MAGNET AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

2015 SUMMER ASSIGNMENT

Novels:

Tess of the DUrbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie

While reading two novels in twelve weeks is a very leisurely pace compared to the volume of
novels, plays and poetry you will read and write about in the eight months before the AP
exams in May, these are fairly challenging works. Read them thoughtfully and thoroughly, reread them if you have time, and prepare to amaze me with your comprehension, analysis
and fluent writing in an assessment the first FULL week of class in September. You may
make notes, underline, annotate your texts as you read, but these notes are for your own
use only no notes are permitted for the in-class assessments.
As you read be sure to:

Pay close attention to characters, relationships, settings in each novel

Be familiar with quotations which are significant to themes in each novel
Become familiar with specific stylistic devices (tone, language, narrative voice, etc.)
in each novel

A word of advice: reading any online study guide will not help you either engage with this
literature at the level required for AP nor prepare you for the tasks in your first AP
assessment.