Textbooks for AP English Language & Literature

[MomsintheGarden]

After cobbling together dd's study plan for the AP English Language & Literature exams, I have been poking around on the internet to see what else is out there for my younger children. I found these textbooks. The site gives their table of contents and other information.

 

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/newcatalog.aspx?search=renee%20shea

 

They are written by Renee Shea, an English professor who is an AP English reader and teacher trainer. Here is her bio (warning - it has typos that made me cringe):

http://www.reneeshea.com/

 

Shea has also written some other materials used for teaching English AP classes, and reviews of AP materials:

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/Pageflows/TeachersResource/showResourceList.do

 

Teacher materials are available, but I do not know if homeschoolers can access them.

 

These look promising, because up until now all I've seen are commercial prep guides, writing instruction books, writer's handbooks, and anthologies. These textbooks are the only ones I've come across that are specifically geared to the AP exams.

 

If I were using these books, I would still have my student use a prep guide such as Cliff's (our favorite for these exams), and practice tests in the prep guides or from the College Board.

 

Please post if you've used these!

 

GardenMom

[Michelle in AL]

Hi Garden mom, I've been looking into textbooks for this class also. I hope you don't mind if I list what I've found...

 

I really like the Bedford Reader:

http://www.amazon.com/Bedford-Reader-Ninth-X-Kennedy/dp/0312433174

 

The essays are easy to read and thought provoking. The suggested writing assignments are also very well done. This is a college textbook and some essays may have adult content.

 

The Bedford Reader really doesn't address rhetoric though. For that I'm using portions of Everything's an Argument with Readings

 

http://www.amazon.com/Everythings-Argument-Readings-4th/dp/B0028IB2FE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262722062&sr=8-1

 

50 Essays a Portable Anthology is also very good. In fact, essays are now my favorite thing to read! A good portion of the AP LAng exam is analyzing how an author uses rhetoric and this anthology lists essays according to rhetorical devices, which makes it easier to apply readings to specific devices as you learn them.

 

http://www.amazon.com/50-Essays-Anthology-Samuel-Cohen/dp/0312446985/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262722185&sr=8-1

 

This too is a college book and may contain adult material.

 

This book is really good for teaching syntax, tone and details. It's called Voice Lessons and has daily exercises that take about 10-15 minutes each.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Lessons-Classroom-Activities-Diction/dp/0929895355/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262722281&sr=8-2

 

I don't know if my kids will actually be able to take the AP next yr after this class, but I'm really looking forward to teaching it!

[Michelle in AL]

Can we list favorite nonfiction or memoirs for this class too?

 

So far I LOVE The Things They Carried, but the multiple cuss words and one innuendo scene will keep me from teaching it in a co-op setting. I'm going to have dd read it.

 

I also love Waiting for Snow in Havana, but it too has multiple cuss words and sensitive topics, so there again I can not teach it. I'm ROFL while I read it though.

 

I liked Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis also, but not as much as the above 2 titles.

[MomsintheGarden]

Thanks, Michelle! A couple of years ago I posted asking what folks had used for AP English self-study and got no responses, so the more choices, the better.

 

My SIL has trained to teach AP Lit and says that a student should know about 5 quality fiction books very well, as fodder for the Open Question essay. She recommends to do at least one Shakespeare play, and her choices are King Lear or Othello.

 

For the AP Language exam last year, dd read Darwin's Black Box, and several C.S. Lewis books: Surprised by Joy, Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters, and On Stories, and Till We Have Faces. She enjoyed her Lewis study.

 

I will look into your recommendations - thanks again.

 

GardenMom

[Sebastian (a lady)]

After cobbling together dd's study plan for the AP English Language & Literature exams, I have been poking around on the internet to see what else is out there for my younger children. I found these textbooks. The site gives their table of contents and other information.

 

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/newcatalog.aspx?search=renee%20shea

 

They are written by Renee Shea, an English professor who is an AP English reader and teacher trainer. Here is her bio (warning - it has typos that made me cringe):

http://www.reneeshea.com/

 

Shea has also written some other materials used for teaching English AP classes, and reviews of AP materials:

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/Pageflows/TeachersResource/showResourceList.do

 

Teacher materials are available, but I do not know if homeschoolers can access them.

 

These look promising, because up until now all I've seen are commercial prep guides, writing instruction books, writer's handbooks, and anthologies. These textbooks are the only ones I've come across that are specifically geared to the AP exams.

 

If I were using these books, I would still have my student use a prep guide such as Cliff's (our favorite for these exams), and practice tests in the prep guides or from the College Board.

 

Please post if you've used these!

 

GardenMom

 

I know this is an older thread.

 

The Bedford link doesn't take me to a specific book. I did find The Language of Composition (2007) and Literature and Composition (2010) on Amazon. Does one of these look similar to the book you used by Shea?

[Allegro]

In my online AP Lit class, we're using Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Here's a link.