AP Literature and Composition - Mr. Clark's Classroom



AP Literature and Composition

Summer Reading

Dear Future AP Literature Students,

Welcome to AP Literature! We are very excited to work with you next year. With summer rapidly approaching, you may be asking yourself, “What is the best way to prepare for AP Literature next fall?” (You are asking yourself that, right?) Well, the answer is, of course: to read!! With that compelling truth in mind, we hereby present (Drum Roll, Please!): The AP Literature Summer Reading Assignment!

Great American author, William Faulkner, once said:

“Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.”

For AP Literature, you will need to read and absorb at least two texts over the summer:

1. How to Read Literature like a Professor, by Thomas C. Forester and

2. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

The novel is set against one of the most dramatic political chronicles of the twentieth century: the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of its first elected prime minister, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the insidious progress of a world economic order that robs the fledgling African nation of its autonomy. Against this backdrop, Orleanna Price reconstructs the story of her evangelist husband's part in the Western assault on Africa, a tale indelibly darkened by her own losses and unanswerable questions about her own culpability. Also narrating the story, by turns, are her four daughters—the self-centered, teenaged Rachel; shrewd adolescent twins Leah and Adah; and Ruth May, a prescient five-year-old. These sharply observant girls, who arrive in the Congo with racial preconceptions forged in 1950s Georgia, will be marked in surprisingly different ways by their father's intractable mission, and by Africa itself. Ultimately each must strike her own separate path to salvation. Their passionately intertwined stories become a compelling exploration of moral risk and personal responsibility.

Dancing between the dark comedy of human failings and the breathtaking possibilities of human hope, The Poisonwood Bible possesses all that has distinguished Barbara Kingsolver's previous work, and extends this beloved writer's vision to an entirely new level. Taking its place alongside the classic works of postcolonial literature, this ambitious novel establishes Kingsolver as one of the most thoughtful and daring of modern writers.

Important Notes:

1. Get the Books! You can check out a copy of How to Read Literature like a Professor and The Poisonwood Bible from the GBHS Library, but we recommend purchasing your own copies so you can easily annotate the text. (R&B Used Books, located in the plaza behind Kmart with JJ Cardinals and Rachel’s Hallmark, tries to keep AP Literature titles on hand for GBHS students.)

2. Get Reading!!!

• Don’t wait until August to start reading these titles.

o How to Read Literature like a Professor is best tacked a chapter at a time. It is to be savored like a decadent dessert – don’t rush it! We recommend that you start it in June and pick it up periodically throughout the summer. If you read it before reading The Poisonwood Bible you will pick up on a lot of symbolism, imagery and allusions you might otherwise miss.

o The Poisonwood Bible is best when you give yourself ample time to really reflect on its content without dragging it out forever. We recommend that you try to get through it in two to three weeks closer to the start of the school year.

• While you are only required to read How to Read Literature like a Professor and The Poisonwood Bible, you are encouraged to read as many books possible this summer. Ultimately, the best preparation for both this class and the AP Lit test is to read…and read…and read. The more you read the better! Read scholarly works; read classic works; read juicy modern works - just read!!!

3. Get Writing!

• We recommend annotating and/or taking notes on both How to Read Literature like a Professor and The Poisonwood Bible. (Working on close reading & annotation skills over the summer will serve you well all next year.)

• You will need to complete one of the attached essays on the Poisonwood Bible prior to the start of class this fall.

Good luck and happy reading! We are truly looking forward to getting to know you next year! If you have any questions about these requirements and recommendations, please feel free to contact us at dbleiche@ or dclark@

Best Wishes,

Dana Bleicher & Daniel Clark

AP Literature:

Summer Reading Essay Options

As stated in your welcome letter, after you read The Poisonwood Bible, please compose a 2-3 page typed essay answering one of the four prompts below. (The prompts are taken from old AP Literature exams.) Your essay is due on the first day of class. Please bring your teacher a printed copy and email him or her a copy at: dclark@ or dbleiche@.

Option I: [In The Poisonwood Bible] some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Option II: [The Poisonwood Bible often depicts] characters caught between colliding cultures -- national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional. Such collisions can call a character's sense of identity into question. Write a well-organized essay in which you describe the character's response [to such a collision] and explain its relevance to the work as a whole.

Option III: Critic Roland Barthes has said, "Literature is the question minus the answer." [Reflect on The Poisonwood Bible], and, considering Barthes' observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers answers. Explain how the author's treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

Option IV: In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on [The Poisonwood Bible] explain how its representation of childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.

Important Note: Make sure your essay is entirely in your own words (with the exception of quotations from the novel or play). Plagiarism will result in a zero on the assignment and disciplinary consequences. Your essay will be graded on the nine point AP Literature rubric (included). To meet rubric guidelines, be sure to include “appropriate specific references to the text” (AKA quotations and supporting examples).

AP Literature:

Summer Reading Essay Grading Rubric

9-8: These scores are for essays in which excellent content and impressive writing reveal the writer’s ability to reason with perception and to express ideas clearly and skillfully – stylistic maturity.

They accomplish all of the following:

1. Demonstrate understanding of the assignment/question

2. Reveal depth of analysis supported by appropriate, specific references to the text;

3. Reflect consistent control over the elements of effective writing, particularly diction, syntax and structure.

7 - 6: These scores are for essays which demonstrate the writer’s ability to express ideas clearly but with less maturity and control than the top papers and sometimes with minor flaws in interpretation or writing. [May also read like a list.]

5: This score is for those essays which demonstrate any or all of the following:

1. An understanding of the question, but not a full analysis, often with vague, superficial, limited answers which reflect a simplistic approach and flaws in interpretation;

2. Little specific support from the text;

3. Writing which is adequate to convey the writer’s thoughts but which is not as well-conceived, organized or developed as the upper level papers – lacks stylistic maturity. [Incomplete thesis/Lacks reference to all parts of the thesis.]

4 – 3: This score is for essays which compound the weaknesses of the 5 essays in any or all of the following areas:

1. Weak control over the elements of good writing including diction, syntax and/or structure;

2. Failure to demonstrate a complete understanding of the question/assignment [Incorrect];

3. Mostly plot summary with little analysis;

4. Incomplete response to the question;

5. Recurrent stylistic flaws;

6. Lack of specific, persuasive, evidence from the text from support.

2 – 1: These scores are for essays which fail to respond adequately to the question. They may exhibit any or all of the following:

1. Distortion or misapplication of the work/assignment;

2. Serious problems in diction, syntax and/or structure;

3. Mere summarization of the plot;

4. Lack of clarity, organization, or supporting evidence.

5. Such a brief answer that the student’s writing ability cannot be identified.

EnloeSCALE: 9 = 99 8 = 94 7 = 90 6 = 86 5 = 82 4 = 78 3 = 74 2 = 68 1 = 65

[ 9/8 = 97 8/7 = 92 7/6 = 88 5/6 = 84 5/4 = 80 4/3 = 76 3/2 = 72 ]

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download