Was this you?For at least a month the smell of freshly cut grass was streaming through your classroom windows. The kid with really bad allergies was a miserable mess (maybe that was you!). The sun shone into every single class, screaming at you that you didn't belong inside anymore and even your teachers started to notice. Classes were less serious, teachers were celebrating every last little thing, finding excuses not to teach - to show movies, go on trips and play games. The school year was ending: NO MORE TEACHERS! NO MORE BO--
Or maybe not. Your English teacher was hell-bent on destroying your freedom. Right as you were tasting the homework-free nights laid out before you, a sheet of paper was handed out. You thought it was going to be some sort of nonsense to keep you occupied for forty minutes when the teacher began to talk about your SUMMER READING LIST!
The walls crushed in around you. How many books do I have to read? Is this guy SERIOUS? This is supposed to be my time off!
You glared at the sad soul in front of you and thought, This guy has NO LIFE. He's not going to drag me down that depressed rabbit hole!
You and your friends made a plan. You divvied up which books had been turned into movies, which ones were the shortest and found out if the summer reading assignment really required reading. You decided it didn't. You're off the hook. No summer reading required.
Before you tear up your summer reading list, I'd like to ask you to reconsider. Reading is cool. I don't know if it started with Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games or the super-racy 50 Shades of Grey, but somewhere along the line reading became cool again. But even more than that, your summer reading is The Perfect Parent-Friendly Excuse To Hang Out With Your Friends!!Okay, okay - HOLD ON A SECOND! - Before you say , "Thanks, Nicole! I didn't think of that! I'm just going to tell my mom that Stacey and I are 'reading' this Saturday and go to the Mall instead!"
No. I will not be a party to this infraction and deceit!
There is another way!!
Throw Book Parties!
What I am suggesting is that you and your friends (you all have to read these books, right?) pick the same books from the list to read and start a summer book club. What does this mean?
Simple:
You and your friends get together and have fun talking about stuff that you're doing together!
Here's how...
- Pick a book. Believe it or not, this might be the hardest part. You might still be dead set on reading the shortest book, while your best friend really wants to read the book that is going to be a movie next summer. Compromise. Or... dare I say it? Read both. OKAY, OKAY! You aren't ready for that kind of leap yet... I get it.
- Chop the book into sections that you and your friends can read in between meetings. If you don't love reading, you might want to start small with 20-30 pages per week (or smaller if you can still finish it before the summer ends), however, if you have to read more than one book this might not do.
- Pick your meeting spot(s). THIS is the fun part. You can rotate between your friends' houses if everyone's comfortable with that. Or, if you want to be really adventurous, here are some other places you can go to talk about books:
- a cafe that serves yummy things
- a pizzeria (oh YES!), or any other food establishment (I like food)
- an ice cream parlor (okay... let's move away from food)
- a bookstore or library (STOP yawning!)
- while getting a mani-pedi (I know guys that do this too)
- at the pool or BEACH
- at the park
- the list goes on... if it is a place you can talk, then it is a place for your "meeting" (stop thinking of meetings as boring things and start thinking of them as parties)
- Pick the dates for your "meetings." This will all depend on how much you need to read and how fast you want to do it. It will also depend on any vacations your friends' families may have planned. You guys should pick the dates together to make sure everyone can make it.
- Talk about the book. This is what you do at the "meetings" (in addition to laughing, snapping pictures of each other, and whatever else happens when this group hangs out). Things you can talk about are:
- Do you like the book? (It's okay if you hate it.)
- Does the cover do a good job of representing the story?
- Were you surprised by anything or is this story way too predictable?
- Which characters do you like? Which do you hate (and why)? Do you wish any of these people really existed? Do the characters remind you of anyone in real life? Do you have a book crush? (This happens to me all the time.)
- Is there anything confusing to you? I can't tell you how many times a book was cleared up for me just because I talked to someone else about it!
- What would you have done if you were in the main character's place?
- Is this story believable?
- What do you think will happen next?
- You get the point, I think. Basically, talk about the book!
- Plan a book-end party. When you are done with the book(s), celebrate in your meeting. Also, if your summer reading assignment is a project of some sort (instead of a test when you return to school), why not work on it with your book buddies? This is not cheating. This is smart working.
Book Party Rules:
Book groups are loads of fun, but all parties have some sort of rules. These aren't too bad, but I think they are important to making sure that your book parties don't turn into some sort of book drama:
- There should always be at least one copy of the book at a meeting. This is helpful when you want to talk about something specific, but can't remember it exactly.
- The book group meeting time is devoted to book talk. I'm not saying that you are not allowed to stray to other topics (I think it would be impossible to stop you!), but you should devote at least 20-30 minutes to book talk. Then do whatever.
- Everyone has to read in order to come to the book club meeting. (**NOTE: Let all of your friends know about this rule beforehand so they don't think you are just trying to avoid them every time you have a book party!) This can be rough. Let's say you're planning a beach book party and your friend wants to come who is reading another book for the summer, or (GASP!) not reading a summer book at all - you have four choices:
- HARSH: Dear Dude, You are not invited.
- SEMI-HARSH: Dude, Borrow my book and read up to page 60, that's what we'll be talking about.
- COMPROMISE: Dude, Do you mind coming at 12:30, after we finished talking about our book?
- YOU ARE A PUSHOVER (this is usually me): Dude, be there at 12, but take a tan or jump in the water while we're talking about our book, okay?
So let's just say that, by some miracle, I have sold you on this idea. You are super excited about reading at least one of your summer reading books with someone else, but when you ask your friends about it, they think you're nuts. It might happen.
First of all, you are not nuts.
Secondly, don't stop at your friends in your school. Maybe someone who isn't assigned the same reading wants to have a book party with you. Ask family members, teammates, or internet buddies! And, if all that fails...
I love reading. I will be your book buddy. You can let me know in the comments section, or email me... whatever. Maybe we will get a group of Internet strangers to be the Summer Reading Book Club! Stranger things have happened.
Whatever you decide, give books a chance... HAVE FUN and HAPPY READING!
What books are on your summer reading list (assigned or personal)?
For those of you who are beyond the binds of assigned reading - did you do your assigned reading in the past? Any great book memories? Any regrets?
This blog post is dedicated to Brittany who is desperately trying to avoid her summer reading, but made the hilarious mistake of talking about it in my presence! ;)
