Summer Reading

Incoming Honors 9th Summer Reading: This year all students will read Animal Farm. The book should be read in its entirety before the first day of school. While reading, the students should annotate the text. Active reading for school includes annotating the text, so helpful resources are provided below. Additionally, there is a link to the book, but the students are encouraged to buy a copy, if possible, to be able to annotate while reading. Amazon has the paperback for less than $5 and McKay's typically has many copies available. If the book cannot be purchased, the students can keep a notebook of the annotations making note of the page numbers correlating with the notes taken. The annotations are not optional and should be completed while reading the book. Ideally, the students will have at least one annotation on each page of the novel.

Link to the book: https://ia601308.us.archive.org/28/items/AnimalFarmByGeorgeOrwell/Animal%20Farm%20by%20George%20Orwell.pdf

There are also many audio versions of the book on YouTube.

Annotation Guidance:

https://girlspring.com/5-helpful-tips-for-annotating-a-book-for-school/

https://www.tckpublishing.com/how-to-annotate-a-book/

Once class starts, the students will have multiple assignments to show their understanding of the novel. Annotations will be checked by the teacher, so please do not fail to do them while reading.

Sophomore Honors Summer Reading
Due Date: First day of class
Books:
● How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster
● Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
Assignment: For your summer reading, you will be required to read two books. You must read the selected chapters from How to
Read Literature Like a Professor before you read Frankenstein. This is imperative. You will be focusing on analysis of Frankenstein
through the lens of the selected chapters.
Chapters to read in How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster:
● Introduction: How’d He Do That?
● Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)
● …Or the Bible
● It’s Greek to Me
● It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow
● …More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence
● Is That a Symbol?
● It’s All Political
● Geography Matters…
● …So Does Season
● Marked for Greatness
● Don’t Read With Your Eyes
Respond to each chapter listed by completing the chart. On the left side, summarize and explain the chapter from Foster’s book. Then,
write a well-developed paragraph that explains how the main points Foster is making applies to Frankenstein in the right column. The
minimum for your paragraphs is 150-250 words. Include at least two specific textual examples (one example must be a direct quote
from Frankenstein) that show how Mary Shelley utilizes the idea or technique discussed in Foster’s chapter. Use MLA parenthetical
citation to indicate where in the novel you found your examples. This will be due the first day of class. ONLY HAND-WRITTEN
COPIES WILL BE ACCEPTED. The use of an A.I. will earn a permanent, non-recoverable zero.
*Notes on Materials: You may purchase any edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Shop around places like McKays for discounted
used books. Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million also have very affordable versions of the novel. Most bookstores should have a
copy of Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor. The listed chapter titles vary by edition, but chapter titles do not. If you
cannot find a physical copy of Foster’s text, there are free versions online. Teachers will be incorporating other chapters of the text into
our studies this year, so a physical version would be the most helpful for students.
**Notes using the texts in class: Depending upon which teacher you have, both texts could be referenced several times in class.
Some assignments may require students to compare and contrast Frankenstein with other texts that we read in class. The class as a
whole may use the lenses in How to Read Literature Like a Professor to anchor discussion and for other assignments. Students may
be asked to bring both of these books to class.
The project will be a graded assignment. This assignment will be worth five percent of your total course grade. There will
also be a comprehension quiz about the content related to this project on the first full day of class.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email your teacher.
Mr. King: joseph.king@knoxschools.org
Mrs. Shoults: april.shoults@knoxschools.org
Mrs. Payne: sara.payne@knoxschools.org

AP Literature
Summer Reading/Watching/Listening 2025 

Learning or reading skill losses during the summer months are cumulative, creating a wider gap each year
between more proficient and less proficient students. In an effort to minimize skill losses and to create a
relevant, engaging experience from which students will gain greater cultural awareness, I have created the
following assignment for students to complete during the break.
1. Summer Reading/Watching/Listening:
Attached, you will find lists of some of the most celebrated works of literature, film, and music from our
culture. Students should read ONE novel, watch TWO films, and listen to TWO albums from the lists.
Upon return to school, students will write their first essay on these, and our first classes will consist of
discussions over the relevance of these works. Students are responsible for obtaining their own copies of
these works either from a bookstore or a local library. The Knox County Library has copies of the vast
majority of the films and albums. Many can also be found on Netflix, Spotify, iTunes, or even YouTube.
*** Some of these works are for a mature audience. Those that are definitely controversial in nature are
indicated with a * or an R-rating. Still, students should talk with their parents before reading,
watching, or listening to ANY of the works. I highly encourage parents to read/watch/listen to and
discuss them with their children. This can be an enjoyable experience for everyone in the family!
2. Dialectical Journal:
Students should complete a dialectical journal as they read/write/listen. This journal is due on the first day
of class. See attached information on how to format entries.
Feel free to email Mrs. Monday or if you have a question. Please allow a minimum of 24 hours to
respond.
rachel.monday@knoxschools.org

AP English Language and Composition

Summer Reading Assignment for the 2025-2026 School Year

Congratulations, you have signed up for an amazing class, “AP English Language and Composition!” Now, perhaps you just read the title and your first thought was, “Wait! Ugh! Summer Reading? How amazing can AP Lang be if we have to do summer reading?” Well, here’s the thing, most, if not all of you are taking this course with the intention of taking the exam. And, if you are going to take the exam, you certainly want to do well on it. Right? So, the cheat code is that the AP Lang exam is, like the ACT, a reader’s test. That means students who are stronger readers usually do better on the test. Some of you may be thinking, “I’m not much of a “reader”. Hey that’s okay, but it’d be awesome if you were to improve in that area. The great news is that becoming a better reader is easy. You just need to read more. And the best part? It doesn’t greatly matter what you read, just that you do. So, here is the first part of the summer reading for the 2025-2026 school year:

1. Mr. Cionfolo (That’s me. Yes, I am writing in the 3rd person.) is an avid reader. For the two months of school-free summer (June & July) he will read between 10-15 books. He challenges you to out read him. Part 1 of the summer reading is to read at least one book of your own choosing, but also see if you can out read Mr. Cionfolo. (I know, some of you are more than up for this and thinking “Challenge accepted! Bring it old man!”) Regardless of where you stand on the reading spectrum, start by picking out a book you think you will enjoy.

Great! We’ve got you reading, but unfortunately that by itself is not enough. Now we need you to do some thinking about your reading. The AP exam will ask you to read a few short essays (think a full page to a page and a half), think about them and then answer questions about how they were written. This leads us to Part 2 of the summer reading for the 2025-2026 school year:

2. Read 5 articles in which the author is trying to get the reader to do something. It could be something as small as changing their mind or as large as changing the world. Do not feel the need to pick articles that deal with politics or major issues. Feel free to pick articles that focus on subjects you are interested in. (For example, maybe you are a college football fan. You could read an article in which the author is trying to persuade the readers that this is UT’s year to beat Florida (not gonna happen) or win the SEC (definitely not gonna happen, I mean really, if you can’t beat Florida how can you win the SEC?) While you are reading, focus on how the author is trying to move the reader to do what he/she wants the reader to do.

For each article you will do a brief, paragraph long analysis.

Your analysis should include,

A) the title of the article and the author

B) Identify if the author used logic, emotion, morality, his/her credibility or some combination of these to convince the audience

C) Identify specific words or phrases he/she used that got or should have gotten a reaction out of the audience. Be sure to

explain why those words or phrasing would have gotten that reaction and

D) Identify the author’s tone.

You will submit this during the first week of your AP Lang class for a grade. It can be handwritten, printed or shared as a Google doc.

See, that’s not too bad. Doing these 2 things will help make your semester in AP Lang and the exam a bit easier.

But wait! There’s more! If you email Mr. Cionfolo (john.cionfolo@knoxschools.org) during the summer and you introduce yourself, give a little of your background and reasons for taking AP Lang, he will give you a little extra credit to start the semester off.