Advanced Placement English IV- Literature and Composition

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$Math Webquest 8 - Kingsway Regional School District$

How to approach these assignments: How to Read Literature (HTRLLAP) by Thomas Foster This is the most time-intensive part of your AP summer work. There are 27 chapters in this book about how to become a “close reader.” The attached assignment follows the book chapter by chapter. My suggestion? Do not leave this assignment off until the last week of August. You will be burning the midnight oil to finish before school starts. Instead, work through the reading and assignment by pacing yourself a few chapters each week. 27 chapters/10 weeks—you do the math. I will be collecting your completed assignment on the first day back in September. Use the composition book that I provided for these responses. Each response, depending on the size of your handwriting, should occupy a full page. Please do not hand in your first assignment late. (Take care of this composition book…it will get plenty of use throughout the year.) Lord of the Flies by William Golding Do not let Golding’s descriptive writing style discourage you. After the first few chapters, you will find yourself immersed in an engaging story about what would happen if young boys were stranded on a remote island with no adult authority (yes, kind of like LOST). Please note that a few of your Foster journal prompts are related to this novel. After class discussion, you will be writing an in-class essay about Lord of the Flies. (I would suggest that you not begin reading this novel until August so that it is fresh in your mind during the first days of class. As you read, return to the Foster journal prompts to respond to those questions.) Online discussion By now, you are “enrolled” in our class on Moodle. There are two questions that require your online response over the summer. These are related to How to Read Literature. See the questions and response deadlines below. This is an informal forum and you are welcome to add your thoughts/ideas more than once. I will chime in on occasion to energize and extend your discussion points. At least one “post” is required from each student for each question. Short essay On the first day of class, you should hand in a typed (12 pt. times roman double-spaced) essay (two pages minimum/three pages maximum) that responds to the following writing prompt about the contemporary novel you chose to read: In reading fiction we share the imaginative vision of another, adopting, however briefly, his or her way of perceiving the world. Through reading a wide variety of stories we can enter many different imaginative worlds, in the process enlarging and deepening our own perception of the world. Read a contemporary novel from the provided list. In a well-organized essay, discuss how that fictional work “enlarged and deepened your own perception of the world.” Remember, I am your reader. I do not need to know the details of the plot, descriptions of characters or setting, or the literary elements used by the author. What I want to know is how the novel “changed” you in some way, large or small. Some advice: visit “Mrs. Carpenter’s rules of essay writing” as well as other writing resources on our class Moodle page. 2
Contemporary Novel List Choose one for your essay but feel free to read as many as you wish. I highly recommend ALL of these novels. They are very different so I suggest you take a look at each one at a library, bookstore or at www.amazon.com before you make your choice. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini An in-depth exploration of Afghan society in the three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban cruelty, centered around the lives and experiences of two Afghani women. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. Old School by Tobias Wolff A scholarship boy at a New England prep school grapples with literary ambition and insecurity in this lucid, deceptively sedate novel, set in the early 1960s and narrated by the unnamed protagonist from the vantage point of adulthood. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver A suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa. The Round House by Louise Erdrich An exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that upends and forever transforms his family. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison Told through the eyes of "Milkman," a rare male protagonist in Morrison's wonderful catalog of unforgettable characters, the reader discovers a century's worth of secrets, ghosts, and troubles. We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates A profound and darkly realistic chronicle of one family's hubristic heyday and its fall from grace. All of these novels are available at your local library or at any Barnes & Noble or on amazon.com. Feeling super motivated? You will be required to complete “Novel Notes” for your contemporary novel and for Lord of the Flies. You may find it best to do this while reading the novels or immediately after you finish them. Completing these assignments before school starts will save you time during the hectic first few weeks of the school year. The Novel Notes template can be found on our class Moodle site. Email me if you have any questions. And finally…how will this assignment impact your grade? This summer assignment is your first grade in AP English Literature. The grade will be composed of your Foster journal (50%), contemporary essay (40%) and Novel Notes (10%). In addition, you will write an in-class essay about Lord of the Flies. All told, the summer assignments are roughly onequarter of your first marking period grade. Make it an A! J Want to be a better writer? Read, read and then read some more. 3
Page 1: Name _____________________ AP ENGLI
Page 5 and 6: YOUR ASSIGNMENT: CHAPTER BY CHAPTER
Page 7: Interlude -- One Story Write your o

Advanced Placement English IV- Literature and Composition

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