AP Language and composition
This is what was assigned to students before school let out for summer break.
AP Language and composition
Summer Reading Assignment
Summer 2022
English Language AP students are required to read TWO books (nonfiction) from the provided list below. The AP reading list was developed using recommendations from College Board, AP English Language curriculum, and award winning non-fiction with a Lexile score of 1100 or above. The content of these books can be sensitive in nature. Parents are advised to review the list, read summaries of the books, and assist students in determining which books are appropriate for them.
The summer reading argument templates will be the first graded assignments for students and they are due on the first day of school. Digital copies of the books are not recommended. ** All assignments must be typed (hard copy) and available in digital format as well.
Read the required non-fiction book: The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, by Wes Moore
Choose an additional non-fiction book to read from the list provided below.
Complete the following Summer Reading Argument Template, identifying the argument and various components of each text (with page numbers). Come to class with printed and digital copies of this template on the first day of class.
Annotate your readings to use as evidence in your choice of one of three essay prompts (in-class timed writing). Prompts will be given in class, no outline or notes will be permitted. Bring books to class everyday.
Non-Fiction REQUIRED
Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore. Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question. In alternating narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.
Non-Fiction options (Select One)
Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian,a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship- and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
Beals, Melba Pattillo. Warriors don’t cry. A searing memoir of the battle to integrate Little Rock’s Central High. A riveting true story of an embattled teenager who paid for integration with her innocence. Beals chronicles her harrowing junior year at Central High where she underwent the segregationists’ brutal organized campaign of terrorism which included telephone threats, vigilante stalkers, economic blackmailers, rogue police, and much more. In 1957 Melba Pattillo turned sixteen. That was also the year she became a warrior on the front lines of a civil rights firestorm. Following the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown vs. Board Education, she was one of nine teenagers chosen to integrate Little Rock’s Central High Schools. This is her remarkable story.
Slater, Dashka. The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives.
One teenager in a skirt.
One teenager with a lighter.
One moment that changes both of their lives forever.
If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California , one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight.
Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. On November 15, 1959 in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues.
As Truman Capote reconstructs th murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generations both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.
Read, Piers Paul. Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors. On October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the remote, snow-peaked Andes. Out of the forty-five original passengers and crew, only sixteen made it off the mountain alive. For ten excruciating weeks they suffered deprivations beyond imagining, confronting nature head-on at its most furious and inhospitable. And to survive, they were forced to do what would have once been unthinkable…
This is their story--one of the most astonishing true adventures of the twentieth century.