High School Summer Reading Assignment
PackMom
7650 replies17 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 7,667 Senior Member
S2's summer (Honors English) reading assignment was just posted on school website. They have to read two books and do a written project on each.
This is to be handed in the first week of school and there are activities/tests on the books to follow during class.
S2 (not a big reader to put it mildly) almost fainted when he saw the first book is "Pride and Prejudice". I was almost on the floor beside him. He will never make it through that book.
We will be renting the movie for sure. Does anybody know if there are "simplified" versions to help with understanding the story? I don't mean Cliff Notes but just an easier to read version.
The other book he has to read is "The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime".
I haven't read it but have been told the general storyline. I think S2 will have an easier time with this one just because it is written in simpler modern language. He just finished AP Psyc. so will prob. find the story of the autistic 15 year old much more interesting than Pride and Prejudice.
If the goal is to keep non-readers reading through the summer, I wish they would assign books they might enjoy. I can't imagine many 18 year old boys thinking Pride and Prejudice would be a great read! How about Harry Potter?
Just when you think school is over and you can relax....ugh
Do your kids all have summer assignments?
122 repliesThis is to be handed in the first week of school and there are activities/tests on the books to follow during class.
S2 (not a big reader to put it mildly) almost fainted when he saw the first book is "Pride and Prejudice". I was almost on the floor beside him. He will never make it through that book.
We will be renting the movie for sure. Does anybody know if there are "simplified" versions to help with understanding the story? I don't mean Cliff Notes but just an easier to read version.
The other book he has to read is "The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime".
I haven't read it but have been told the general storyline. I think S2 will have an easier time with this one just because it is written in simpler modern language. He just finished AP Psyc. so will prob. find the story of the autistic 15 year old much more interesting than Pride and Prejudice.
If the goal is to keep non-readers reading through the summer, I wish they would assign books they might enjoy. I can't imagine many 18 year old boys thinking Pride and Prejudice would be a great read! How about Harry Potter?
Just when you think school is over and you can relax....ugh
Do your kids all have summer assignments?
Post edited by PackMom on
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Replies to: High School Summer Reading Assignment
I wouldn't rent the movie. Not at all. Have him read a few pages. Then a few more until he's up to about age 25. He might be into it by then.
If not, I still wouldn't rent the movie or choose a simplified version. Not a great message, imho.
I admit I truly loved this book. Perhaps it appeals more to females. But I read my share of books I didn't "take to" at all, throughout high school. Ivanhoe anyone?
I just don't think giving him crutches when he's faced with things he won't enjoy is wise. If he can get the reading for AP Psych, he can handle Jane Austen. Maybe he should focus on figuring out the psyches of the characters.
This is a lot funnier than you intended. But perhaps true.
Page 25, people. Page 25 is what I meant to say. But Freudian slips do have their value, don't they.
The regular English classes at our school are filled with kids who can barely read and write. Ours is a very diverse school with fights ocurring daily, students have been held up at knife point in the restrooms, teachers have been assualted. Four teachers have had their cars stolen out of the faculty parking lot this year. At least 10 students cars (including my S's) have been vandalized. The list goes on and on. The majority of the kids involved in all these activities are also in the regular Eng. class.
Hence to avoid that situation, students like my S who are not great English students but don't want to be a part of all the mayhem all sign up for Honors Eng. That's just how it is.
My H is a very successful Nuclear Engineer but has never been a big reader, certainly never read much in the way of classics. I have known him since high school so I know this for fact. My S will prob. go to Comm. College after high school, more than likely for a trade of some sort. He is very gifted mechanically. I don't think reading this one book will make or break his life but just know he has to find a way to get through this assignment. That's why I was asking if anyone knew of a simpler version. BTW, as far as I know he did no reading for AP Psyc. except whatever was done in class. Don't think they even used a book. He loved that class.
I knew I would be criticized as it seems like I'm looking for the easy way out but in this circumstance, we are just looking to survive and advance.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/pride/
I wouldn't assume P&P is too hard for your son. Spark notes are certainly useful, but Jane Austen really isn't that hard.
It is much harder to read a book when you've already seen the movie and have removed all elements of suspense.
And it's also a useful exercise to discuss how the book differs from the movie.
Are you willing to read the book? Maybe it would be helpful to read it together.
I love this book, so give it a try.
He should read the real chapter first and then follow up with the Sparknotes chapter. Or sparknotes chapter first, and then try to read the "real" chapter. Even if he wants to skip through, he'll get a better sequence and "feel" for the book. The thing is, most assignments are going to ask him to point to literary techniques the author uses to achieve an effect. You don't really get that from reading Sparknotes necessarily. Learning to basically cope with the reading even if you decide you can't read the whole thing, but coming up with a technique where you more or less skim it is good practice, because he will likely have to fulfill a general english requirement in college, plus many other classes like in history may contain challenging readings. If you aren't trying to achieve a super A plus and be the best person ever at it, then I fully endorse just doing whatever you have to to get through it enough to achieve minimum competancy. However Sparknotes is not available for a lot of texts and even when it is, on it's own it isn't the best tool. The movie is even worse containing no info at all about the author's literary style and often cuts out large portions.
Basically coming up with some sort of style and strategy for getting through the reading now, is fine, and a good idea. However that strategy should probably not be Sparknotes and the movie if he hopes to come away with a B. In the high school arena, it may get a low B or a high C, but as things become complicated and sparknotes and a movie are not available, a different strategy will be necessary.
WELL, I have to do this
Read:
Kite Runner
the tortilla curtain (essays on both)
read:
4 chapters of US history book and essay
havent gotten anything for other classes....yet
I'd get the spark notes or cliff notes, have him read a chapter or two of the real book, then read the synopsis so he can understand what he read.
Tell him not to cheat. It's in his best interest to at least try. Even if he doesn't understand 90% of the real book, he can read the chapter by chapter synopsis in the cliff/spark notes afterwards.
That's what I did when my sons had to read feminine literature. What's with these teachers??? They can at least find a couple/three choices!!!
We usually had to read two English books. Between junior and senior year we finish our history internal assessments, which involves reading two books from historians (mine was on Vietnam - A Soldier Reports, and this book by the head of the CIA CORDS operation, I forget what it's called). Actually it got easier because we got new philosophy teachers and we didn't have to read Sophie's World. Our english books weren't too bad because our curriculum is not so Eurocentric esp in the junior year and I prefer that...we did 100 Years of Solitude and Pedro Paramo. This year in the summer we just read Annie Dillard's An American Childhood, they used to do Portrait of the Artist too but for some reason we didn't.
My son had to read P & P for school and belly-ached through the whole first half. When he couldn't take it any more, he rented the movie. But then felt like going back and reading the rest. Ya never know.
Another vote here for the mini-series over the recent film version.
I really, really, hope this doesn't degenerate into another girl school/boy school thread! that's been done to death.
For the record, the biggest fan of P and P in my graduate school class was a guy. As I've said here before, it's only chick lit if you choose to only read it at that level; as a social satire and commentary on the class and economic systems of the time, or as a great psychological study of all kinds of eccentric/neurotic characters, etc, etc, it offers a lot of alternate ways to read it.
I do understand why he is taking refuge from the bulk of the school by being in Honors (had a similar HS), but once there, he really does need to try to read like an Honors student, whatever his reason for being there, I think.
I like the idea of reading along with him.
The curious incident IS AMAZING.. one of my favorite books EVER