[BHS etree] COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL: Thoughts on Summer Reading from BHS English Department Head

[bhs at idiom.com]

etree note:  In June the etree received a copy the following message from
Alan Miller, BHS English Department Head which he sent to a parent inquiring
about a Summer Reading list.  I apologize for being so slow to post. Janet

Hello, incoming BHS parent!

I wasn't aware until today that BHS Small Schools were sending lists to
the parents in those schools.  Years ago, the BHS English Department
published a list and sent it to the Berkeley Public Library, which
published it, and to Cody's Books, which offered to order books or sell
books to any parents or students who wanted them.

It is probably time to revisit that list.... which we created three or four
years ago.  I should tell you that I don't believe in lists... though I make
them or participate in making them, a la Jay Leno.

This is what I believe about reading, and though I am not a parent, I have
tried this with my nieces and nephews: if I take them to a book store, buy
them a gift card and tell them to buy what they want to read, they will
buy books and read.  If they see me reading, and if I take them to
readings by local authors at local campuses and bookstores (Black Oak
Books, Cody's, Barnes & Nobles), they may hear something that they want to
read.  If I ask them to read something specific, or give them a list of
books, they will usually put it in a pile by their beds.

Students should see reading as a fun, necessary, normal activity.  When I
buy books for my nieces and nephews, I usually buy them books in genres
that they already appreciate:  if they read Agatha Christie, I buy them
Robert Parker, Raymond Chandler, or other mystery writers I read.  I also
try to stretch them in other ways, encouraging them to read more widely
than they might usually.  If, for example, they like historical fiction, I
push them to read beyond that zone---How?  By buying them histories.  If
money is an issue, I get him a library card... Even if money isn't an
issue, I will do that.  I also read some books along with them.  When my
nephew came to live with me during the summer before his ninth grade year,
I gave him Malcolm X, Sula, Black Boy (I am African-American and so is
he).  I also gave him Death of a Salesman (I had read it for the first
time); I gave him short stories of all kinds....  Since I am a bit crazy,
I had him write essays for me and I critiqued them....  I was careful to
mix praise with criticism. I had him write a journal about the books he
read.  I asked him to share some of what he wrote with me.  I forget which
topical book was released then, but something was in all the media and he
was fascinated by it.... I bought it, whatever it was.  When I took him to
bookstores, he bought books on cooking (Imagine that!) and books on
computers.  So, I let my good friend take hiim to work at a local
restaurant and show him some tricks about making pizzas and salads.  I
couldn't really talk about computers, but I knew people who could.  I
introduced them.

There is a good deal of high interest young adult fiction available at
your local library... though a new debate is raging about the often mature
subject matter in such novels.  I met M. E. Kerr when I was in high
school.  She was the prototype for this new young adult writing.  I don't
know who her contemporaries are, but we have good librarians in Berkeley,
who would give you names to stimulate the reluctant reader.

I say that to say that inspiring and facilitating readers is tricky.  You
want to challenge them, you want to encourage them, you want to
participate in their reading with them.... but lists probably aren't the
best way to do that unless there is some built-in accountability.  When
students enroll in BHS AP Language or Lit classes, they have a few books
to read and some activity that makes them demonstrate that they engaged
the text.  Usually that takes the form of a test during the first week of
class.   However, some teachers require notetaking or journals.   I really
doubt that the small schools will ask for that degree of accountability.
But you can help by modeling the kind of thoughtful reading I have
suggested here.  The genre, the content, matter less than stretching your
reader and keeping him/her reading.  Summer is awfully long, and a mind is
a terrible thing to waste.

Alan Miller
BHS English

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