Summer reading. Reading lists.

[Cloud]

Surfing around Amazon's lists, blogs, and portals yields a wealth of discussion and resources. From a reader's blog, lots of ranting about canned reading lists for kids full of outdated suckiness:

http://www.omnivoracious.com/2008/07...the-wee-1.html

Summer is the time for students to expand their reading horizons. They should be reading all those books they didn’t get to read during school because of their homework, sports, and activities schedules. When we force them to read what we deem to be worthy literature, we all to often force them to hate the books, and by association, hate reading.

we've gone to annotated lists of "suggested" titles, authors, and series . . . When did reading become such a chore?

when adults think of summer reading, they think of light, fluffy, escapist stuff while kids think of YIKES! Summer Reading Lists! Don't go into the library alone!!

I kind of remembered reading lists with fondness (and still do). Nerd alert! In high school, we had a long list of "suggested" reading, but also a specific summer assignment with about 5-10 books we had to purchase and read. But I do remember being exasperated with some of the offerings from our school list. Just because they're old does not mean good!

And I liked the point about parents' divergent views--to us, summer reading may mean trashy novels by the beach, but kids being forced to read Johnny Tremaine or Great Expectations, it's a different story.

Kids should be able to read what they want. Maybe keep track of books they completed for points or prizes.

[PIMPnazT]

I loved "Lord of the Flies"...still an all-time favorite.

[Sundae]

I hated Lord of the Flies.
I read it when I was too young and it shocked and disturbed me in the visceral way that pornography can upset people.

When I started my Grammar school there was a suggested reading list (from the school library). I read them all, although I can't remember them now. They were school approved in that they were in the library, but they'd been suggested by other pupils.

We never had a summer reading list. I'd have eaten it up with a spoon if we had.

I think reading lists should be streamed. NOT being elitest - just streamed according to how much a child enjoys reading. If they don't really like it, give them a list packed with page turners - at least they're reading and absorbing spelling and grammar. So-so readers can have more involved books. Something with a sly sense of humour so they feel involved. Serious readers get a head start on proper literature - but keep it age-specific. I remember a girl I was at school with who boasted of reading Jane Eyre at 10. I was on Judy Blume at that point. Of course a 10 year old can read the words, but how on earth can they relate to the emotions?

"Eat it or wear it" I say.

[Griff]

Lil' Griff's school follows the NYS curriculum. This year the board of Regents has decided that all kids going into 7th grade should have a book assigned and a thick stack of worksheets to fill out. The assigned book and sheets appear to target poor readers (she had to pretend she didn't know a vocabulary word from the bookto do the section she worked on yesterday). So she's doing the work while reading the stuff she wants but it seems to me most kids will be turned off to reading by this approach. The booklist last summer was received much better.


So far this summer, I've read 2/3 of the Baroque Cycle - Neil Stephenson. I've got Daniel Siegel (brain science), Greg Bear (sci fi), and Bernard Cornwell (historo-fiction) in the que. I'll be reading more stuff on stone masonry and epee fencing as well.

[SteveDallas]

I understood junior high school much better after reading The Lord of the Flies.

Our school gives out very long lists (I'm talking 4-5 pages worth) of recommended books and asks the kids to read 2 or 3 (depending on grade) over the summer. While I understand the impulse (to try to make sure everybody at least touches a book over the summer), I'm not sure there's a point. Maybe I'm too cynical, but it seems to me that parents who'd let their kid go three months without reading a book unless it was assigned by the school, probably wouldn't follow up that aggressively on the school assignment.

Having said that I don't have a problem with the lists themselves. In my opinion they have a variety of subjects, and my kids have never had trouble picking out books they enjoyed from the lists. The whole process is lame but it's far from my biggest educational concern.

[Chocolatl]

I'm currently tutoring some elementary-aged kids who have been taught to choose books from a list, where each book is assigned a given number of points based on difficulty. The kids read the book, take a quiz on a computer (multiple choice plot questions, from what I understand) earn their points, and move on to the next one. There are pages and pages of lists, all classified by their exact grade equivalent. I found the whole thing very soulless. No wonder they don't like reading.
When it came time to choose books for me to read with them, I went with books that I simply thought were fun, interesting, and "cool." The younger student proclaimed one of the books we read together as "the best book [he] ever read," and was later inspired to write his own version of the story.
I think reading lists are helpful, but as with most tools, it depends on how they are used. Trying to chug through a list without regard for personal interest seems like a quick way to kill the joy of reading.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Griff

So far this summer, I've read 2/3 of the Baroque Cycle - Neil Stephenson.

Are you able to keep all the characters straight?

I found that I needed to keep a pencil and a couple index cards on my bedside table, and would make lists of all the characters and who they were. There must be 40 characters in each book, and you never know if a newly introduced character will be abandoned in 20 pages and can be forgotten, or will continue to appear throughout the book.

Good books though.

[Shawnee123]

We actually watched Lord of the Flies in college, due to it's relation to Freud's Id, Ego and Superego. I had read the book but had not made that connection. I find character studies to be fascinating, whether Freud's theory is a bunch of hooey or not.

[SteveDallas]

I have been a big fan of Stephenson over the years. Even so, vol. 2 did me in about halfway through. It just kind of collapsed under its own weight.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by glatt

Are you able to keep all the characters straight?

Sometimes it takes two or three pages but then it'll shake itself out. Note cards on characters are a good idea. I think the books would flow better if I could dedicate big blocks of time to them. The Cornwell books are better for a chapter a night.

That second book got a lot better about 2/3 of the way through. The letter format was a bit tedious. I'm hoping book 3 is written more like book 1.

[lookout123]

I read LOTF in freshman lit. It was ok, but the teacher's endless blathering about the significance of the relationships was over the top. Kids treat eachother in a malicious manner? really? With no rules or authority figures the previous social structure might disintegrate? say it ain't so.

[DanaC]

I loved Lord of the Flies. It was class reading in the second year (12 years old). We read the book and also saw the film in class. I think that was a really nice way to do it. Many of the books we covered in secondary school Eng Lit had a movie version available and we usually got that alongside.

Of course it helped that our English teacher was a clever, witty man who understood the teenage mind :P

I really think we push reading too much on kids though. It can get built up into this big thing and end up just being work and that can put youngsters off reading for pleasure. I saw that happen with one of my nieces when she was in primary school. From a family of readers and having shown all the normal interest in pretending to read and looking at books, she went to primary school and they systematically put the kid off reading. Ended up with her falling slightly behind in reading and needing extra coaching. Caught back up again in no time, but was another few years before she got into reading as any kind of pleasurable activity.

[sweetwater]

I read LotF and The Old Man and the Sea and most of Moby Dick when I was maybe 10 or 12. Had a squarish blue dictionary that I kept nearby, but loved the stories. Later when I reread them I was surprised that the authors had added all sorts of complexities and references. I swear they weren't there the first time through... Anyway, my father saw me reading Moby Dick and swore at me, saying I was too young to understand it. I still have not picked it up again. Based on my experience, then, I'd say let kids read whether they'll get it all or not. It's worth the depth of experience one may get later. And if picking from a list helps, do it.

[DanaC]

Nowt wrong wi'reading something and not understanding it all....or understanding it differently because of youth.

[Sundae]

Nothing wrong with a child deciding to read above their emotional level. I just don't think they should be pushed into it.