Kfamily Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I copied the most commonly appearing books from the AP book list. I'm not sure if dd will attempt this or not, but for now I want to leave that door open by including a number of the books that appear most often on the list. It is kind of frustrating that the majority of the books are from the modern time period. She likes some from the modern time period but prefers many others from the older time periods. She is considering a major in the study of English history (especially the study of GB's early history) as well as literature with a focus on mythology. I've included the list below and would love some advice or suggestions. Drama: *Shakespeare-Hamlet, King Lear and Othello (we will be reading more plays) *Sophocles-Three Theban Plays Tennessee Williams-The Glass Menagerie (We will also read Aeschylus and more here too) Fiction: Margaret Atwood-The Handmaid's Tale Kate Chopin-The Awakening Joseph Conrad-Heart of Darkness *Charles Dickens-A Tale of Two Cities *Fyodor Dostoevsky-Crime and Punishment Ralph Ellison-The Invisible Man William Faulkner-Light in August F. Scott Fitzgerald-The Great Gatsby *Nathaniel Hawthorne-The House of Seven Gables, The Scarlet Letter Joseph Hellero-Catch-22 Zora Neale Hurston-Their Eyes Were Watching God James Joyce-Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man Cormac McCarthy-All the Pretty Horses Herman Melville-Moby Dick, Billy Budd Toni Morrison-Beloved *George Orwell-1984 *Jonathan Swift-Gulliver's Travels *Leo Tolstoy-Anna Karenina *Mark Twain-Adventures of Huck Finn Expository Prose: *Ralph Waldo Emerson-Essays *Henry David Thoreau-Walden, Civil Disobedience Poetry: We'll be using Perrine's Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry which seems to cover the majority of the poems/authors listed. I've put a star by the books we would have read anyway. From the remaining books, are there any that you think that we could skip? Some of these, I fear, are not going to be of interest to dd. I don't mind requiring her to read outside of her interest area to keep her reading broad, but I also don't want to require her to read a heavy load of books that don't interest her either. I was hoping to spread the unappealing books around. :lol: Any advice...suggestions? We will be adding to this list with books we find important or books she finds interesting. Two of the books on the most common list were by the Bronte sisters (Charlotte and Emily with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights) and dd has already read them. She read them independently and for pure pleasure. Should I go back over these with her to bring in more study of them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I strongly suggest this resource: http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/apl She does a VERY good job of leading you through how to write each type of essay prompt on the AP exam. You have a huge list of works. Doing less in more detail, might be better. For each work she needs to make a list of major characters, summary of events, major themes and symbols, etc. She needs to practice an essay a week. Vary the types. The easiest is the open prompts. Here they are from 1970-2011 http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/APOpenQuestions.html Once she is comfortable with that, she can go on to the poetry. Here they are from 1970-2011 http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/Poetry_Essays.pdf The next type is the hardest. They will give them a passage and they have to write an essay analyzing tone, diction, etc. Here is a list of prompts, but without the passage included they aren't more help. I'm sure if you dig more, you might find samples with passages: http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/Prose_Essays.pdf Honestly having 3 or 4 works she knows REALLY well ( like Great Expectation that she uses in the IEW book) would be the best prep in addition to practicing the essays. I hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Thank you so much. The Excellence in Literature AP book looks really good. Thanks for the other links too. I would love to narrow this list down! What should I keep and what can I let go? Here are the books I think I will have trouble getting dd to read: Heart of Darkness The Great Gatsby Moby Dick and/or Billy Budd and probably several others I can read them with her if we need them read, but what can I leave out? Which ones are really good? (I have read The Great Gatsby and Heart of Darkness and frankly didn't really like those...so I am biased:001_smile:.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 My ds is taking AP Lit at school this year. From your list they're reading Scarlet Letter, 1984, Invisible Man, and The Great Gatsby. They also read The Kite Runner, which his teacher says has more recently appeared on the exam. They're spending a lot of time on Invisible Man. A lot. Not as much on the others. They're also reading To Kill a Mockingbird and Our Town. I don't know what essays and poetry they're doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Since she's considering an English major, you might want to check with the colleges she may attend to find out if they will allow credit for APs in the student's major. Some colleges don't give credit for material that would be covered by the major. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez J Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 My ds is taking AP Lit at school this year. From your list they're reading Scarlet Letter, 1984, Invisible Man, and The Great Gatsby. They also read The Kite Runner, which his teacher says has more recently appeared on the exam. They're spending a lot of time on Invisible Man. A lot. Not as much on the others. They're also reading To Kill a Mockingbird and Our Town. I don't know what essays and poetry they're doing. This horrifies me! The Kite Runner! That is a book I wish I had never read and won't let my child read until adulthood. It is not for minors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Wallace Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 This horrifies me! The Kite Runner! That is a book I wish I had never read and won't let my child read until adulthood. It is not for minors. Yes! In addition to the obviously, obviously bad writing -- I believe the book is written at approximately a 6th-grade reading level and the plot is beyond improbable -- the fact that the author includes not just one graphically-described a**l rape of a young boy, but returns to the same crime again later in the book. There are many fine authors of Middle Eastern descent and the books they have written have been profoundly influential throughout world culture. This is not one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheryl h Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Yes! In addition to the obviously, obviously bad writing -- I believe the book is written at approximately a 6th-grade reading level and the plot is beyond improbable -- the fact that the author includes not just one graphically-described a**l rape of a young boy, but returns to the same crime again later in the book. There are many fine authors of Middle Eastern descent and the books they have written have been profoundly influential throughout world culture. This is not one of them. I am so glad this was brought to light. I was thinking of pursuing AP Lit for my dd, but if this is the kind of garbage they are reading, I will gladly pass. It is just so entirely unnecessary to use books with this kind of content for academic purposes especially at this age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Wallace Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I am so glad this was brought to light. I was thinking of pursuing AP Lit for my dd, but if this is the kind of garbage they are reading, I will gladly pass. It is just so entirely unnecessary to use books with this kind of content for academic purposes especially at this age. Yes, I think so too. I understand the AP wants to be relevant and new, not just about dead white dudes, but I sincerely wish they would look a little further than an airport bookshelf. It's touted by Amazon as "the first Afghani novel in English," but...but...he left Afghanistan when he was ten years old and then lived mostly in California! Also, I'd like to add (knowing that I'm preaching to the choir here...) that "first" does not equal "best." If it did, we'd all still be driving Model T Fords and emailing each other on TRS-80s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I am so glad this was brought to light. I was thinking of pursuing AP Lit for my dd, but if this is the kind of garbage they are reading, I will gladly pass. It is just so entirely unnecessary to use books with this kind of content for academic purposes especially at this age. If you're doing an AP Lit prep at home you could choose different books. If you're looking to outsource find out first which books they're planning to use. Ds's AP teacher said the essay questions would not pick specific books. It will give a list of books; the student can choose from the list which book to refer to when answering the questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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