Gifted AP English Literature and Composition

This class is a combination of Gifted English IV and AP Literature and Composition. The course is intended to prepare you for the AP Literature and Composition exam by providing you with the skills to analyze fiction, drama, and poetry with depth and sophistication. You are REQUIRED to read one option from the choice novel list. Although you are allowed to use an audiobook, you will need a physical copy for the first few weeks of school. It is also recommended that you annotate your book. If you cannot or do not want to write in your book, use sticky notes (there are even clear ones now!).

Choice Novels

The AP Literature exam will require you to write an essay analyzing a novel of your choice according to a given theme. It is strongly recommended that you know at least five literary texts of varying themes and time periods to prepare for this task, and we will work on this throughout the year; however, to get you started, you will read ONE of the novels below for summer reading. The options below have been recommended by the College Board several times in the past. In addition to reading your choice novel, you will also complete 15 booksnaps according to these directions. This assignment WILL NOT be accepted after the first full week of school. If you have any questions about this assignment over the summer, you can email Dr. Godbold.

Here are your novel choices and a suggestion of thematic topics to help you identify moments for your booksnaps:

• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
       *  Betrayal and redemption, Prejudice, Love (friendship, father/son, romantic)
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
       *  Aside from the title: Marriage, Social class/status, Love, Family
• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
       *  Hypocrisy, Freedom vs. oppression, Love (particularly siblings and extended family), Colonialism

A note on the choice novels and text selections for this course:

Several of these texts deal with difficult or graphic situations. Please consider which book is appropriate for you in discussion with your parents/guardians.

According to the College Board Course Description for English Literature and Composition:

In an ongoing effort to recognize the widening cultural horizons of literary works written in English, the AP English Literature Development Committee will consider and include diverse authors in the representative reading lists. Issues that might, from a specific cultural viewpoint, be considered controversial, including references to ethnicities, nationalities, religions, races, dialects, gender, or class, are often represented artistically in works of literature. The Development Committee is committed to careful review of such potentially controversial material. Still, recognizing the universal value of literary art that probes difficult and harsh life experiences and so deepens understanding, the committee emphasizes that fair representation of issues and peoples may occasionally include controversial material. Since AP students have chosen a program that directly involves them in college-level work, the AP English Literature and Composition Exam depends on a level of maturity consistent with the age of 12th-grade students who have engaged in thoughtful analysis of literary texts. The best response to a controversial detail or idea in a literary work might well be a question about the larger meaning, purpose or overall effect of the detail or idea in context. AP students should have the maturity, the skill and the will to seek the larger meaning through thoughtful research. Such thoughtfulness is both fair and owed to the art and to the author. (8)