AP English Language and Composition

Summer Reading and Writing 2008

 

The AP English Language and Composition course emphasizes close reading and rhetorical analysis of nonfiction, argument, synthesis, and composition. Over the summer, we want you to begin working with several quality nonfiction texts that will help you develop your appreciation of rhetoric and elements of argument.

 

The summer work involves two books, 50 Essays (Second Edition) and un•Spun. On or before August 8 you will submit several “Reading Sheets” in connection with some of the assigned essays. In early September, at the start of the school year, you will submit annotations of the other assigned essays and a reader's notebook. You'll need to acquire your own copies of the two books. The books can be found at local bookstores such as Gulf of Maine Books and Bookland-Brunswick. Borders (in Brunswick and elsewhere), and Barnes and Noble (in Augusta and elsewhere) are other options, along with online possibilities. If you cannot acquire a book contact Mr. Brassil via email at brassilj@link75.org.

 

Analysis: 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology, Second Edition , edited by Samuel Cohen

(ISBN 978-0-312-44698-7)

• Complete five Reading Sheets , one for each of the following essays: Sherman Alexie's “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”; Annie Dillard's “Death of a Moth”; Stephen J. Gould's “Women's Brains”; Jonathan Swift's “A Modest Proposal”; and Virginia Woolf's “The Death of the Moth.” Get Reading Sheets on the web or from AP English Language teachers. Send Reading Sheets to: Mr. John Brassil, Mt. Ararat High School, 73 Eagles Way, Topsham ME 04086 . Failure to send in your Reading Sheets by August 8 (postmark or delivery) will result in your removal from the course and placement in Academic English.

 

• Annotate the following five essays and bring your 50 Essays book to class the first day: Dave Barry's “Lost in the Kitchen”; Susan Bordo's “Never Just Pictures”; Barbara Ehrenreich's “Serving in Florida”; Martin Luther King, Jr.'s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”; and E.B. White's “Once More to the Lake.” Failure to present your annotated book when directed to do so during the opening week of school will result in your removal from the course and placement in Academic English.

 

Argument: un•Spun by Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson

(ISBN 978-1-4000-6566-0)

• Keep a Reader's Notebook (handwritten-- not word-processed; for ideas about how to keep a reader's notebook, read Joan Didion's essay “On Keeping a Notebook” in 50 Essays ) filled with your responses to the content of un•Spun. Identify and write specifically about particular passages that stand out for you. Make observations about how the writers achieve their aims. Make connections to other sources. Your reader's notebook should provide ample evidence of work; show that you have read and thought about the book. Visit the web site associated with un•Spun http://www.factcheck.org/unspun/ . Failure to present your reader's notebook when directed to do so during the opening week of school will result in your removal from the course and placement in Academic English.

 

Enjoy your reading, and have a great summer. We look forward to seeing you in the fall.

Mr. Brassil, Mrs. Brassil, and Mr. Palmer

Summer reading sheets are available as a pdf file

 

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revised May 16, 2008