AP ENGLISH LITERATURE & COMPOSITION

The summer reading assignment is designed to introduce you to the type of work that will be required during the school year in AP English Literature & Composition. The works of literature read over the summer will be incorporated into the course work throughout the year. All work will be collected and graded during the first week of school. In addition, you will be required to write a 40 minute timed essay in class on a topic which relates to both of the texts. You will be allowed to use your graphic organizers and the books themselves for this task. All summer work will be collected on the day that the essay is written, most likely the first full day of class. The entire summer reading assignment, including the essay, will count for approximately 10% of your first marking period grade.

1. Read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I would like you to obtain your own copy of one of the novels so that you can practice annotating a text. I will check your annotations in the fall. Click here for the assignment . Be sure to not only mark passages, but also to make comments in the margins. If securing a personal copy of the text is a problem, please contact me at the e-mail address which appears at the bottom of this assignment.

2. Please read the poem titled “Marginalia” by Billy Collins. Click here for the assignment . Reading this poem may give you some insights in what types of annotations you might make in your reading of the text.

3. Complete a graphic organizer for each text. Click here for the assignment .

4. Complete the following assignment:

Achebe is known for his straightforward writing style. He frequently writes in simple sentences with little subordination. However, he creates a clear picture of a man and the changing nature of the society in which he lives.

a. Review passages in the book whose language, detail, sentence structure, or other

writing technique interests you. Choose three different passages to discuss. Write out each passage.

b. Identify what Achebe does in each passage. This should include diction ( which includes denotative and connotative language), syntax, point of view, and specificity of detail. You may decide to investigate some linguistic aspects of Ibo language as well.

Hosseini’s novel is quite detailed; the story is layered and rich. His style is quite different than Achebe’s. He, too, tells a story of a man and the society in which he lives.

c. Use Kite Runner as a comparison to Things Fall Apart. Identify the same elements for Hosseini as you did for Achebe. You will need to select a minimum of three passages as you did for Achebe. I want you to go back and forth between the texts. Do one from Acebe and then the same element from Hosseini. In other words, if you look at point of view in TFA then you are to look at point of view in KR. If you look at diction in TFA, I want you to look at diction in KR.

5. As you read Kite Runner, select a meaningful quote from the text and design a kite with images that relate to and explain your quote. The quote itself might have something to do with characterization, historical significance, cultural reference, etc. The kite itself should be no larger than 12 x12 but you may also have a tail. Please contact me via e-mail if you have any questions.

6. All work is to be done without any collaboration with other students or other resources except for looking up information on the linguistic aspects of the Ibo and/or the meaning of the Aghani words as well as the background information needed on the graphic organizer or for the kite. That research is not to be in collaboration with any other student. Any student who plagiarizes or collaborates with anyone else will be in violation of the honor policy outlined in the student handbook. A zero will be given for the assignment and an honor policy violation will be put into process.

Although I will not be available at LVR after June 30, please feel free to e-mail me at <<judisue@aol.com>> if you have any difficulty with the assignment. Have a wonderful summer. I look forward to working with you this coming year.