2025-26 AP ENGLISH LITERATURE & COMPOSITION READING & ASSIGNMENT

This Summer, please read Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. The Novel tells the story of a young girl on a journey to find out about her deceased mother. Along the way she meets a family of women who change her life, her perspective, and her idea of family. The book has been adapted into a movie as well and will serve as a supplementary source for the reading of the novel. Because AP Literature meets in the Spring, make sure that you read the book during the summer and revisit the book before second semester. We will work with the book during the first week of school and use it as a reference point throughout the semester. The movie is available on streaming platforms. Please watch it; doing so is also required! We also have copies of the novel in the Learning Commons! If you need one, please let me know and I will get the copy for you. DO NOT DEPEND ON A PDF! Everyone should have a copy of the book in hand on day one! Your notes must be handwritten and original. No electronic submissions will be accepted unless you have a modification that has been approved.

Say~Mean/Matter, Double-Entry Note Structure in MLA format

We will use a 3 column-note structure in class, but for your summer reading notes, please set up your thinking as follows~

A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. (If you choose to handwrite your notes, underline the book’s title.)

What does the text explicitly say?	What does this quote mean and Why does it matter?
“Damn my eggs-Damn all the eggs that ever was” (Hansberry 34). Write the part of the quote that is most helpful to understanding what you write in the second column. You may use an ellipse (...) but make sure to include what makes sense. Your second column, the Mean and Matter, should be logically linked to the quote and should be at least 3 sentences. Notice the example is not a summary, but a reaction to the reading. This is the Emotional Impact. **You will use your notes for a literary analysis, so be thorough. You are the expert!	Walter Lee’s response to his wife, Ruth is one of frustration. Once Walter Lee realizes that Ruth is ignoring his attempts to persuade her to go along with his future plans, he curses his breakfast in anger. Ruth’s decision to provide Walter Lee with scrambled eggs after he told her he did not want them, and her prodding to eat his breakfast ignites a firestorm in Walter Lee. This moment provides several pieces of information for the reader: 1. Walter Lee and Ruth are at odds and 2. Walter Lee’s idea for the money is not a popular choice, and 3. Walter Lee’s need for his wife to side with him provides insight about the strained relationship that he has with his own mother, Lena.
	You may color-code your notes if doing so helps!

What does the text explicitly say?

What does this quote mean and Why does it matter?

“Damn my eggs-Damn all the eggs that ever was” (Hansberry 34).

**Write the part of the quote that is most helpful to understanding what you write in the second column. You may use an ellipse (...) but make sure to include what makes sense.

**Your second column, the Mean and Matter, should be logically linked to the quote and should be at least 3 sentences. Notice the example is not a summary, but a reaction to the reading. This is the Emotional Impact.

**You will use your notes for a literary analysis, so be thorough. You are the expert!

Walter Lee’s response to his wife, Ruth is one of frustration. Once Walter Lee realizes that Ruth is ignoring his attempts to persuade her to go along with his future plans, he curses his breakfast in anger. Ruth’s decision to provide Walter Lee with scrambled eggs after he told her he did not want them, and her prodding to eat his breakfast ignites a firestorm in Walter Lee. This moment provides several pieces of information for the reader: 1. Walter Lee and Ruth are at odds and 2. Walter Lee’s idea for the money is not a popular choice, and 3. Walter Lee’s need for his wife to side with him provides insight about the strained relationship that he has with his own mother, Lena.

You may color-code your notes if doing so helps!

Please complete 15 journal entries for the novel and 5 journal entries for the movie. Your movie entries should be focused on the impact of changes from the novel to the movie. Avoid superficial points. For example~I imagined that Lily would be taller; the actress that plays her is shorter than I imagined. This may sound superficial as it is written, however your understanding of the character’s image is important. How does this impact the way that you now see Lily? Consider this~Seeing Lily portrayed by an actress who is smaller than what I envisioned helps me to see Lily as more fragile than she actually is in the book. She appears to be headstrong, but her smallness creates the impression that she needs to be protected. Setting off on her own and defying her father is a much more impactful choice than I originally thought.