Sunday, September 20, 2009

Jealous of Summer Reading Lists

This is the summer reading list from the high school across the street from me. It's not the high school I went to though. I couldn't find one for mine. Not all that surprising, really, but that's besides the point.

My point is, I don't remember my summer reading lists looking anything like this. Not even close. What a great choice of books! All I remember from my summer reading lists were "classic" books and adult contemporary stuff. Maybe a couple of Stephen Kings if we were lucky. Granted YA wasn't then what it is now but it's not like it didn't exist.

It makes me happy to see reading lists like this. To me it shows that the people making these lists are keen to what kids actually want to read and what might actually appeal to them as opposed to stuffing 500 page novels in 6-point font down their throats over their summers. I can't tell you how happy I was when I saw this.

For those of you out of high school, do you remember your summer reading lists being this cool? For those of you who had to do summer reading, did your list look like this or was it more . . . rigid?

8 comments:

Ellz said...

OHH, the site looks spooky.

I never had a summer list, at least not one that I read.

Barbara said...

Wow I'm jealous too. I'm so heading to the library's website to find out if they have The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things. I didn't have a summer reading list in high school.

Ellz said...

I would have liked to read Memoirs of a Gesha.

They even have magna on there. It is so much better to have a kid choose what they want to read than be forced to read something they have no interest in. That is when reading becomes fun instead of a chore.

Paradox said...

Unfortunately, most students don't get these kinds of choices for summer reading, especially honors students. Schools seem to think they are above YA.

Donna (Bites) said...

Glad I'm not the only one. I would have loved something like this when I was younger.

Shalonda said...

That is a great list. I, like you, was not so lucky and was forced to read from a sorry list of books.

I helped to create the summer reading list for our 7th grade students, and I noticed a few of the same titles on the list you shared. That makes me feel good. Hopefully these types of choices will help students grow to love literature.

Benjamin Solah said...

We don't get summer reading lists in Australia, which is both good and bad.

It was ok for me as I had things I wanted to read myself.

Anonymous said...

We didn't have summer reading lists in my school. But these books sound really good!!..

I do remember EVERY year we had to read To Kill a Mocking Bird for my English class. I went to a small school so you had the same teachers year after year. My English teacher made us read this book every stinking year. I think that is why I don't like it now. From 7th to 12th grade reading the same book, it gets to ya. :)

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