Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition (7X/8X) Summer Reading Assignment Congratulations on your acceptance into the

AP Literature and Composition class! We hope you are looking as forward to a challenging and rewarding year as we are. To prepare you for the new way you will be looking at literature, we have prepared an interesting, challenging, and relevant summer reading assignment. This should be done over the summer, when you have time to read, think about, and absorb the information, not at the last minute, merely to get it done. We take this assignment seriously, and it will be our first impression of you as a student. This also serves as both a preparation and basis for the AP Literature class. Mandatory Reading: How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster (available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Greenlight Books on Fulton St, and NYC Public Libraries). Read this book first. Did you ever wonder how teachers know that light symbolizes truth or that food is often used as a metaphor for communion in literature? Foster presents you with many of the secret meanings of motifs, symbols, and metaphors in literature, which not only clarify the authors intent or theme, but help develop characterization and allow us to read literature at a deeper level. The book is written in a light, ironic style, while teaching about underlying meanings authors employ in their works. Assignment: Read and annotate this book (only annotate if you own it), use post-its, or take dialectical notes (see handout) in a journal. Take note of motifs, symbols, and metaphors that seem particularly interesting to you or provide aha! moments. This will serve as a guide throughout the year. Then, choose one of the novels listed below: It is also mandatory to read one of the following novels, but you have a choice based on the type of fiction you enjoy reading. 1. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte 2. The Awakening, Kate Chopin 3. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz 4. An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser 5. Catch 22, Joseph Heller 6. Obasan, Joy Kogawa 7. The Road, Cormac McCarthy 8. Beloved, Toni Morrison 9. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky 10. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert 11. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath Assignment: While reading the novel, note motifs, symbols, and metaphors the author uses, that you recognize from How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Annotate with comments in the margins or post-its (if you own the novel) or note the literary devices (with page numbers) in your dialectical journals.

During AP Literature, the phrase, the meaning of the work as a whole, will be used a great deal. This is a code for the authors theme. Theme is not one word, such as love, family, happiness, etc. That is a subject or a motif. Theme is what about it?, meaning love, family, happiness, etc., stated in a full sentence. Examples: Love often changes a person for the worse, if she gives up her individuality for her loved one. Family provides acceptance and forgiveness no matter what indiscretion its members commit. Happiness attained at the expense of another is not fully enjoyed. After reading the novel, choose 3 different motifs, symbols, and/or metaphors explained in Fosters book that are prevalent and important to your chosen authors theme. Write an essay in which you discuss and analyze how the author uses these literary devices to get his/her theme across to the reader. Guidelines for Writing: 1. Essays must be typed, double-spaced, with the thesis as the last sentence of the introduction. The thesis must include your theme statement. For example: The fear of authority that is prevalent in Kafkas works, along with an obsession with his own death, is a reflection of his feelings about himself and his body caused by both his father and by anti-Semitism during his life. 2. Your application of devices from Fosters book, in your writing about your individual novel, must be accompanied by textual evidence, with parenthetical citations from the novel. Textual evidence is always in quotation marks. If the text is more than three lines, it must be single spaced and block indented. The page number (7) follows the quotation. (Visit http:owl.english.purdue.edu or simply Google MLA Guidelines to see proper formatting and examples). Your goal is to demonstrate how these devices clarify the authors theme for the reader. 3. Paragraphs must have unity. A topic sentence that supports your thesis should be the first sentence of each paragraph. All other information in the paragraph must discuss, explain, and exemplify that. 4. A clear conclusion should end your essay. Introductions and conclusions should be relevant to the thesis statement you are supporting and not overly long and flowery. 5. Remember: Your goal is to support your thesis statement by applying Fosters secrets to your novel in an essay of at least 5 paragraphs that demonstrates your understanding of both texts, theme, and various literary devices and/or motifs. 6. Your essay will be collected on Friday, September 9, 2011 and will count as a major assessment for your first marking period grade. Enjoy the assignment! Enjoy your summer! We look forward to meeting you and seeing your work in the fall.

AP English Literature and Composition Summer Reading Assignment contd The purpose of a dialectic journal is to have a meaningful conversation or dialogue with a piece of text in order to foster real learning. A good dialectic journal is one in which you have found a way to connect with the reading on a personal level. Real learning happens when you build connections between new ideas and older ones. So, when a piece of literature or an essay can get tied to one of your memories or beliefs, you are much more likely to have an authentic and lasting learning experience. Difficulty: Moderately Easy Instructions Things You'll Need: 1 2 Piece of paper 3 Pen 4 Reading selection How to Write a Good Dialect Journal Step 1 Draw a line across the top of your paper and another down the middle. In the top left area, write the title of the piece you are reading, including page numbers if appropriate. In the top right, write the words, "My Response." Step 2 Begin by simply reading the text as a whole piece. Use this time to get a feel for the theme, characters, story line, and setting, if this is a fiction piece. If it is non-fiction, try to get a general grasp on the message, process, specialized terms, and problems that the writer presents. Step 3 Glance back through the entire text, taking each section in turn. In the left-side column of your journal, jot down the page numbers and phrases or sentences that stick with you. They might have stuck because they confuse, inspire, bewilder, or resonate with you. Try to make at least 5 notes from every piece of reading. Step 4 Pay attention to the sections you've highlighted in your notes. In your response column, write your thoughts about those phrases, terms, and sentences. These responses should come from a real place and shouldn't be forced. Be clear about what confuses you or write a brief note about the memory that you connect with the reading.

Step 5 Look back through the reading again quickly to see if any new insights have come to you now that you have made these connections. If so, jot these down in your dialectic journal as well. Tips & Warnings To reference long sections of text on the left side of the journal, print a copy from your computer and tape it onto the paper.