It is summertime, which means that the summer reading lists are out in full force. In my house (with a rising sixth and a rising eighth grader), there is now a great deal of moaning going on whenever I bring up the dreaded “reading” word. Yes, I understand that school is just now out for a lot of students, and the last thing you want to do is sit down and read a book. And my answer to both my two kids and to everyone else? “Too bad, now go and read!”. Okay, I am not that harsh, but I do suggest (both to you and my kids) setting aside 20-30 minutes a day to read, whether it is a book off the reading list or one you just pick up at the local library. In looking at the two reading lists, I have gone through at least eight of the books in the last two years. One of them, The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, is a great book that I just finished a week ago.
Why do I push reading? If you want to do better in your English classes, write better, have a stronger SAT Critical Reading, stronger SAT Writing, communicate better, etc, one great way to do this is to dig into books. Read across the spectrum, from non-fiction to thrillers to sci-fi, but no matter what, read!
As for me, I just finished re-reading one of my favorite books, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by R. Heinlein, and I am in the middle of two others (The Big Short by Michael Lewis and Watership Down by Richard Adams. My wife bugs me for reading more than one book at a time, but that is just the way I am.
So go grab those reading lists and start reading!
Enjoy, and Go Dawgs!