The MacDuffie School English Department Grade 11: AP Language and Composition Summer Reading 2012 NOTE: AP Language is designed as a college-level class. Our summer reading books deal with mature themes and include graphic language and content. Your charge: Read and annotate the three mandatory books. Select, read, and annotate one choice book. Complete the following assignments, which are due on the first day of class. We will spend the first few weeks of the school year addressing your summer reading. Welcome to the class! *** The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon This wondrous, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is about friendship, love, loss, sexuality, heroism, family, ethnicity, and the birth of comic books. It’s also about escape. In a 1-2 page typed and proofread response, please describe why, in your view, Joe and Sammy create the particular superhero that they do. How does “The Escapist” reflect the various pressures that each young man faces? How does this character take on even deeper meanings as the novel unfolds? Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell In this acclaimed nonfiction book, Gladwell examines the nature of success from a number of different angles. After reading Outliers, you will be quite familiar with Gladwell’s “10,000-Hour Rule.” In a 1-2 page typed and proofread response, please reflect on this concept. Be sure to include direct references to the examples that Gladwell provides to support his claim; each reference should be properly cited in MLA style. Be just as sure to offer your own personal opinions as to whether you agree with the 10,000-Hour Rule. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien Please respond in writing to the following questions: 1. When O'Brien was drafted in 1968, he was, in his own words, "politically naive," yet he felt the American war in Vietnam was "wrong": "It was in my view then, and still is, that you don't make war without knowing why...it seemed to me that when a nation goes to war it must have a reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause." Consider several events O'Brien relates in terms of this quote. In other words, how was the war unjust for the author and any other character(s)? Do you think there are wars that are just and imperative? If not, why not? If so, which ones and why? The MacDuffie School English Department 2. Why does O'Brien relate his childhood love in a story about Vietnam? Who was Linda? What happened to her? How does she fit in with the rest of the book? 3. Is this a novel, a series of stories, an autobiography, or something else? Defend your response. Choice book Please keep a dialectical journal during your reading of your choice book. A dialectical journal is a double entry journal. On each page, the writer records a key passage of the text on the left-hand side; on the right-hand side, the writer offers a personal analysis of that passage. Your assignment is to find 5-7 passages in the book that interest you. Each passage may be from one sentence to several paragraphs in length. Create a dialectical journal entry for each passage. Your analyses might focus on phrasing or meaning. *** Mandatory: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien Choose ONE of the following: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie A great story, told in a fresh and unconventional manner. The book is narrated by high school freshman and Spokane Indian Arnold Spirit. Arnold thinks of himself as a nerd, but he has two real passions: cartooning and basketball. When the opportunity arises for Arnold to attend a largely white school, he finds himself caught between different cultures and different values. Arnold is a funny, sharp, and savvy observer of life, and so is this novel; it moves from light prose to dark themes with ease; it’s also enlivened by Arnold’s cartoons, which lend the book something of a graphic novel feel. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan This daring novel won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The setting is the rock music industry; the theme is the passage of time. The book is a collection of linked short stories (and, believe it or not, a lengthy PowerPoint presentation). The story follows the lives of a large cast of characters over the span of many years, from the 1960s to the near future. Egan’s writing is sharp and wildly creative; most of her characters are dreamers, and though many find their dreams and lives dashed with the passage of years, the novel’s essential view of humanity is that we are funny, flawed, and worth the time. On Writing, Stephen King You do not have to be a King fan to enjoy this book! This is a nonfiction work in which the famed horror author digs deep into what it means to be a writer. He describes his own The MacDuffie School English Department upbringing, his struggles to become published, and the impact of fame on his life; he also describes the demons he faced in drug and alcohol abuse. At the same time, the book provides reams of terrific, practical advice on the craft of writing. Think of it as a wild ride and a great learning tool, all in one. The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Diaz’s novel focuses on a geeky, overweight Dominican outsider named Oscar de Leon. Oscar is a dreamer whose mother has a tragic history and whose sister is a runaway. The novel is set in New Jersey and the Dominican Republic; it shifts narrators and points of view; it jumps back and forth in time; it’s filled with wild footnotes that delve deep into history, love, comic books, and science fiction. Oh, and it sometimes slips into Spanglish. A rollicking, heartfelt ride with a unique voice. The World According to Garp, John Irving One of Irving’s most treasured books, this novel follows the life of T.S. Garp, a fatherless boy who grows up to become a writer and wrestling coach at a New England private school. This novel is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny; it’s also moody, sad, angry, and hopeful. Memorable characters in Garp’s life include his mother, Jenny Fields, who becomes a feminist icon, and Garp’s best friend, Roberta Muldoon, a transsexual and former tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles. As Garp becomes a husband and father, he becomes ever more determined to protect the people he loves. A wonderful and challenging novel, Garp asks us to consider how much control we can and should have over our worlds, both real and imagined. .