Summer Reading List
I don't know how substantive this is but I stuffed 500 envelopes in 2 hours. Considering that it was a 1300 piece mailing, I feel pretty good about that. Also met a nice young intern who went to the high school that's at the top of our list for The Child. He was the ASB president and everything. He spoke very highly of the place, which is always a wonderful thing to hear.
School is almost out but The Child already has homework for next year. Her lit. teacher sent home the summer reading list. She has to read 3 books and write 3 reports, due the first day of school.
I read in the summer, all the time. I'd take a book up into an apple tree and sit there for hours reading. Sometimes I'd lay a blanket under the fig tree and read there. (Easier to nap if the urge struck). I can't even think about The Diary of Anne Frank without thinking of that fig tree, the dappled light and the sound of drunken bees providing such a weird contrast to the tense, confining tone of the book. Even now there is a different quality to my summer reading. This is the time of year when I'm most apt to try on a new author, to step it up and read more than the usual book or two a month that seems to be all I can manage.
The Child's experience of books is so different than mine. She literally devoured books as a mere thing, chewing on the edges of what we called her "nibble books". She loved being read to and would sit still for stories for as long as I could stand to read. All the things you're supposed to do to instill a love of reading in your child, we did. She still likes the idea of reading but the reality is that her dyslexia makes it work. I don't know if reading will ever be the pleasure for her that it is for her parents. And that makes me really, really sad.
The reading list itself is rather amazing. Were you reading Frankenstein when you were in the 7th grade? The short stories of Saki? Hell, I just noticed he's got Dracula on here. (She is so not reading that. I read it as an adult and it creeped me out so much I could only read it in the daylight hours). What else? We have everything from Little Women (that is one frackin' boring book. Makes a much better movie), Cry the Beloved Country, The Count of Monte Cristo...ooh! A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. There's The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros...that's a beautiful book and The Old Man and the Sea. Oh, wow...he's got Emma on here. This is quite a list. I've read 25 of the books on this list (I counted) and encountered only 3 of them before high school. Some I didn't get to until after college. I'm impressed. And a little scared. I don't know that she's ready for the next level of fiction...Harry Potter is challenge enough. But that's why there are books on tape. Marvelous invention that. And what is amazing to me is that when she has a book on tape she totally reads along with it...it's not like she just listens. Those tapes help her engage with the literature in a way she isn't capable of on her own. At least not at present.
It's going to be very interesting. She wants to start with Frankenstein so I've order the tapes. We'll see what happens. I admit, though, I'm kind of excited. Maybe this is the start of a whole new experience for her. Her lit. teacher is, himself, dyslexic. And he loves to read. I remain hopeful.
School is almost out but The Child already has homework for next year. Her lit. teacher sent home the summer reading list. She has to read 3 books and write 3 reports, due the first day of school.
I read in the summer, all the time. I'd take a book up into an apple tree and sit there for hours reading. Sometimes I'd lay a blanket under the fig tree and read there. (Easier to nap if the urge struck). I can't even think about The Diary of Anne Frank without thinking of that fig tree, the dappled light and the sound of drunken bees providing such a weird contrast to the tense, confining tone of the book. Even now there is a different quality to my summer reading. This is the time of year when I'm most apt to try on a new author, to step it up and read more than the usual book or two a month that seems to be all I can manage.
The Child's experience of books is so different than mine. She literally devoured books as a mere thing, chewing on the edges of what we called her "nibble books". She loved being read to and would sit still for stories for as long as I could stand to read. All the things you're supposed to do to instill a love of reading in your child, we did. She still likes the idea of reading but the reality is that her dyslexia makes it work. I don't know if reading will ever be the pleasure for her that it is for her parents. And that makes me really, really sad.
The reading list itself is rather amazing. Were you reading Frankenstein when you were in the 7th grade? The short stories of Saki? Hell, I just noticed he's got Dracula on here. (She is so not reading that. I read it as an adult and it creeped me out so much I could only read it in the daylight hours). What else? We have everything from Little Women (that is one frackin' boring book. Makes a much better movie), Cry the Beloved Country, The Count of Monte Cristo...ooh! A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. There's The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros...that's a beautiful book and The Old Man and the Sea. Oh, wow...he's got Emma on here. This is quite a list. I've read 25 of the books on this list (I counted) and encountered only 3 of them before high school. Some I didn't get to until after college. I'm impressed. And a little scared. I don't know that she's ready for the next level of fiction...Harry Potter is challenge enough. But that's why there are books on tape. Marvelous invention that. And what is amazing to me is that when she has a book on tape she totally reads along with it...it's not like she just listens. Those tapes help her engage with the literature in a way she isn't capable of on her own. At least not at present.
It's going to be very interesting. She wants to start with Frankenstein so I've order the tapes. We'll see what happens. I admit, though, I'm kind of excited. Maybe this is the start of a whole new experience for her. Her lit. teacher is, himself, dyslexic. And he loves to read. I remain hopeful.
Labels: Harry Potter
cobbled together by Moi at 1:56 PM
9 Comments:
Was "Naked Lunch" on the list?
No, but "Howl" was.
My oldest has a parental reading list each summer. I chose slightly easier reads than her teachers though.
I have actually thought of the books on tape before but haven't followed through. I recently finished Eragon and Eldest by Christopher Paolini and thought about getting the book cds so my son could read along with the tapes...
When I was in 6th grade my teacher gave me George Orwell's "Animal Farm" to read during summer vacation.
I know it sounds cliche,but it affected my whole life..Try to sneak that in if you've a mind to.
Grish, Books on tape are amazing. It really helps The Child because she can hear the words as she's reading them without getting hung up on all the twists and turns her little brain can come up with. In fact, if anything, I think books on tape have actually helped with her dyslexia.
Sling, Ah, yes. I believe it was summer between 7th & 8th grade that I read "Animal Farm" and indeed, formative it was. It's not on the list but I think I WILL sneak it in.
LOL...In a rare flash of sobriety it occurred to me that you may not want your beloved child to grow up thinking like me..anyway,...You know what I'm sayin'..(sigh).
I would read books that I knew were going to be taught later in the school year, thus giving me more free time down the road, for television, making fun of friends with homework, etc.
See comments from Sling above.
All three of my nephews have dyslexia - and YES - the books on tape are super cool in the way they engage the little lads.... well, ok, not the oldest two... they're headed for prison soon ... but the youngest loves them.
Also... Frankenstein... (thrill)you're talking to a huge Romantics/Gothics fan... sigh... love that book
I am sooo much looking forward to summer reading. To actually read during the daylight hours. That is summer to me! Sounds like you have more reading time than I. Got any "must reads" that you recommend from your last year of reading? Who are your favorite authors? I am always looking for new ones...
And I am just at the point of putting together a list of "read outloud" books for the kids. Summer evenings or mornings they all snuggle up and I read. I need books that span 8-12 years old but so far it has worked.
The books on tape helped my Julia so much. She loves them. Curling up with a book is still not on her top ten list of things to do... which still blows my mind... but it is not as painful as it used to be!
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