AP/Dual Credit Language and Composition Mrs. Morris Independent Reading Assignment - Guidelines

This semester, students are required to read one nonfiction book as independent reading. Students may choose a title from Mrs. Morris’ approved list or choose their own selection, but the book MUST be approved by the teacher if the student is reading a book not on the approved list. Only full-length works are acceptable for this project; short works of nonfiction, such as collections of essays, are not acceptable.

The purpose of this assignment is to give students greater awareness and experience with longer pieces of nonfiction prose. This assignment will culminate at the end of the semester when students compose an original synthesis essay on a topic related to the nonfiction work using both the book itself as well as a variety of sources as support. In order to allow students time to digest the book and to find supporting materials for the synthesis essay, the book as well as the initial assignment must be completed by October 9th.

Initial Independent Reading Assignment:

1) Write a 5-7-sentence summary of the overall main idea of this book. Within this summary, include 3-5 main points the author makes (most important, or ones you find most interesting). This needs to be a tight, concise, accurate paragraph of writing. Avoid critique at this point; just focus on short description that has specific main points.

2) List 5 (only 5) different rhetorical strategies used in this book (see rhetorical terms handouts). For each one, discuss the following: A) Name the rhetorical strategy, and define it; B) Write a short unified paragraph that explains how the author uses the rhetorical strategy—what is he or she trying to convince the reader to think, and how, and why? What is the author’s purpose in using this strategy? Is it effective? Why or why not? C) Support your analysis with specific references to text (i.e. quotes, correctly formatted and cited with an MLA parenthetical citation). Weave all of this together in to a well-developed paragraph for each example. Select five strong examples that give you plenty to discuss. Label 2A, 2B etc.

3) What do you think was the author’s goal in writing this book? Did s/he achieve it? Did she/he convince you of his/her point of view on the topic discussed? Did reading this book change your thinking on the topic, and if so, how? If not, why not?

4) Write a short book review (5-7 sentences) for this book. Pretend you are trying to convince someone you know (who is reluctant) to read it. Be creative! Include at least one interesting thing about it; here is where you get to put in your opinion. It is okay to say you disliked it, but be attention-getting (humor, satire, irony, strong critique are all appropriate). Write in the style of Steven Colbert, John Stewart, Saturday Night Live, The Onion, or other news parody critical commentary shows. (i.e. don’t be silly just to be silly; make a point.)

5) Create a Work Cited entry in correct MLA citation format.

Although it is not required, students are encouraged to purchase the book they have chosen and annotate as they read. An alternative method, of course, is to take notes in a notebook or on sticky notes.

***Obtain your book as soon as you can in the beginning of the school year, so you can have it read and the assignment completed before the homework load becomes heavier; otherwise, you will have to balance your nonfiction book with other reading assignments.

Nonfiction Reading List – Possible Selections Fermat’s Last Theorem Amir Aczel Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali A History of God Karen Armstrong Of Beetles and Angels Mawi Asgedom Double Fold Nicholson Baker The Size of Thoughts Nicholson Baker Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX Karen Blumenthal A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Ishmael Beah Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil John Berendt All over But the Shoutin’ Rick Bragg Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Brown A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson Another Planet Elinor Burkett Running with Scissors Augusten Burroughs Quiet: The Power of Introverts… Susan Cain The Rape of Nanking Iris Chang Beyond the Narrow Gate Leslie Chang Wishing on the Moon Donald Clarke Glass, Paper, Beans Leah Hager Cohen The Road from Coorain Jill Kerr Conway Dispatches from the Edge Anderson Cooper Salvation on Sand Mountain Dennis Covington Columbine Dave Cullen Disarmed Gregory Curtis The Death of Satan Andrew Delbanco Guns, Germs, and Steel The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Jean-Dominique Bauby Calendar David Ewing Duncan 102 Minutes Jim Dwyer A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers What is the What Dave Eggers Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich American Sphinx Joseph Ellis The Sports Gene: Inside the Science… David Epstein The Spirit Catches You & You Fall Down Anne Fadiman Walking the Bible Bruce Feiler The Whole Shebang Timothy Ferris Six Easy Pieces Richard Feynman True Story Michael Finkel Swallow the Ocean Laura Flynn Eating Animals Jonathan Safran Foer Gorillas in the Mist Diane Fossey Next of Kin Thatcher Freund Beirut to Jerusalem Thomas Friedman Hot, Flat, and Crowded Thomas L. Friedman Complications Atul Gawande Many Masks Brendan Gill Shot in the Heart Mikal Gilmore Blink Malcom Gladwell Outliers Malcolm Gladwell The Culture of Fear Barry Glasser No Ordinary Time Doris Kearns Goodwin Wait Till Next Year Doris Kearns Goodwin The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction Linda Gordon We Wish to Inform You… Philip Gourevitch Autobiography of a Face Lucy Grealy A Civil Action Jonathan Harr The End of Faith Sam Harris The Total Package Thomas Hine God is not Great Christopher Hitchens Lost in Translation Eva Hoffman A People’s History of the Supreme Court Peter Irons Emergence Steven Johnson Empires of Light Jill Jonnes Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston Balkan Ghosts Robert Kaplan The Liar’s Club Mary Karr Orange is the New Black Piper Kerman Mountains Beyond Mountains The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold… Denise Kiernan Clone Gina Kolata Flu Gina Kolata Savage Inequalities Jonathan Kozol There Are No Children Here Alex Kotlowitz Into the Wild Jon Krakauer Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer Cod Mark Kurlansky Salt: A World History Mark Kurlansky The Arabs David Lamb The Africans David Lamb American Ground William Langewiesche Devil in the White City Erik Larson The Big Test Nicholas Lemann Freakonomics Steven Leavitt Detroit: An American Autopsy Charlie LeDuff The Middle East Bernard Lewis The Accidental Asian Eric Liu Young Men and Fire Norman Maclean Four Arguments for Elimination of TV Jerry Mander Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt Born to Run Christopher McDougall Fatal Vision Joe McGinniss Coming into the Country John McPhee Battle Cry of Freedom James McPherson Greasy Rider Greg Melville City of the Century Donald Miller Blue Highways William Least Heat Moon Theodore Rex Edmund Morris Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson The Power of Myth Bill Moyers Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi The Average American Kevin O’Keefe The Orchid Thief Susan Orlean For God, Country and Coca-Cola Mark Pendergrast Engineers of Dreams Henry Petroski In the Heart of the Sea Nathaniel Philbrook The Botany of Desire Michael Pollan The Omnivore’s Dilemma Michael Pollan Amusing Ourselves to Death Neil Postman Technology: The Surrender of Culture Neil Postman Making the Corps Thomas Ricks Genome Matt Ridley Bonk Mary Roach Stiff Mary Roach Overachievers: Secret Life of Driven Kids Alexandra Robbins The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth Alexandra Robbins Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's John Elder Robison Little Girls in Pretty Boxes Joan Ryan Lean In: Women, Work and the Will To Lead Sheryl Sandberg Skyscraper Karl Sabbagh The Devil’s Candy Julie Salamon Iron and Silk Mark Salzman Jesus Land Julia Scheeres Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser Mies van der Rohe Franz Schulze Learned Optimism Martin E. P. Seligman The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot Galileo’s Daughter Dava Sobel The Black Swan Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Mole People Jennifer Toth How Children Succeed Paul Tough The Guns of August Barbara Tuchman Why We Shop Paco Underhill Call of the Mall Paco Underhill Triangle David Von Drehle Gang Leader for a Day Sudhir Venkatesh Assassination Vacation Sarah Vowell The Glass Castle Jeanette Walls Mississippi John Walton The Beak of the Finch The World Without Us Alan Weisman Forever Open, Clear, and Free Lois Wille The Professor and the Madman Simon Winchester Shaping a Nation Carter Wiseman The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe The Dancing Wu Li Masters Gary Zukav