Welcome to AP Literature! Your Summer Reading Assignment is due the first day of class.

1. Select one book from the list below. Please secure a copy (does not have to be new) so that you may take notes directly in the book.
   
   If you are having difficulty finding/acquiring a copy from the list below, please click here to email Nancy Aiken in the Curriculum Office. 
    
2. Annotate - due the first day of class. As you read, highlight or underline or comment in the margin or use sticky-tabs or combine (whatever is easiest for you). Bring the book to the first day of class for an easy 20 points! Annotate important plot developments, major character decisions, and interesting quotes.
    
3. Four Reading Journal Entries - due the first day of class. Click here for a link to the journal entries. Divide your book into four relatively equal sections (for instance, if the book has 12 chapters, journal chapters 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12). After you finish a section, complete a journal entry. Type directing into the form or complete with pen and paper. You are totally welcome to do more than the required four entries.

You are also more than welcome to talk through your books with other people or even use secondary material; however, you must submit work that is in your own words. No shared documents will be accepted.

Choices: If you don't know what book to pick, swing by C-34 to say "Hi" and chat. While you are more than welcome to read as many as you like, you are only required to select 1.     

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (2016 Pulitzer Winner)
  This was my summer read in 2019. Set during WWII, the book tells two, eventually intersecting stories: one is about a blind French girl  struggling to survive in Nazi-occupied France. The other follows an orphaned, German boy as he grows from gifted student to a questioning Nazi soldier. **While this is the longest of the books, it tends to be a student favorite.""
• Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (1993 Nobel Prize in Literature Winner)
  Powerful. Heartbreaking. This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read and also one of the most tragic. Warning: this book contains graphic depictions of racism and sexual violence.  
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
  Set in a dystopian future where women are oppressed by a totalitarian, religious state. If you like the TV series, now is the time to read the source material. **New selection for this year.**
• No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (2005)
  This is the shortest book on the list. It also has one of the greatest villains every created. If you like "bad guys," you're going to love this novel. Read the book first. Then watch the Academy Award Winning film. Be forewarned: the book (and movie) contains graphic depictions of violence.
• Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890)
  This book is a "classic". It's also a "monster” story. It also can be read as a pretty genius metaphor for the author's private life. While the majority of "classics” are super long, this book manages to be short, philosophical, super-witty, and so much more than a monster story. If you're interested in LGBTQ literature, spend a few minutes researching Oscar Wilde. 

If I don't see you before then, have an awesome summer! Enjoy your book! And I can't wait to see you in September!

— Mr. Hackett