Required Reading

Josh Getzler

 

Next Tuesday, my wife and I are going to take our middle child to a large bus, where she is going to—somewhat regally—offer us her cheek, sling her knapsack over her shoulder, and leave us for seven weeks. Had we given her the opportunity, she would have gone to camp a month (or six) ago. She’s nine, almost ten, and both independent and quietly self-confident. She thinks she’s sixteen, which is fine in lots of ways. She’ll have a blast. She will occasionally brush her teeth, eat pretty much no protein, and will send us one or two non-informative postcards because otherwise she won’t get a care package.

There will be two books in the bottom of her pink-and-leopard duffle bag, which will represent her Required Reading for the summer before fifth grade. We received the list from which she could choose last week. There is little chance she will open either book. One of the reasons they will gather dust is because, well, she’s ten and would rather listen to the new One Direction album while talking about what jerks the boys are (or worse, how cute they are). The other reason is the list itself.

I’m really not here to bash their school or their librarian or administration for their choices. Other schools have similar, very good and meaningful books on their lists. But honestly, at the end of a day with swimming and dancing and basketball and gaga (I don’t know, it’s a game they all seem to play), is any ten year old going to say “Ooh, what I want to do now instead of braiding my bunk-mate’s hair is to sit quietly and read Sarah, Plain and Tall?” Or Sounder, or A Little Princess? And while there are A Wrinkle in Time and Bridge to Terabithia, even these are sort of Good For You good books, and BTT is SO sad.

And that’s what I keep seeing—sad, adult, Message books. All good for you. All good, in fact, when considering them objectively, and very worthy of their awards. But not always fun. And not the way to get kids to read during camp. And yes, she can do it after, when she gets home and is depressed and apprehensive about the start of school. And she may make her way through them in camp, if threatened with no care package if she doesn’t read one a week for the first two weeks. And she may even enjoy them despite herself. But it will feel like work, and it won’t be cool. And being cool is SO important. Last year I heard about the kids who were reading Harry Potter at night (even if it was for the third time) or Hunger Games (even though it was TOTALLY inappropriate for the age group). I’d LOVE to hear my daughter tell me that she was SO excited to read the next Rick Riordan or The Apothecary or, for that matter, Monster High. Because what I’m looking for—and what, to my mind her teachers ought to be looking for—is an excited, engaged, happy girl who WANTS to sit and read and learn.

And who will, eventually, become excited about and appreciate A Wrinkle in Time.

Postscript: As I look through the list again to check myself, I see The Lightning Thief on the list. So Percy gets to go to camp, and I suspect will be both read and passed around.

 

Comments

[Deb]

Getting my kids excited about summer reading is like getting them excited about putting brocoli on their plates at a buffet. I have twins who will be in 9th grade when school opens in August. They had to choose a book from the summer reading list, divide the number of pages by ten, and, every time they've read a tenth of the book, write a 150-word essay about their reactions to what they've just read. All ten essays are to be typed up and handed in on the first day of school.

One twin chose Steinbeck's THE PEARL (the cynic in me believes it was chosen for its brevity); the other chose TROY by Adele Geras. I suggested (and not gently) that they read for an hour when they first get up in the morning--before TV, texting, computer, pool, etc. THE PEARL is finished and all essays written; TROY (a longer book) is almost finished with nine essays written. I knew the twin who read TROY would enjoy it as she loves Greek history & mythology. I wasn't sure that the twin who read THE PEARL would enjoy much about it except the fact that it's less than 100 pages, but when she finished it, she actually cried a little and said it was one of the best books that she'd read. Sometimes you do get surprised!

[Traci]

I love that feeling of reading a GREAT book, it's magical. Wrinkle in time still does it for me, lol, and I loved the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books. They were ridiculous but fun...

[Irene Fischl]

Bravo Josh Getzler! This recapitulates for me a "quarrel" I had with my older brother and "pseudo parent" half a century ago, who chastised me on a hot summer day for reading Nancy Drew. I forgot what books he recommended. but to this day nothing matches the profound pleasure I derived from reading about my heroine, an independent young girl who had her own convertible and a $20 a week allowance, after whom I would model myself.

[Karen Olson]

For freshman English last year, the required reading was ONCE AND FUTURE KING. All 700 plus pages of it. Plus an 18 page questionnaire to fill out about the book's theme, its setting, and its characters. My daughter loved King Arthur stories. Not so much anymore. It was way too advanced for the age. This summer, surprisingly, for sophomore English (these are the honors level), she has to read A Separate Peace and The Bean Trees. Seems a little more appropriate, but she'll probably read them three days before school starts.

[Jenny OConnell]

I was just having this conversation the other day with (of all people), my 14 year old daughter's advisor (a history teacher). Why can't we teach kids to LOVE reading before we try to teach them to slog through what's "good" for them?

My daughter has to read the most god-awful, terrible "literature" that I wouldn't even want to read. And you know what? She hates reading now. But she used to love it, back when she could read books she related to, books that entertained. She loved to read. Now it's a chore. So sad. Give me a kid who can read over a kid who can recite the themes in Of Mice and Men anyday.

[Jessy Randall]

When I was about ten, I resisted A Wrinkle in Time precisely because teachers told me to read it and it appeared on recommended book lists. When I finally, reluctantly picked it up I loved it. Lurved it. I read it a bazillion times and went on to read every other thing Madeleine L'Engle ever published, including her poems and memoirs and books for adults. So, I guess what I'm saying is, the books speak for themselves ... if you finally crack them open, despite everybody telling you to.