Summer Reading
My kids are not toddlers or preschoolers anymore. One is a Middle School tween, the other a high school freshman.
I cannot believe I have a child going into high school! It does not seem so long ago that I was pushing him on the swings and he needed to stand on his tippy-toes on a step stool to brush his teeth. With his Batman toothbrush. Now he is six feet tall, weighs well over 200 pounds, and plays high school football.
As summer winds to an end, both boys have to face that age old bugaboo – required summer reading. Each has to read a required book and complete a project before school starts. Plus, they each have to read one additional novel (of their choice) from some pre-approved list. Doesn’t sound too hard, right? Well, school starts in two weeks and neither, of course, has read his required book. They did read books over the summer, even the “novel of their choice,” but those required suckers are still hanging over their heads.
It doesn’t bother me too much. Yet. I think kids need summer to relax and play and have fun. Plus, my kids DO read books in general. And I really didn’t want them to read their required books too early in the summer, because then I would be afraid they would forget everything. I know I would have.
Both boys are dragging their feet about reading their required books, however. They don’t dislike reading. Just the fact that they have to read a specific book that they are sure they are going to hate.
And I can relate totally to their dread. I always hated summer reading, too. As a teen, I read voraciously, but there was always something loathsome about the concept of required summer reading.
For one thing, just making a book “required” pretty much ruined it for me in general. Not so much during the school year, but definitely over the summer. I could never read summer reading books the way I read other books. It was like they were tainted somehow. I was always too self-conscious during the reading, trying to remember the characters’ names and the plot twists and themes and underlining vocabulary words like we were supposed to do. Why couldn’t we just read the damned books?
I couldn’t enjoy a book when I had to read it like that. Which was a shame. Because sometimes we read good books, or at least books by good writers. Sometimes, though, we read really shitty books. At least from the perspective of a cynical, disillusioned teen.
Sometimes I grew to HATE my summer reading books. With a passion. Like The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Absolutely LOATHED it. Thought it was stupid, dumb, and depressing. Its only redeeming feature was that it was really short.
My favorite summer reading book of all time was A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I had to read it the summer before ninth grade, and I absolutely, totally LOVED it. It may, in fact, be the only summer reading book I ever truly liked.
My older son has to read A Separate Peace for his ninth grade summer reading as well. I imagine it is just a fluke. Then again, for all I know, it could be that eighty percent of ninth graders in the country have to read this book for summer reading.
I just know my son is going to HATE this book. He will dislike everything about it that I loved so much. And that kind of makes me sad. I hold a real fondness in my heart for A Separate Peace -- and for my ninth grade English class and teacher in general.
My older son likes action-packed science fiction and fantasy, like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and Eragon. He loves to read about Greek mythology. And he, of course, loves video games, especially role-playing ones that revolve around journeys and quests. This past spring he read Dante’s Inferno – and LOVED it. A Separate Peace is going to be like warm milk toast. Sigh….
My younger son is resisting his summer reading, too. He has already read Friday Night Lights and several football player biographies and autobiographies over the course of the summer. He doesn’t understand why he has to read some “dumb fiction book” he’s “never heard of.” His required summer reading book is Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. The protagonist is… ewww!...a girl. There is no gore, no violence, no action. The book is going to be BORING, he says.
In a moment of rare brilliance, I ask my 12-year old if he would like to read the book aloud to me, a chapter or two or three (they are very short) at a time.
“You mean we could lie in bed together and I could read to you?” he asks hesitantly, not sure if I am being serious or not. I can tell the idea of reading aloud to me appeals to him, but he is shy, almost afraid to show any interest.
I used to read to both my children all the time when they were younger. Stacks and stacks of books and then, of course, their favorites that they would want to hear over and over again (and Lord help you if you tried to skip any words!). Usually the three of us would snuggle together on the couch or crowd together onto the same bed, with me in the middle so they could both see the pictures.
When they started to learn how to read, they would read aloud to me, or to each other. As they grew still older, we would read entire chapter books by taking turns reading aloud. Sometimes we would even use voices and almost act out the books. It was a lot of fun.
It’s been a long time since we read together out loud, though.
Still, I could tell my younger son LIKED the idea of the two of us snuggling together on the bed, him reading aloud, the two of us sharing private alone time together. I don’t think he would be very thrilled to know I am sharing this fact with others, and I am sure he would be horrified if any of his friends ever found out.
But secretly, genuinely he loves this quiet one-on-one time. Maybe even more than I do.
As we start reading his required summer reading book, he begins to take on voices and accents for the different characters and really brings the story to life. He actually looks forward to our nighttime reading, although if there is a football game on TV, he usually asks to postpone our reading to another time.
Somehow I can’t imagine my gentle giant fourteen year old reading A Separate Peace aloud to me. When kids get to be teenagers and boys get bigger than their moms, it is sometimes hard to figure out the whole affection and intimacy thing. Oh, my son still kisses me goodbye and gives me giant bear hugs (where he usually picks me up off the ground), but I can’t envision the two of us lying side by side in bed. In fact, I daresay we wouldn’t both FIT on the same single bed any longer.
We do take long walks together where he will tell me about things and we will talk. About girls. About life. About sex, politics, and rock and roll. Well, alternative heavy metal, anyway. And video games. Maybe if I re-read A Separate Peace, he might want to talk about the book with me as he reads it.
I just imagine him being full of derision and teenaged sarcasm as he describes the tragedy of Phineas and the teenaged angst of poor Gene. I worry he is going to find the book “dumb.” As so many things are “dumb” to teenagers.
But who knows? Maybe not. Maybe I will be surprised. Maybe he will be surprised. If not, I will be content to listen to my son tell me how dumb his required stupid summer reading is.
I cannot believe I have a child going into high school! It does not seem so long ago that I was pushing him on the swings and he needed to stand on his tippy-toes on a step stool to brush his teeth. With his Batman toothbrush. Now he is six feet tall, weighs well over 200 pounds, and plays high school football.
As summer winds to an end, both boys have to face that age old bugaboo – required summer reading. Each has to read a required book and complete a project before school starts. Plus, they each have to read one additional novel (of their choice) from some pre-approved list. Doesn’t sound too hard, right? Well, school starts in two weeks and neither, of course, has read his required book. They did read books over the summer, even the “novel of their choice,” but those required suckers are still hanging over their heads.
It doesn’t bother me too much. Yet. I think kids need summer to relax and play and have fun. Plus, my kids DO read books in general. And I really didn’t want them to read their required books too early in the summer, because then I would be afraid they would forget everything. I know I would have.
Both boys are dragging their feet about reading their required books, however. They don’t dislike reading. Just the fact that they have to read a specific book that they are sure they are going to hate.
And I can relate totally to their dread. I always hated summer reading, too. As a teen, I read voraciously, but there was always something loathsome about the concept of required summer reading.
For one thing, just making a book “required” pretty much ruined it for me in general. Not so much during the school year, but definitely over the summer. I could never read summer reading books the way I read other books. It was like they were tainted somehow. I was always too self-conscious during the reading, trying to remember the characters’ names and the plot twists and themes and underlining vocabulary words like we were supposed to do. Why couldn’t we just read the damned books?
I couldn’t enjoy a book when I had to read it like that. Which was a shame. Because sometimes we read good books, or at least books by good writers. Sometimes, though, we read really shitty books. At least from the perspective of a cynical, disillusioned teen.
Sometimes I grew to HATE my summer reading books. With a passion. Like The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Absolutely LOATHED it. Thought it was stupid, dumb, and depressing. Its only redeeming feature was that it was really short.
My favorite summer reading book of all time was A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I had to read it the summer before ninth grade, and I absolutely, totally LOVED it. It may, in fact, be the only summer reading book I ever truly liked.
My older son has to read A Separate Peace for his ninth grade summer reading as well. I imagine it is just a fluke. Then again, for all I know, it could be that eighty percent of ninth graders in the country have to read this book for summer reading.
I just know my son is going to HATE this book. He will dislike everything about it that I loved so much. And that kind of makes me sad. I hold a real fondness in my heart for A Separate Peace -- and for my ninth grade English class and teacher in general.
My older son likes action-packed science fiction and fantasy, like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and Eragon. He loves to read about Greek mythology. And he, of course, loves video games, especially role-playing ones that revolve around journeys and quests. This past spring he read Dante’s Inferno – and LOVED it. A Separate Peace is going to be like warm milk toast. Sigh….
My younger son is resisting his summer reading, too. He has already read Friday Night Lights and several football player biographies and autobiographies over the course of the summer. He doesn’t understand why he has to read some “dumb fiction book” he’s “never heard of.” His required summer reading book is Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. The protagonist is… ewww!...a girl. There is no gore, no violence, no action. The book is going to be BORING, he says.
In a moment of rare brilliance, I ask my 12-year old if he would like to read the book aloud to me, a chapter or two or three (they are very short) at a time.
“You mean we could lie in bed together and I could read to you?” he asks hesitantly, not sure if I am being serious or not. I can tell the idea of reading aloud to me appeals to him, but he is shy, almost afraid to show any interest.
I used to read to both my children all the time when they were younger. Stacks and stacks of books and then, of course, their favorites that they would want to hear over and over again (and Lord help you if you tried to skip any words!). Usually the three of us would snuggle together on the couch or crowd together onto the same bed, with me in the middle so they could both see the pictures.
When they started to learn how to read, they would read aloud to me, or to each other. As they grew still older, we would read entire chapter books by taking turns reading aloud. Sometimes we would even use voices and almost act out the books. It was a lot of fun.
It’s been a long time since we read together out loud, though.
Still, I could tell my younger son LIKED the idea of the two of us snuggling together on the bed, him reading aloud, the two of us sharing private alone time together. I don’t think he would be very thrilled to know I am sharing this fact with others, and I am sure he would be horrified if any of his friends ever found out.
But secretly, genuinely he loves this quiet one-on-one time. Maybe even more than I do.
As we start reading his required summer reading book, he begins to take on voices and accents for the different characters and really brings the story to life. He actually looks forward to our nighttime reading, although if there is a football game on TV, he usually asks to postpone our reading to another time.
Somehow I can’t imagine my gentle giant fourteen year old reading A Separate Peace aloud to me. When kids get to be teenagers and boys get bigger than their moms, it is sometimes hard to figure out the whole affection and intimacy thing. Oh, my son still kisses me goodbye and gives me giant bear hugs (where he usually picks me up off the ground), but I can’t envision the two of us lying side by side in bed. In fact, I daresay we wouldn’t both FIT on the same single bed any longer.
We do take long walks together where he will tell me about things and we will talk. About girls. About life. About sex, politics, and rock and roll. Well, alternative heavy metal, anyway. And video games. Maybe if I re-read A Separate Peace, he might want to talk about the book with me as he reads it.
I just imagine him being full of derision and teenaged sarcasm as he describes the tragedy of Phineas and the teenaged angst of poor Gene. I worry he is going to find the book “dumb.” As so many things are “dumb” to teenagers.
But who knows? Maybe not. Maybe I will be surprised. Maybe he will be surprised. If not, I will be content to listen to my son tell me how dumb his required stupid summer reading is.
posted by delta at 7:04 PM
3 Comments:
Reading aloud to each other is one of my most enduring childhood memories.
Later, as a mother, our most peaceful times at home were spent with my son and I sitting around the table reading.
Now, the tradition continues as I volunteer at our village library listening to beginning readers.
Great post. I'm planning on reading aloud with my kids for as long as they'll let me (they're 6 & 3 1/2 now).
I hated required reading too. The worst book I had to read for my Year 12 English class was The Grapes of Wrath. I hate it to this day. The Chosen - Chaim Potok was wonderful though.
(Here via Behind the stove)
I LOVE A Separate Peace, but we were not permitted to read it in school. I know.
Although I have to say, probably *at least* 95% of all freshmen are reading it this summer...
I am glad you came up with a solution to Walk Two Moons. Because I tried to read it and it did nothing for me. Maybe someday Primo can read it aloud to me...
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