I Hate Summer Reading
In case that title is confusing, let me clarify: I do not hate summer reading. I do hate – despise, really—Summer Reading (note the capital letters).
Perhaps a couple definitions will help explain:
the action or practice of enjoying the written word, specifically during the period of time between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox.
the requirement that students spend the days and nights between the summer solstice and approximately the first Wednesday after the first Monday in September interpreting the words of one or more dreary, old texts in order to allow school districts to feel like they are helping to ensure kids don’t forget how to read. Typically, this is accompanied by ridiculously large numbers of questions for which there are usually no right or wrong answers but for which a grade will nonetheless be assigned during the first weeks of the new school term.
Obviously, Summer Reading is something which gets my blood pressure up. It has done so since I was a student and was handed the annual pile of deplorable dreariness known as the Summer Reading Packet. Today, as a parent of an incoming high school freshman who is required to read Great Expectations as part of her Summer Reading requirement, I’m feeling it all anew.
My wife would tell you that in reality I’m just upset that they *still* don’t require students to read Isaac Asimov, and perhaps she would be right. I have never understood why we value one work of fiction over another in terms of its cultural or educational significance. Is Dickens a worthier author than Asimov? Some may say yes, I unequivocally say no. But would I suggest that Asimov should be “required” reading for anyone? Maybe, in a classroom setting, I might. But as much as I think everyone *should* read Foundation (or any of his other works), I would certainly not require it during the summer—because summer reading should not be about what I want people to read. It should just be about reading.
Students spend their school year reading the moldy oldies someone decided to require for their classwork. I don’t complain about this (well, not much). The classroom is where Great Expectations, Silas Marner, The Scarlet Letter, The Red Badge of Courage, Of Mice and Men and many other books some might call “classics” should be read. The interaction between the students and the teacher can breathe life into these texts or at least provide insight into the time period for which or about which the author was writing.
But outside of the classroom, when the guidance of a teacher is not available, kids should simply be encouraged to read. That is, they should be encouraged to experiment and find what they enjoy reading. They shouldn’t be forced to read Great Expectations if they would rather be reading comic books or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or Harry Potter or anything by Dr. Seuss. Heck, they should be encouraged to read Twilight if that’s what they want. The point should be about reading for the sake of reading, not about ensuring that everyone has to suffer through brutal-to-read books from a hundred years ago just because their parents had to suffer through them. They may very well pick up a book and hate it (for me, the book Succubus Takes Manhattan would fall into this category), but at least they will have tried it. Perhaps it would be more like my experience with Stranger in a Strange Land, where I struggled to get through the first 100+ pages (and almost threw the book away), only to find that I couldn’t put it down once I got past the first 100 pages. As much as I love science fiction, I find Heinlein difficult to read. But I wouldn’t know that if I didn’t have a reason to have tried. Again, it is hard to know what you like to read if you don’t read a wide variety of books in a wide variety of genres and styles. This was my argument 25 years ago while I was in high school and it remains my argument today.
And yet, here we are. My daughter is (and therefore I am) slogging through Great Expectations. What’s worse is that her Summer Reading obligation includes the additional requirement that she must do two projects before beginning to read–because, as the teacher put it: without the projects the students would be unable to read this book. Which, again, is why I think these old “classics” belong in the classroom and not by the pool. If I as a student am required to do research into Charles Dickens’ life and the Victorian Era in order to afford me the ability to read a work of fiction, I should be doing this with the support and guidance of a teacher who can help explain the important historical and social points which are critical to understanding the text. Even after doing this pre-reading project, the book has proven difficult. In fact, it took me several reads and then a half hour of discussion to surmise that the word “wittles” is really a mispronunciation of the word “vittles”… and that was just Chapter 1! (I am not exaggerating).
I asked a teacher to explain what the purpose of the Summer Reading program is in our school district and was told that it is “to prepare the student for college”. Now, I cannot be the only college graduate who experienced the fact that the focus in college was much more on writing than it was on reading. Essays, research papers and lab reports were required in most every course, whether it was a Literature course or an Operating Systems Theory course. Summer Reading did not help me succeed at these essays and it won’t help my daughter, either. Frankly, if the point of these summer requirements is to help prepare students for college, Summer Reading should be replaced with Summer Writing. The students should be reading (anything) and writing essays, reports or simple diaries about what they read.
I’m no fool, so I recognize that I won’t be able to change the policies relating to Summer Reading programs. Summer Reading will continue to be a drag for my kids, just as it was when I was a student. But I can’t help but wonder what books could be on a list of suggested readings for (experimental) summer reading. Off the top of my head, a few come to mind, though I admit my list has a speculative fiction slant:
- Foundation by Isaac Asimov — because it paints a vivid picture of what happens when humanity loses touch with itself.
- 2001 – A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke — because we are constantly evolving in a universe which is constantly evolving, even if at times it seems inertia has won.
- Dune by Frank Herbert — because it wasn’t actually a movie first.
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald — because its tales of social (class) conflict and the decline of the American Dream are still quite relevant today.
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card — because it tells a tale that is so incredibly unbelievable that you hardly notice it could really be true.
- Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card — because it is the same story as Ender’s Game, from a different character’s perspective.
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain — because it looks at romantic myths and how they tend to blind people to reality and because it is an early example of time travel fiction.
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams — because sometimes it’s good to just read a book that is fun.
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon — because it is a quick, enjoyable read which will leave you emotionally spent and tired and, perhaps, more understanding.
- Nemesis by Isaac Asimov — because it provides a recent example of science fiction foreshadowing real discoveries. And, well, because I really liked the book.
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle — because it is an early portrayal of a female protagonist in science fiction.
- Needle by Hal Clement — because it has non-hostile alien life forms interacting with humans.
- Miracle on 49th Street by Mike Lupica — because it is a family story, a sports story and a holiday story, all rolled into one.
What do you think? What titles would be good to have on a list which could be used to suggest books to students to help them discover what they love to read? Why would you add them?
I would add:
Sundiver David Brin
Guns of the South Harry Turtledove
Ringworld Larry Niven
There are others, but we’re sticking to the classics…
Thanks Tony. I have never read any of these… though I have read others by Larry Niven.
First, your title caught me just as I’m pulling together my developmental reading improvement class. I teach students just out of high school who are underprepared for college — some of them come out of remedial reading programs. That list the school provided…anyone who was skills-wise ready to move out of remedial into regular classrooms would run begging to be back in remedial. They’d just give up after the first few pages — if they even got so far as to find one book.
It makes me wonder — what happens if she doesn’t read some of these titles?
There is one way to make sure people decide that they hate reading: make them read a lot of boring and/or difficult and/or over-their-heads books. It’s a surefire way to ruin someone’s confidence, too.
My daughter is in Honors English. If she doesn’t read the titles that are assigned and do the asinine projects that are assigned, she’ll be thrown out of the Honors program.
Now, I was an honors student and had to do all of this same crap when I was in school. I just hoped that after 25 years things would be done better now. I should probably know better than that.
I had the same push to find something my elder son (now a teen) would enjoy reading. We have different tastes, though. I was pushing the Asimov and (especially) the Bradbury, but he was picking up The Three Musketeers and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I was happy when he read Call of the Wild and took home a copy of Flowers for Algernon (don’t know if he’s finished it yet).
We’ve been trying hard to get him to expand his interests outside of fantasy to expose him to different styles of writing and other great authors. I’ve got nothing against fantasy, but he’s as picky with his literary genres as he is with his tastes in food. (You can have chicken nuggets only so many times in a week.)
My son, who is now 10, was struggling with reading. Early in his education, he was rated low and was kept in the low reading groups. This was not because he “couldn’t read”… it was because he didn’t bother trying when the reading skills tests were being done. He basically was bored by it all. He’d come home and read my technical emails and such and have no trouble with them, so I knew it had nothing to do with ability.
One day I found a book that was techincally a bit too far above his real reading level (and way far above the level the school said he was on). I thought he’d like the book so I bought it. He resisted at first, then I told him there were explosions and he took the book and ran to his room. He read the whole thing without help and loved it. I explained that he’d be able to read this stuff at school, too, if he just applied himself on the nonsense pieces he had to do to prove he could read.
He did so and blew through all the tests. He’s now top of his class. And what it took was finding something he enjoyed. If he’d have been forced to read some drab book, we’d be talking about getting him extra help.
That said, he could quickly get himself stuck in the “I only like fantasy and or sports books”. So I’m constantly trying to get him to try other things. Sci fi, mystery, comedy… It’s a constant work in progress. I simply wish the educational system would support this effort rather than working directly against it.
Rob,
As with you the way summer reading is handled has always left me cold.
Take your example of reading Great Expectations. That’s an awful book to assign over summer reading because that’s a book that needs context. New readers may have questions about grammar, history, literature, etc. What should your daughter do if she has questions? Save them for class 2 months down the road? And if students are expected to power through it and comprehend it without the guidance of a teacher, then it begs the question “Why are you teaching the book at all?”
I’ve always felt that summer reading assignments should be “read what you want and then come to class and tell us what you liked and what you didn’t, and why.”
Even some of the ones on your list, for me would be bad choices for summer reading for some students. Connecticut Yankee and Gatsby might need context. Foundation and 2001, might be rough for kids without previous experience with Sci-Fi. But then of course for other kids they’d be fine.
Although I was an avid reader since I was 5, it wasn’t until the end of 11th grade that I was assigned a book I really liked (Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank).
I think far too often, teachers stick to specific (often boring) books is simply because they’ve taught the book before and there are plenty of pre-published resources to explain the books to the teachers.
I agree with you, Dale, that some of these that I suggested may be too difficult or bad choices. But that’s why I didn’t stick to one genre or one author or even one style. For kids without sci-fi exposure, “A Wrinkle in Time” is a nice, easy introduction to the genre.
And yes, I’m right there with you about Great Expectations — it is not appropriate for summer reading. It is not relevant to 14 year old life in central New Jersey in 2012, the language is different, the context is wrong, etc. Presumably this is the reason for the “pre-reading projects”.
The teachers said to email them questions over the summer. Sadly, she did email a question about the volume of information, the type of details they wanted included in the projects, what types of details were “important” (the assignment said to use only “important” details) etc… the answer she got was to “use her discretion”. So, not very helpful.
The original draft of this post included much more ranting about the ridiculousness of this assignment, but I cut it because it was making me too angry.
It sounds like the pre-reading project, as with the novels themselves, are projects that need guidance to get anything out of them. One thing about reading that’s underappreciated: it isn’t a solitary activity! The books we love — the first thing I at least want to do is talk about it. The books I don’t get, I want to talk about those too because I’m just confused.
Dale’s partially right about why teachers chose books such as the ones on her list — they are easy for teachers. But sometimes the administration or the lead teacher determines what books get read in a semester, and the teacher only gets to decide in what way it gets covered.
Yes, I am sure this is handed down from above the teacher. I’m not upset with the teacher regarding the book, per se, but with the lack of helpfulness in the responses when we’ve asked questions. We’ve never actually met this teacher (she’s my daughter’s Honors English teacher starting in September), so trying to gauge what her requirements and expectations are is a guessing game.
We had another academic argument here last night about the meaning of certain things in the book… which once again proved out that this isn’t something we should be struggling through over the summer.
Fahrenheit 451, because the book-burning days never really go away, and because Bradbury was one of the greatest prose stylists of the 20th century.
Early Andre Norton– pick one off a revolving list– for her messages of interspecies (read interracial) tolerance. And for the outsiders in all of us.
Downbelow Station. This book reinvented SF as far as I was concerned. 40,000 in Gehenna would be another good pick, but let’s keep it to one per author.
There are a lot of good new authors coming up too, so ask me again in another 10 years.
Nice additions (based on the descriptions). The only one I’ve read is “Farenheit 451″ and I did like that one quite a bit. I always forget to include it on lists like this, though.
The one thing I wish I could have included in this list was some newer authors… I simply don’t have a good enough knowledge of newer (read: in the past 10 years) full-length novels besides the Harry Potter series because I haven’t really had time to read. And I considered Harry Potter too long for this type of list (though everyone should read it!)
I’ll admit I’m playing with the “last 10 years” a bit here…so we’ll call it recent…
Neal Stephenson (though I’ll admit he can be daunting)
Neil Gaiman
Connie Willis (only a couple things in the last decade but Blackout/All-Clear won some awards, and neither is formiddable)
John Varley (Red Thunder is particularly accessible and should be used to teach how to tell a story)
China Miéville
My wife keeps telling me to read Neil Gaiman. I’ve got “The Graveyard Book” on my to-read shelf and I’ve read “The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish” and “The Wolves in the Walls”, but that’s it.
If I had to pick one Gaiman book it would be Neverwhere. Actually it would be Good Omens but that was joint with Terry Pratchett.
I love Great Expectations and no I haven’t done a lot of research into Victorian England. Indeed, probably a lot of what I know about the period comes from reading Dickens. So yes, to Great Expectations but no to obligatory summer reading programmes.
Oh, I’m sure there are a lot of people who love Great Expectations.
I am not one of those people.
I like a number of other things Dickens wrote, but I don’t like this one. And I certainly don’t like it as a required summer reading book. If we take required summer readings as a given, and we take that Dickens should be required… A Christmas Carol, perhaps even A Tale of Two Cities, would be a more suitable, more approachable work… at least in my opinion.