Summer 2016 High School
AP English Language and Composition
Lancaster
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Students entering AP English Language and Composition for the 2016-2017 school year are required to read two books: Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
!Assignment: Students will respond to the ten questions below for one book, and then separately for the other. To be clear, students will turn in two assignments. All work must be typed, with a heading in MLA format. Assignments should be structured in question and answer format, not in an essay. Answers should be thorough, providing textual evidence to support claims. Students will turn in the completed questions to their AP English Language teacher no later than the last class meeting of the first week of school. Ms. Frias will be available by email (
[email protected]) throughout the summer to answer any questions that may arise. Students should keep an electronic file of the assignments in order to submit work to turnitin.com to be checked for plagiarism. In addition, students should be ready to take a test on each of the books at the end of the first week of school. Failure to complete summer work will significantly lower the first semester grade. Questions: 1. Give the title, author, genre, and date of original publication. 2. What is author’s purpose for writing the book? Write a paragraph summarizing the main argument or purpose. 3. How does the author achieve his purpose? What type of evidence is used (statistics, examples, anecdotes, descriptions, etc)? Be specific. Give details. 4. Copy down at least ten words you learned or became more familiar with as a result of this reading. For each word, quote the sentence from which it came, give a definition, and explain a context in which you might be able to appropriately use this word. 5. Copy three important passages (minimum of 3 sentences each); and then respond to these passages. Why do you think they are important? How do they help the author create his purpose? 6. Characterize the language used. Is it formal, casual, poetic, scientific, verbose, sparse, etc? (The possibilities here are endless.) Cite specific instances in the book that helped you come to this conclusion. Then, explain how this language helps the author create his or her voice. 7. Both of the assigned books have gained a wide readership, yet they are so different. Explain what the author included or did that led to this book’s popularity. How did the author appeal to a wide audience? 8. A book’s visual appeal is a part of what persuades an audience to purchase a book. Consider the visual images such as the cover and online images that have been used to market this book. Describe the images and explain how they work to attract an audience. 9. Write a personal response to this book. What were your assumptions about the book before you began reading? Did you come in with any biases? Did you ever change your mind or come to new conclusions? What specific points/parts did you agree or disagree with? Did you enjoy the reading? What did you learn
Summer 2016 High School
AP English Language and Composition
Lancaster
from it? How does it compare with any other non-fiction you have read? Can you relate the ideas to any other events or concepts from other disciplines (history, science, etc.)? 10. What questions would you ask the author if you ever had the opportunity to meet him/her?
