“We read to know we're not alone.” -William Nicholson
In preparation for your senior year, the AP Literature teachers are asking that you begin to complete a two-part assignment prior to school starting in 2020. Click the links to find more information or resources.
First, acquire and read a copy of How to Read Literature Like a Professor (2nd Edition) by Thomas C. Foster. Because this will serve as the foundation text for your senior year with us, it is in your best interest to purchase a physical copy for long term use instead of relying on either a library copy or an eBook or Kindle edition. You must also read the short stories listed below, which have been paired with chapters from the second edition of the text. The written part of the assignment follows the list of paired readings.
Readings: A chapter from HTRLLAP is paired with a short story listed below:
- Every Trip is a Quest A Worn Path | Eudora Welty
- Nice to Eat You: Communion Deportation at Breakfast | Larry Fondation
- Nice to Eat You: Vampires Where are You Going and Where Have You Been | Joyce Carol Oates
- Where Have I Seen Her Jerusalem's Lot | Stephen King
- When in Doubt: Shakespeare 2BR02B | Kurt Vonnegut
- When in Doubt: The Bible Araby | James Joyce
- Hansel & Gretel The Necklace | Guy De Maupassant
- Greek to Me Gryphon | Charles Baxter
- More than Rain or Snow The Storm | Kate Chopin
- Never Stand by the Hero The Scarlet | Ibis James Hurst
- Concerning Violence Battle Royal | Ralph Ellison
- Is that a Symbol? Hills Like White Elephants | Ernest Hemingway
- All Political The Masque of the Red Death | Edgar Allen Poe
- She's a Christ Figure A Hunger Artist | Franz Kafka
- Flights of Fancy A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings | Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- It's all About Sex The Rocking-Horse Winner | D. H. Lawrence
- But Sex Isn't How to Talk to Girls at Parties | Neil Gaiman
- Baptism The River | Flannery O'Conner
- Geography Matters This is What it Means to Say Phoenix Arizona | Sherman Alexie
- Seasons Matter To Build a Fire | Jack London
- Marked for Greatness Harrison Begeron | Kurt Vonnegut
- Blind for a Reason Cathedral Raymond | Carver
- Not Just Illness The Yellow Wallpaper | Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Don't Read with Your Eyes Sonny's Blues | James Baldwin
- Symbolism: Cry if I Want to The Wish | Roald Dahl
- Other Ironies An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge | Ambrose Bierce
Secondly, complete the following assignment:
For each chapter create a typed document, in MLA format, which includes the following information, in the order in which it appears in How to Read Literature Like a Professor.
- Title of the Chapter
- The main claim or thesis of the chapter summarized in your own words, with a parenthetical citation indicating the page number upon which the main claim appears. EX. Chbosky argues that humans are privy to moments of deep connection with others and with the universe, which can be at times confusing, terrifying, and exhilarating, but are always meaningful to the development of the human experience (Chbosky 39).
- A summary of the key ideas of the chapter. EX. The key points touched upon in this chapter are isolation and community, the power of music, innocence versus experience, the dangers of predatory behaviors, shared adolescent experiences, and appearance versus reality.
- One five sentence paragraph about how the ideas discussed in the chapter are reflected in the paired short story.
- Each paragraph must contain a topic sentence, three well developed supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence which discusses the significance of the ideas of the chapter.
**A Note from AP Lit Teachers* It is our hope that you can get started in completing the assignments for the first 8 chapters, along with the paired short story for each chapter. We will begin the semester with our first short fiction unit which will consist of the first eight of these short stories (the only live links you will find above). Throughout the year we will have three short fiction units, consisting of all the short stories you see, which we will work with in the same fashion. So please do not be intimidated by the list, it is a list for the entire year, about eight short stories per unit. If you complete these assignments over the summer, you will have a head start on our first unit when we come back to school. During the school year you will be expected to complete these assignments anyway, it is our hope you will be able to start the year with some room to breathe by taking advantage of this head start. We will close read the same short stories for literary devices in addition to the HTRLLAP assignments once school starts. We look forward to our journey together this school year as we prepare you to pass the AP Literature and Composition exam. Have a great Summer!!
Take Care and Be Safe,
Mr. Ledesma and Mr. Surina
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