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English AP Summer Reading

AP Summer Reading Assignments

11th AP English Language & Composition  

Welcome to AP Language and Composition! Your summer reading assignments include the following:

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Madman-Simon-Winchester/dp/0060175966

Requirements:

The Professor and the Madman: Please read the entirety of this book as it will serve as the entry point to our month’s long discussion of argumentation and rhetoric, culminating in an AP exam style essay at the end of August/beginning of September. As you read, you should seek to understand the author’s thesis on the central argument(s) in the book regarding the power of redemption through intellectual pursuit, the thin line between genius and madness, and the human dedication required to document the English language.

Have a great summer, and we look forward to next year together. 

·       Dr. Michelle Norton  mnorton@forsyth.k12.ga.us

·       Mrs. Carina Jimenez  cjimenez@forsyth.k12.ga.us

·       Mrs. Ali Barlow f35772@forsyth.k12.ga.us

·       Ms. Shannon Mulvey f39254@forsyth.k12.ga.us

 

12th AP English Literature 

Your AP Literature Summer Reading is THE POISONWOOD BIBLE BY Barbara Kingsolver.

This novel is not only engaging reading on the beach, but full of characterization, voice, and symbols we will be discussing throughout the year. It is a long novel – so reading it this summer will give you a huge head start or you will have to read up to 200 pages a week. This novel is a multi-vocal narrative of five voices telling the story of a family who moves to the Congo with their Baptist minister with 4 daughters to ‘civilize’ the savages. Each section is a different view of a single event and includes a voice from each of the daughters – these sections begin with the mom’s voice, Orelanna – who is an extremely strong female in literature as her character arc is well defined. Besides all that – this novel is a beautiful rendering of multiple themes, weaving imperialism, feminism, racism, and religion in this bildungsroman novel. This is always a good fit for any open-ended essay (your 3rd essay on the ap exam).

 

Please feel free to contact any of us if you have any questions!

 Here is a snapshot of what we are reading following CollegeBoard’s recommendations:

 Anchor Text - HOW TO READ LITERATURE LIKE A PROFESSOR

  • Unit 1 - Poisonwood Bible (August)- focus on voice
  • Unit 2 - Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or As I Lay Dying (September) - focus on absurdism
  • Unit 3 - Haunting of Hill House or Wuthering Heights (October) - focus on the gothic
  • Unit 4 - short stories & poetry (November) - focus on theme
  • Unit 5 - Hamlet (December) - focus on character 
  • Unit 6 - The Stranger (January) - focus on existentialism
  • Unit 7 - Invisible Man or Raisin in the Sun (February) - focus on diversity
  • Unit 8 - 100 Years of Solitude or short stories (March) – focus on magical realism

 

The AP LIT EXAM is similar in format to the AP LANG EXAM – m/c questions, 3 essays (poetry, prose, open-ended). We will be studying fiction prose and poetry focusing on real-world profound insights into the human condition that have enduring relevance.