Catholic Homeschool Reading List: AP English
UPDATE: This course is no longer available. However, this is a great reading list for any Catholic high school student…
Homeschool Connections will be offering an AP-level English course in the 2011/2012 school year. This course has been approved by the College Board. Students taking both semesters (Part One and Part Two) of this course are encouraged to take the AP Exam in May 2012 to receive college credit. This course does require a large commitment and a carries a heavy workload.
For AP students who wish to get a head start over the summer, here is the reading list and suggested prerequisites:
Helpful Prerequisite: A background in Scripture and either The Odyssey, The Illiad or a suitable breadth of knowledge of classical mythology. (If you do not have this background, Homeschool Connections offers recorded courses on all of these topics which can be taken anytime including summer.)
Summer Reading: All students should come to the first class having recently read one of the novels on the free reading list (scroll to the bottom).
Semester One:
Unit I: Your Literacy Profile
Unit II: Epic structure (Dante’s Inferno (Hell) OR The Aeneid)
Unit III: Here is God’s Plenty (selections from The Canterbury Tales)
Unit IV: A Bang or a Whimper: Apocalyptic Imagery in Novels about the End of the World. Students choose one from the list below or may suggest another novel of literary merit about the end of the world:
Father Elijah by Michael O’Brien
Alas Babylon by Pat Frank
Plague Journal by Michael O’Brien
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson
Last Man by Mary Shelley
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller
Semester Two:
Unit V: Family Dramas
Othello
AND
Hamlet
Unit VI: Poetry boot camp
Unit VII: Science, fiction and the horror! (Students’ choice of one)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
OR
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Unit VIII: Frailty and redemption
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Additional Free Reading:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Emma by Jane Austen
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumont
The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Another suitable work of literary merit, with instructor’s approval.
Note that most of these books can be borrowed from the library (check inner- and inter-library loan options). Some can also be found online free at places such as Project Gutenberg.
Please do not hesitate to email Homeschool Connections with any questions, comments, or suggestions.
ADDENDUM: Here is a list of books found free online: Free e-Books for AP English
