Has your teen finished their summer reading for AP Lit? We ask because it’s common for those enrolled for the fall to have a preliminary assignment to read a novel over the break. When school begins, they complete the assignment by writing about the book.
Reading Like a Writer
It also helps if your teen reads the book “like a writer,” meaning while paying attention to character development, plot points, and theme, as well as to the use of rhetorical devices, description, and pacing.
Elements to Look For
Assuming the book is a well-written piece of literary fiction – a good assumption since the book is recommended for AP Lit – it will follow a set of literary conventions (norms) with elements that your student can look for. Here are several that will be easy to spot:
- Character Development: Your main character will not be the same person at the end as at the start of the book. That change will take place in observable increments. Depending upon the type of book, it may be a profound change, like the Hero’s Journey of Luke Skywalker in A New Hope.
- Plot Points: At the start of the book, your teen will find an exposition that introduces them to what is normal for that character. Then, an inciting incident will occur, and that incident will be the spark that causes everything else to happen. Rising action will lead to the climax when the tension pops, only to introduce falling action, and a denouement in which the character realizes something they hadn’t known before. Finally, the story may give a glimpse of the new normal. For instance, in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s realization is that she already had what she was looking for.
- Theme: The quickest way to describe this is to say that “this is a book about xxxxxxx.” The theme is whatever xxxxxxx might be. For instance, the theme of The Hunger Games is to be true to yourself.
- Rhetorical Devices: What sort of literary devices has the author used? Metaphor? Simile? Purposeful repetition? Personification? If there’s a talking cat, there’s personification.
- Description: It’s not enough to say they were at the beach. Did the writer include sensory details like the sounds, smells, sights, feel, and taste of the place? Did they do it well? Can your teen give examples?
- Pacing: Does the story progress in “fits and starts,” with long periods of bone-wearying tedium followed by a rush to the next plot point? Does it take so much time building the story that, when the ending finally arrives, it all feels somehow incomplete? Whatever your teen decides, make sure they have an example.
Commercial vs. Literary
There is no official AP Lit Reading list, but these books are excellent choices for literary fiction. If your teen has gone “off-list” for the reading assignment and can’t find all of these things we mentioned, they may have picked a piece of commercial, rather than literary, fiction. Works of commercial fiction are terrific reads that place emphasis on action and conflict. Some of these have character development, and some of the other aspects we listed above. Some of these – not so much. Works of literary fiction will have the elements we noted above.
Getting Lost in a Book
The most important thing is for your teen to get lost in a book. To enter the storyworld deeply enough to hear the voices, see the places, and feel the emotions. When that happens, it’s no longer an assignment but is instead a summer treat.