On Summer Reading Lists

INTRODUCTION

I have always enjoyed reading, and I have always done it out of enjoyment. Most teachers and parents have to force their children to read, but the issue has never been a problem in my household. I go to Half-Price Books every week and spend almost my whole 25 dollar allowance on it. I even write books, and I plan to have a career as a writer one day. So reading isn't something I object to. What I do object to, though, are Summer Reading lists.

For years, long before I was even thought of, children and teens have had to read something for summer as an effort to get children to read. Of course, it hasn't helped much for the simple reason of Wikipedia and Google. Anyhow, each year, I and everyone in my school has always been given the annual Summer Reading List. At my old school-before I moved to Rockwall-we had three options each year. I distinctly remember two options I chose in fifth and sixth grade: Hush by Jacqueline Woodson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. I vaguely remember Hush, and I had already read the entire Percy Jackson series long before I was given the assignment to read it over the summer. But, what I found degrading about Summer Reading Lists is the lack of choice or option. Even here at my new school in Rockwall, the choices are limited and uninteresting. There are maybe four choices which I will deem interesting: Ripper, Cinder, Shadow and Bone, and Legend. The others are far from interesting, and most of them are coming of age stories that are boring and too homey in my opinion.

I was unable to get Cinder because it actually sounded interesting, and I had been wanting to read it for a while--what boy doesn't want to read about cyborgs?-and Ripper I also wanted to read, but I am wary now because I am so intent on reading Cinder. Also, for all of you about to comment on how I can just check them out from a library, well I hate libraries. I hate them with a passion. I have no problems with used books, but I have never been well accustomed to libraries, I p to buy the book if I want to keep in my collection, also I have so many books that I have yet to get to, but I will soon-if I were to check them out from a library, I would be limited to when I could get it since someone might have checked it out. Also, these books we have to annotate, and you can't write in library books or you get fined, as you know.

Anyhow, that's one of the big things about Reading Lists. They give you so little options, and such obscure options, that you will either never find the book, or never get the book. Also there is a lack of relative novels on Reading Lists. To Kill a Mockingbird has been a song sung to many times for the past few generations, and I'm getting sick of hearing about it. I want to read the classics, I do, but some classics I have little interest in and when I learned that I would have to read TKAM in 9th Grade, I wept on my keyboard. For once, I might actually be unenthusiastic about reading a book, and I have never been unenthusiastic about going to another place and another time. But, it's just the overuse of classics that are no longer relevant that makes me weep.

This brings me to my current predicament. I always thought that Summer Reading would be easy for me because I read all the time, and I could blow through a book nice and fast if I want to get to more interesting ones. But, the fact that I have to choose from a list angers me. Too many books and too little time. If I could choose my own books for Summer, then I might get an A++(literally!). Not to say I don't get A's every year when I turn it in.

Currently I am reading some books that are bigger than some of my classmates have ever since, some have even asked me am I reading the Bible because the books were so enormous. And a lot of these Biblical sized books are way better than these boring ol' books on the short, un-optional reading lists. In my last post, I told you all I was taking on the epic novel Dhalgren which is probably going to be the greatest reading challenge I ever face. How come I can't annotate and read that for summer? Hmm? I will admit, it's not a book you should read in school—with F*ck, n*pple, and sexy descriptions within the first few pages—it's still a literary landmark, a masterpiece I've been told. I think that's a good enough reason to read it! Schools censor too much, and so do parents. Thankfully my parents don't care what I read, and I think because of this, it has made ma better person. I know what I want to read, and what I shouldn't read. Such as erotica. I hate erotica and I will never read it. Even Stephen King's very descriptive books--namely 11/22/63--that have sex in them aren't as bad as erotic fiction, in fact he keeps his scenes very short and to the point. There are a lot of parents who aren't like me, but there are still a lot who are.

So, to counter this, I have come up with this:

THE LIBERATED SUMMER READING LIST PROGRAM
GUIDELINES

• The book must be at least 120 pages unless it is one of the following classics:
  Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, Unabridged Dover Thrift Edition 160p.
  Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Unabridged Dover Thrift Edition, 91p.
  The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Lewis Stevenson, Dover Thrift Edition 64p.
  *Those are three I can think of, but you get the point. 
• Books must be chapter books or novellas (i.e. Anthem by Ayn Rand, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, and At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft) and it must contain the original text without changes.
  *The reason for this is because of the recent change in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by changing the 'n' word to robots and other nonsense like such.
• Books containing explicit materials (i.e. sex, swearing, and other such things) are allowed, but limited only to the parents’ judgment of the book. 
• All fiction except Erotica for anyone not in High School is not accepted. 
• If students choose to read a book containing explicit material, and the parents chooses not to allow them to read this, parents must write their own review of the book for the teacher's judgment to possibly ban the book from the Liberated Reading List. 
• Picture books (i.e. Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries) are not accepted for anyone in Secondary School. 
• Secondary School students must follow bullet point #1, Primary School Students are allowed to read anything that is at least 60 pages long with pictures. 
• Audiobooks are not allowed either.
• If students decide to read Poetry books (i.e. Edgar Allen Poe, Ellen Hopkins, Shel Silverstein) they must annotate and break down each poem, or depending on the number of poems within a book, they must at least annotate 15 of the poems in the book. That said, the book must contain at least 15 pieces of poetry unless it is one contentious poem. 
• With the annotation of poetry books, other books must also be annotated. Special cases spoken upon in the next bullet point. 
• If Students decide to read an Epic (i.e. The Stand, A Game of Thrones, Inheritance, Lord of the Rings, any book over 800 pages) they have two options for annotation. 
• Students may buy a Spark notes edition of the book (also covered in another bullet point) find the key points in the book, and annotate those. Teachers will be equipped with Sparknotes editions to determine if any information was copied from the actual Sparknotes, as well as free reign to research Wikipedia and any other sources of cheating. While annotating key points, Students who choose this method will have to write 1 page summaries of each key event, as well as connecting them to the main story arch. 
• If Students do not choose method one, they may annotate at least 250 pages of the book as well as adding 2 extra pages to their synopsis of the book due at the beginning of the school year.  
• Biographies are allowed, but not other forms of Nonfiction books in which there is only informational purposes in the writing of the book. We are strongly encouraging students to read fiction books over the summer and finding meaning in them. 
• Short Story collections are allowed, but students must annotate at least 4 stories in the short story book, and the short stories in the book must be more than 1 page long. 
• If the book has a movie adaptation, we do encourage students to watch the movie as well, and for extra credit, we encourage them to write a report on the comparisons of the two. We are also allowing for scripts to be annotated. 
• Sources of cheating(i.e. Sparknotes, *movies, Wikipedia, etc.) will cause for students to redo the project with an assigned book deemed 'boring' and students will not get credit for their Summer Reading. Teachers will be equipped with articles from across the web, Wikipedia, and they will be armed with Sparknotes copies for corresponding books. 
• E-books are strongly discouraged to enthuse for more physical books, as well as to get students into bookstores to possibly find other books they may enjoy. E-books are also harder to annotate, and no one wants to hand over their iPad!
• Book groups are encouraged, but all students must annotate in their own way and do whatever project they decide on by themselves. 
• We encourage censored books! We encourage students to read books that have been censored or banned if possible! The Liberated Summer Reading List shuns almost no book! 
• In the special case of a student having written a book, other students are allowed to read that book and annotated. The author of such book is not allowed to annotate or write notes on their own book or provide excess information to readers of their book. 
• Manga and comic books are excepted, but by a few limitations:
• If it is a manga, students will have to note if it is a series Manga. If it is a series Manga, students must read 1) If all of the series is out, or a greater number than 20, students must read at least 10 books of manga and write about their story and their art. 2) If is still being released,  students may choose to do more than one series and write 1-2 paragraph reports on each book from the different Manga series'. For comic book readers, we encourage you to read at least 30 and analyze and write about them and their art.
  *Allowing for students to read comic books and manga with certain limitations is probably better than restricting it sense, believe it or not parents who are reading this, some comic books to show very good values, and are just a good a medium as books. 
• Comic book/Manga readers must also read one of three classics as well:
  Frankenstein
  Fahrenheit 451
  The Great Gatsby 
• Students are allowed to read more than one book over the summer, in some cases we encourage them to read entire series' if possible!  
• Though hardcover books are nice, we would like them to stay nice by getting paperback books instead, there are several reasons why you should get a paperback as well.
• Hardcovers are less expendable or durable as Paperbacks.
• Hardcovers are much more expensive than paperbacks(some are even 50 dollars)
• Paperback books come in many more sizes, sizes that take up a lot less space than the one sized hardcovers.
• Paperbacks are easier to annotate as the pages are much more adjustable.
• Hardcovers are often special editions, collectors editions, and limited edition, and they are also only on shelves for a limited time, whereas paperbacks are seemingly forever, and are once again, more expendable.
• Paperback paper is more so made to be written on, over a hardcover book which is more so meant to be read.
• It is easier to handle and carry a paperback book because of their lightweight, their lack of a cover jacket, and once more, their size.
• Students are asked not to share one book, everyone should have their own individual book.

What is the purpose of the Liberated Summer Reading List?

Every summer, students are asked to at least read one book from a limited, and un-optional reading list. Students are asked to read classics, and books that are quite frankly, boring. Though many will tell you how important morals and themes of these books are, I will agree, at the same time, it is time for a change in reading. Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill A Mockingbird, and many other ‘classics’ are ancient, and no one relates to them as much as they once did. I wept the first time I learned I would have to read To Kill a Mockingbird after having seen the movie in Journalism class. Half of the kids in the class were utterly bored, and few of us actually paid any attention, and I am not afraid to say I, as a regular reader of books, did not enjoy it. Ever sense then, I have not been looking forward to reading it. I even traded it back in to Half-Price Books after only being able to read the first few pages.
            Summer Reading Lists are degrading and redundant. Many of the book on the list are not interesting, and many students would rather just read the Wikipedia page or watch the movie is there is one. Another problem with current Summer Readily Lists is the limitation to get what you want. Many of the books on these lists are in limited numbers at libraries and bookstores ad this causes for many students to begin their projects or reading late in summer, if at all. Many of these books also do not increase enthusiasm in reading, rather they shrink the want to read.
            For many summers, I have always dreamt of being able to read my Stephen King books, George RR Martin books, or something by the masterful Ayn Rand, but because it was not on the reading list, I had to put my books aside in favor for the list book I would not finish for ages and ages to come, finding myself more and more reluctant to read it each time, and I dreaded the knowing thought of having to read the book. And all through my school years, I fear I will always have to face these dreadful lists created by the state and schools everywhere.
            This is why I would propose the Liberated Summer Reading List, the only summer reading list where books are unlimited as long as they follow the given guidelines. Finally I would be able to do reports and read King, Tolkien, and Delany. I would finally be able to actually enjoy reading for school again. I feel that censoring, banning, and limiting what students are allowed to read kills their want to read. You can sprinkle the four or five enjoyable books on the list—I’ll try not to sound biased about this since opinion is a matter of who you are—that are actually enjoyable such as Cinder, Insigna, Legend or another mainstream book, but even that is not enough. It’s too limited. Sure, I understand that you might be trying to open us up to other authors, but I feel like that is up to the reader to decide whether or not they like an author or want to try an author.
            I write books myself, and I am working on four right now—one is the sequel to a book I published recently, the others are totally new books—and I have a sympathetic side to reading and authors as well as a passionate side. That being said, I believe freedom of the reader is the most important thing for summer reading or reading at all. Too often parents and schools tryand censor books, limit children to ‘oh this is okay’ and ‘oh no, I don’t want my poor baby Danny to be corrupt by the awesome power of the word damn!’
            Those are the kinds of people I hate. So what if a book has a swear word in it, or if the tones are dark. Who whoopdy-doo! That’s life in fiction! J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a beautiful world where good and evil battle it out, and he does it in a strangely dark way, yet it’s understandable and sure a little child might not understand it as well as Harry Potter, but it’s the same message all the same. Too many people concentrate on how the story is told, and what’s in the story, and not the story itself. It’s like how we decide on a book based on its cover. I’m sure that if you stripped the cover of every book out there—or better yet, if you saw a book in its manuscript form, before you get the nice fancy fonts and the gorgeous cover, half the people who read some of the best books today would have never picked them up. I have learned something from researching publishing and publishers for a long time. The only way a book gets published if by its story and how it’s written. If the book is well enough, then it will be published. If a book is bad, it gets rejected for a reason.
            I believe that’s how you should judge what is right for your child, only in such a way that goes beyond just the exterior words, but actually the interior story. Stop being sensitive and start thickening your skin. Stephen King and George RR Martin are thick skinned authors: Martin slaughters characters without remorse; King gives it to you how it is. And they have been deemed masters for it. Why? Because people don’t care what the words on the page are they care about what they words say.
            The Liberated Summer Reading List would add variety, spunk—yeah I just said spunk—and fun to summer and summer reading. It would be the answer to get kids reading again, by letting them choose what they want to read. I wish I could read and analyze Dhalgren for my Summer Reading, because it’s a challenge and I like challenges. I wish everyone could be able to analyze something they enjoy. There are too many books out there that want to be read by reluctant readers and readers alike, but they are past up too many times by either parents of kids who say, ‘Mom, can we get this one?’ and at one glass at the strange and miraculous cover of the kraken swallowing up a whole ship of men, the mother shakes her head, and the kid goes home with some wimpy book about a boy whose afraid to tell his mom he’s gay, or something like that. Not to say that book wouldn't be interesting, but that depends on the writing and a lot of other things.
            The point is, liberate reading, liberate summer reading, and liberate all the books that have been cast into the Crags of Banned Bookdom. That’s what the Liberated Summer Reading List is.