Summer 1989.

I remember the summer. My purple room. On my bed reading The Cay.

Summer reading.

I don’t remember the book. I don’t remember the characters or the plot.

I remember being irritated with having to read it. I may have even skimmed it, and not really read it. Unusual for me.

I love reading.

In the summer I did nothing but read. Stacks of Babysitter’s Club and Sweet Valley High.

But, that book. That summer reading book was torture.

I have seen summer reading lists that get it and summer reading lists that were too specific.

I have seen summer reading lists that stayed the same year after year, even as new literature floods the market.

In the summer can’t our summer reading be JUST READ?

Can’t we give our students choice?

Allow them to find the joy in reading? Allow them to follow their reading passions? Share a book with a friend or a sibling?

Can’t we encourage them to find the beauty in words?

Do we have to all read the same book over the summer?

Does it have to be about checking off titles on a list and taking a test when we return to school?

Just a thought.