Summer Reading

Obviously, I like to read. Well, maybe it isn't so obvious, but my other blog is about that subject. I have always been a big reader, and I remember it being a small point of contention while growing up. I recall wanting the time to read so badly, that I would go out to the second story porch of my bedroom, climb onto the railing, put my book on the second story roof, and then pull myself up onto the roof, where I would perch in the blackness of the warm tar, little black rocks sticking to the backs of my legs, and read.
I'm sure I was being summoned periodically to do something else, something I was supposed to be doing, but I was hard to find up there.
My daughters also have that part of my genetics. They will read and read and read. Eldest is the one I have the most trouble with, as she will bury herself in her bed and read in all her  non-school time. She would stay there from getting off the bus, until dinner and then back again. All day Saturday and Sunday. I can't help but think it depressing. I can't take lying down whilst awake for very long atall, and hate that fuzzy dizzy feeling of time spent too long in horizontal. I enjoy the occasional day spent reading in bed. Usually due to flu or spinal reconstruction- but the emphasis is occasional. And yet, I don't want to discourage reading. Youngest is the one I admonish to read more. "You, read less, you read more". No doubt they can't understand how to please.
But summer reading lists have long left me baffled. I am no English Teacher. I am not trained to be such, have not studied the subject at length, and don't , evidently, understand the philosophy behind many of the summer reading books.
It seems to me that summer reading should be more about fostering an enjoyment for books, genres and authors than torture. Summer reading should be inspirational. It IS summer, after all. So, why do so many lists include books meant to frustrate, confuse and baffle. I have one in front of me, a list for the incoming 8th grade of a school district near to our own. It is not a short list, really, but one of 33 books, four of which should be selected to complete the summer reading requirements. The most recent book on the list is "The Autobiography of Mark Twain" published in 2011... but written 100 years ago, as Twain specified it to not be published until 100 posthumous years had passed. So, most of them are old, some of them are readable, most, really not, and some are just plain, yuck.  Few of them are built for inspiring minds of 13 year olds. I do respect that Dostoyevsky is missing from the list, as is The Man and the Sea- a book that at age 13 made me seriously contemplate putting a pencil into my eye.
What would happen if you chose books for summer reading that were, perhaps not "classics" but instead, actually "popular"? There are still assignments to be done about character analysis, moral, ethical behaviors, figurative language, cultural impact...blah,blah,blah. But what if the kids that were handed these lists were to actually really "get into" and understand the books? And, if you have to choose "classics" why not chose engaging ones? The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Three Musketeers- swashbuckling fun! Or Gone with the Wind- okay, it is a bit over the top, but WHY NOT- it's summer reading! Where the Red Fern Grows, To Kill a Mockingbird...these are classics- but they don't make you want to consider faking dyslexia, color blindness, diptheria... to get out of Honors English.

What would happen if  you chose to analyze Harry Potter, or The Mysterious Benedict Society, or even one of the cloying, dumbed down, annoying preteen books a la: Princesses Perfect Prom in Outer Space? ( No, I don't think that is a real title, so don't go checking Amazon.) Would the kids then be able to start distinguishing what makes good reading actually worthwhile, or "good"?
I think many classes use the summer reading books as the materials to inform the curriculum for the school year. Why? If these kids are in honors, they ought to be able to read books even NOT during the summer. My girls have no trouble reading most books in a few hours. Eldest put off her summer reading until the last three days of summer last year. Why? Because after 4 years of summer reading lists, even the most voracious of readers can become discouraged.