What's the point of summer reading??

[Megan Teschner]

Only a few weeks left of school! Every student is ready to get out of here for 3 months. Even during the summer, the school administrators love to give us homework. It's our summer vacation.  Do we seriously have to have more homework?! Now I'm not saying that books are bad and we shouldn't be reading over the summer, but why do we have to be forced to?? We should be able to choose what we do with our time over our summer break.

 

Of course, we get stuck with that stupid summer reading list. Every once in a while they'll put a few good books on the list that kids enjoy, but not always. So we students get stuck choosing a book we don't want to read anyway. If you are anything like me, there are a few steps you use to choosing a book.

Step 1: Have you read one of these books before?

Step 2: Is there a book you've actually wanted to read, but never had time to?

Step 3: If  step 1 & 2 don't work, which book is the shortest?

Step 4: If step 1,2 & 3 don't work, which book did your friends choose?

 

Once you've decided on the book, you won't actually end up reading it until the week before school starts, the day before school starts, a few days before you're told you'll have a writing assignment, or in a lot of cases you just don't read it and look up the Sparknotes.

 

If most kids don't even read the books or obviously don't want to read the books, why should we be forced to? If we want to read over the summer we will, and we'll choose a book we want to read. 

 

 

Am I the only one that feels this way? Let me know what you think about the summer reading list.

[Patrick Norman]

i think  it makes a lot of kids not want to read and it loses the meaning of reading. if we could choose what books we read, people would actually read instead of waiting until the week before to read the book on sparknotes.

[Sarah Obrzut]

if we could choose our own books then it would make summer reading so much easier for me. if i dont like a book it is extremely hard for me to read it and understand it enough to write a paper about it.

[Kristina Lopez]

I hate having to choose a book from a list. Most of the time, none of them interest me. If we got to chose our own books, I feel that more kids would actually read. I always read my summer reading, but I never want to.

[Michael Weber]

I think it would be good for us to be able to choose our own books mainly because it would keep me interested in reading at least for the summer.

[Carly Mckay]

Nicely done teschy. This is exactly how I feel about summer reading. I honestly do read over the summer. I try to read at least 2 or 3 books. It sucks because I always end up reading my summer reading book last because of course, its the last one I want to read! But I think part of the reason it is so bad is because we all know that once we get back to school, we are going to have an assignment on it. No doubt about it. So maybe thats the real reason we all hate it.

[Alanna Krivanek]

I agree that we should be able to choose our own books because there is never enough books on the list to appeal to everyone. I feel that if we got to choose our own books students wouldn't be so upset about reading over the summer since they would be reading something that they want.

[Jessi Jorgensen]

I feel like summer reading isn't as terrible as everyone makes it out to be. I honestly don't worry about the book till like the last month of summer anyways, so it's not like its destroying my summer. With that being said though, I do agree with you when you say we shouldn't be forced to read a book from a list. Us students can pick up a book and read it on our own IF we choose to. It's our summer.

[Patrick Witt]

I think the idea is to keep studnets' minds active. But I have to agree with you in your 4 step choosing process and the fact that I usually start my summer reading book the week before school starts up again, if that. But I agree with what Mr. Anderson said in class a while ago in that we should at the very least be able to choose a book for reading. I have to admit, I think the last two summer reading books I read were actually pretty good, but I would prefer to find my own book to read.

[Halle Gitelson]

i think the purpose and idea of summer ready is right, but they go about it the wrong way. we should be able to read what we want and pick it out ourselves! the lists that they give us are terrible anyways, nobody likes the books the give us the choice of reading.

[Abby Muller]

I think that summer reading is a good thing. I like the fact that i'm forced to read a book because I'm not sure i would otherwise. I often feel overwhelmed when trying to find a book to read just because there are so many. This way i can just choose which one to read from a couple of books. All the books i've read for summer reading have been suprisingly good. so I don't mind that the school makes engage in a book over the summer