ENG3UI Ms Rice
Summer Reading Summer 2006
Entering Grade 11 AP
The required summer reading for Grade 11 AP includes three books and several selections from newspapers/magazines. You are also strongly encouraged to read the course texts for the year, and to read more than the minimum required selections from the lists below.
First book assignment – Literary Memoirs
The year will begin with an assignment on this selection of books (read at least two):
On Writing by Stephen King
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
As you read, use a highlighter and/or post-it notes to annotate the text, paying particular attention to passages you feel illustrate the increasing awareness or self-awareness of the authors.
Second book assignment – Classic fiction and drama
Another September assignment will be based on your choice of at least one of the following in order to begin building a base of literary books for AP background, and to become accustomed to non-contemporary writing styles. It is recommended that you look carefully at book summaries and reader reviews on Amazon.com before you make your selection(s). Choose something you haven’t read before!
Annotate the text for things like memorable quotations, symbols, characterization, setting, and thematic development.
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
A Doll’s House - Henrik Ibsen
Washington Square - Henry James
Pygmalion - George Bernard Shaw
Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) - Sophocles
Gulliver’s Travels - Jonathan Swift
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Newspaper / magazine editorial reading assignment
The focus of the Grade 11 AP course is understanding, analyzing, and writing non-fiction prose. This assignment gives you practice in reading and responding to essays and arguments.
Choose a journal (approx 5”x7” to 8”x11” in size) to keep this assignment in. You will be submitting this journal in the first week of school.
Over the summer, read, clip and paste into your journal at least five editorials or commentaries / essays (not news articles or informational features) from reputable newspapers or issues-based magazines (you should mix-and-match, using at least two different sources).
Examples of suggested newspapers/magazines:
The Globe and Mail (newspaper) The National Post (newspaper)
The New York Times (newspaper) The Washington Post (newspaper)
The New Yorker (magazine) Atlantic Monthly (magazine) Harper’s (magazine) The Economist (magazine)
Mother Jones (magazine) Salon.com (online magazine)
Examples of newspapers/magazines that are not recommended:
The Toronto Sun (newspaper) The Toronto Star (newspaper)
USA Today (newspaper) Seventeen (magazine)
Then, handwriting your responses in your journal, comment on the aspects of each of the editorials that made you think, and your thoughts about the editorial or the issues – one response per editorial. There is no guideline as to length, but your responses should be thoughtful and detailed.
Some questions you might want to think about/comment on:
Do you agree or disagree with the editorial’s viewpoints? Why?
Did the editorial make you want to know more about the issue?
What are some of the author’s best arguments? What makes them good?
Which arguments or points made by the author do not make sense to you and why?
How does this editorial connect with other knowledge that you have from other sources?
Anything else this editorial makes you think about…
And finally…
The following will be studied later in the year. It is highly recommended that you begin reading them over the summer – you will be expected to have read them before we use them in class.
Plays:
Othello by Shakespeare (recommended edition: Oxford)
Antigone by Sophocles – Penguin edition, trans. R. Fagles
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (also playing from
June 3 to Sept 2 at Soulpepper in the Distillery District)
Novel:
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell