Summer Reading for the Unintiated

So while I've been gone, part of what I was up to was putting together the Summer Reading Challenge for the year.

Many of the summer reading schemes I've encountered over the years feature a variably lengthed list of books front and center with various ideas of how required they are. These lists are usually full of titles that we adults think that our youngins should read  peppered with a few popular ones as an enticement. For example, one of the most common summer reading list books over the years is The Bible, closely followed by various Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Graham Greene. (I've also seen quite a lot of Rick Riordan, Lewis Carroll, and Truman Capote. So there is more range than my list of commons would imply.)

There is nothing wrong with any of those choices but they range from very dense to impossibly long. Even my strongest readers would be hard-pressed to read and digest The Bible in one summer. However, my real issue is not with the quality of the literature. In a perfect world, all my students would read and love those books, but the truth is only a small fraction of my seniors, let alone my freshman, have the reading skills and personal background to fully appreciate a Steinbeck novel independently. Notice the word "independently" because that's what this really is about.

Summer reading in its purest form is a way for educators to encourage students to continue reading over the summer months. Studies are showing that a student's reading habits in High School are more predictive of success at college than grades alone. What's more it really doesn't seem to matter what they read on their free time, just that they read...a lot. There a number of theories for why that might be, but I think much of it comes down to stamina. Being a voracious reader means developing a tolerance for spending a lot of time looking at a page and thinking about the content which I think most people would agree is a primary skill for college level coursework.

So, the question becomes what is the best way to encourage a student to develop that voracious reading habit. Is it a list of modern literary classics that are required whether the student connects to them or not? Probably not. Certainly, there are kids that will do that reading but most of those kids already have the reading habit (and some of them aren't actually reading the books unfortunately. They are looking up summaries online.)

My answer to the question relies on the idea of choice. Let them read things that interest them, they'll often read things that are otherwise considered challenge texts simply because they are interested in the topic. Given a choice and a little bit of encouragement, I've found it decently easy to get a teen to read. So, this year's challenge for us is a book bingo of categories:

Read a Book that won an Award	2. Read a book with a non-human Main Character	3. Read a book recommended by Family, Friends, or Teacher
4. Read a Collection of Essays or Short Stories	5. Free Space - Read something that sounds good to you!	6.Read a book featuring a place you’ve never been
7. Read a book that is a part of a Series	8. Read a book about something that actually Happened	9. Read a book with a mystery

The idea is to fill each box and they can choose their own titles. A book might qualify for more than square but can only count for one. Every kid should try for a bingo (3 books) but I'm trying to figure out something special and awesome for kids who 'fill the card' and read 9.