Summer Readings 2018: Story of Success

Looking for some interesting summer reading? Join my incoming juniors on this summer's AP English work! Here's the assignment I sent to my upcoming students.

FIRST: Send me an introductory email - some of you I know, some I don't, so introduce yourself and help me get to know. What do you enjoy doing? What is something you loathe doing? Why are you interested in AP English? No word count. Help me with some facts and dreams to put with the name before August. Tell me which book you are selecting from my reading list and why. **Blog readers, if you want to join in, leave a comment on this post or the Facebook page! **

EVERYONE READS:

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

THEN CHOOSE ONE OF THESE:*

• Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
• The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins
• The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter, and How to Make the Most of Them by Meg Jay
• Artificial Maturity: Helping Kids Meet the Challenge of Becoming Authentic Adults by Tim Elsmore
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (OR How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age)
• Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
• The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko

*These are affiliate links, so if you purchase one of the books from the list, I get a small commission - so thanks! I did not send affiliate links to my students however - conflict of interest to earn a commission off of my own assignment!*

WRITE:
Write a synthesis essay arguing what qualities are needed for success and what success can look like, drawing on and citing each text, and explaining what skills you currently have or need to develop to reach your success. The purpose of this assignment is to reflect on your own life, choices, and goals, and to consider them in the light of other well-reasoned research in an argumentative format.


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I had last year's students read Outliers in the fall and they really liked it. Many of my incoming juniors have never read full-length nonfiction before the AP Language and Composition year; their English reading focused on fiction for the most part. My outgoing juniors approved this assignment for the incoming juniors, and were excited themselves to read some of these books on their own. This is sort of a combination of my last two years of summer assignments, based in both researched nonfiction and character development. I'll keep you posted this fall on how any feedback I get from the kids.

Happy reading!