0-312-60965-8 or ISBN 10: 0-312-60965-5)

Note: 50 Essays is the text for the AP Language class so please purchase.

Your first read of the summer should be “Introduction for Students: Active Reading, Critical Thinking, and the Writing Process” (Cohen 1-14)

Apply the active reading concepts there to your annotation of the rest of the reading.

NONFICTION:

Also before reading Life of Pi read and outline selections from World Religion (a sample outline of “Islam” is provided so you need not outline it.): Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism (religions practiced by Pi) Do not read The Ramayana.

You will find these selections and the sample outline on the high school website: Academics/Classes & Homework/ English/AP Language/Files

2 Essays from 50 Essays to be read this summer are:

Eighner, Lars. “On Dumpster Diving.” (146).

Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I lived and What I Lived For.” (403)

Also read and annotate

Walls, Jeannette The Glass Castle

FICTION:

Martel, Yann Life of Pi

Walker, Alice The Color Purple

All of these books are available in local libraries and bookstores. If possible, I suggest you purchase them. We will refer to all four books throughout the year so having your own copies to highlight and annotate will be convenient. Often you can purchase these books at a discount at used bookstores. (If you do not purchase, please note annotations on paper or post-it notes.)

If you decide to refer to Spark Notes (or similar summary/analysis aids), please read the books in their entirety first. The author needs to speak to you directly, not through an interpreter. If you must depend on Spark Notes for understanding, you are probably not going to do well in this class.

During the first week of school, you will be given AP Examination style questions based on your summer reading. These questions will test both your close reading skills and your ability to write about important literature. You will also submit the typed work you have completed for the works.

Reading in an AP course should be both wide and deep. This reading necessarily builds upon the reading done in previous English courses. At the beginning of the year I will assume that you have read the major works usually taught in grades nine and ten. If you have somehow missed reading some of these books, do not let the summer pass without reading them.

SOAPStone

(Please type answers to the following for The Glass Castle)

Subject: What is the subject of the text (the general topic, content, or ideas contained in

the text)? How do you know this? How does the author present the subject? Is it

introduced immediately or delayed? Is the subject hidden? Or is there more than one

subject?

Occasion: What is the rhetorical occasion (the time and place of the piece or the

current situation)? Is it a memory, a description, an observation, a valedictory, an

argument, a diatribe, an elegy, a declaration, a critique, a journal entry, or...?

Audience: Who is the audience (the group of readers to whom this piece is directed)?

Does the speaker identify an audience? What assumptions exist about the intended

audience?

Purpose: What is the purpose of the work (the reason for its composition)? What

is the speaker’s purpose (the reason behind the text)? How is this message conveyed?

What is the message? How does the speaker try to spark a reaction in the audience?

What techniques are used to achieve a purpose? How does the text make the audience

feel? What is its intended effect?

Speaker: Who is the speaker (the voice that tells the story)? Is someone identified as

the speaker? What assumptions can be made about the speaker? What age, gender,

class, emotional state, education, or....?

Tone:. Select a passage that is exemplary of the author’s tone. Explain how you think this passage reveals/captures the author’s tone. Copy the passage with page number and refer to specific words, phrases, sentence. structures, and/or punctuation. (Discuss whichever of these apply.) (Possible tone words: serious, humorous, bitter, sarcastic, loving, resigned, unemotional…if the author were to read the passage aloud, how would (s)he sound?)

Islam: Arabia 7th Century CE

  1. Mohammad: A Prophet (like Moses, Jesus)

A. Persecuted/Fled w/followers from Mecca to Medina (Yathrib) 622 CE

B. Formed lunar calendar

1. From this move

2. After the hijra (1417 AH)

3. Equal to May 19, 1996

C. Formed 2 honored groups in Islam

1. Those who relocated: Muhajirun

2. Those who supported Mohammad in Medina: Anser

II.Islam

  1. Means “submission”
  2. Refers to Jewish greeting “Shalom” (Peace)
  3. Taken together: “entering into a condition of peace and security with God through allegiance and surrender to Him”
  1. Qur’an: Islam holy book
  1. Based on

1. Muhammad’s journey to Mt. Hira

2.God’s (Gabriel, his messenger) call to “Recite”

3.God’s ACTUAL utterance collected into this holy book

  1. Sent through messengers

1. Musa

2. Isa

3. Muhammad

a. Last messenger, received complete Qur’an

b. A man, but the human voice of God’s will

C. Held these beliefs

1. Only one God: Allah

2. No rival religions

3. “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is his messenger”

4. 5 Pillars: structure to all Muslims

III. Foundations of Life

  1. Commentary on the Qur’an
  1. Six collections: Sahih
  2. Muhammad and friends’ interpretations
  1. Law codes for life
  1. Divisions in Islam
  1. Occurred after Muhammad’s death
  2. Abu Bakr, leader of the Sunni Muslims
  3. Ali, son-in-law of Muhammad, leader of the Shi’a Muslims
  1. Influence of Islam
  1. One quarter of world’s population: Muslim
  2. Nearly total majorities
  1. Middle East
  2. Northern Africa
  3. Parts Central Asia
  4. Indonesia

C. Early recoverers of Greek science and philosophy