Summertime, and the Reading Ain't Easy

(originally published on Boundless on June 7, 2012)

Today I brought in a grocery bag full of books for a 7th grader who devours hardcovers faster than I eat a quart of ice cream.  His face lit up and he exclaimed, “Thanks Mrs. Miller–this will be a great summer!”  I was proud. 

But frankly, summer reading causes a lot of angst in my life.  I’ve had parents petition the superintendent saying that my requirements are too restrictive (policy: read 6 books of your choice = you get a 100; 5 = a 90; 4 = an 80, and so on).  I’ve had parents show up and slam a stack of workbooks down on a desk and huff out that this is what they did with their children over the summer, since I didn’t assign enough.  I’ve read the research.  I know that kids who read 6 books, on average, continue any gains they have made academically, and I know
that kids who don’t read over the summer lose ground.  I also know, as a parent, that summer is freedom, and not the time you want to wrangle with your kid about sitting down to pick up a book.

But I’ve also been thinking about inequity.  Children who don’t have books at home.  Those who don’t go to the library.  Kids who don’t have money in their pockets while they peruse the shelves of their local bookstore. 

The words “summer reading” make me dream of toes dipped in warm sand.  They bring me to my front yard, where I sit in my Adirondack chair nestled in my 12 acre yard, reading until twilight, curled up in a blanket.  Summer reading sounds like relaxation to me.  But those words are more charged than we think–they come with hidden meanings of requirement, balance, and always, access.

I thought about this some this morning in my Teachers Write freewrite here:
http://www.katemessner.com/teachers-write-67-thursday-quick-write/#comment-21380