Required Reading (read this or else!)

I think summer is a great time to read. As a library assistant I think any time is a good time for reading (and IHOP) but that is beside the point. Anyway, this year the local middle school has assigned books for the students to read over the summer. The list was sent home at the end of May. Parents have been coming in with crying children because they have to read over the summer and it's sooo unfair. I would like to step back and make a critical comment on the schools for a moment. We received a copy of one list from a student. I called all of the schools to see if there were any more reading lists. No one answered. Finally other students from the school brought in their lists. TEACHERS: OUR LIVES (YOURS, OURS, AND YOUR STUDENTS) WOULD BE A LOT EASIER IF YOU WOULD EMAIL US OR CALL US BEFORE YOU START THESE PROJECTS! Luckily with having three months for us to order books we have been able to borrow other copies from other libraries. During the school year it's a lot easier for everyone if the kids don't have to go from library to library searching for materials for a project that is due in two days. By the way, it's always good to check and see that the books on the list are still in print or are available from the library. If you can't get them we probably can't either.

Back to the procrastinating parents...excuses will be made for the kids I'm sure. I've already heard how one kid was too busy visiting family to read. Funny too because my parents shipped us off to the grandparents' house and sent books to read so we wouldn't get bored. Many parents don't have a problem with the having to read a book over the summer, but they think they should just get to pick a book. I can't say that I agree with them though. Can we really consider Captain Underpants to be the quality literature that Number the Stars is? I think Captain Underpants has his place. Anything that gets kids reading is pretty good and I grew up on a steady diet of Baby-Sitters Club but I just can't say that I would place it with some of these other books on the list. Then comes the problem of an 8th grader wanting to read Froggy Goes to School because the list said he could read anything he wanted to. So stick with the list. It's easier. If you have a problem with the list call the school not me. I didn't choose the books.

So now here it is one week before school starts back. Parents, students, everyone in a frenzy because they have waited until the last possible moment for kids to have read five books. Bravo to the students who started when they got the list. Your teachers will be able to tell that you have put a lot more work into your projects than the kid next to you who still hasn't finished reading the books and is trying to fake it. Can I blame the kids? Not as much as I blame the adults. You are the parents. You set the rules. If you think they need to be reading before August 1 then you need to get them started on it and set a good example. If they won't then don't make excuses for them. That isn't going to help them in "the real world."