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MFW It was time to turn in my summer reading project (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by modman2

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[–]R9913 13 points14 points ago

>mfw other schools have mandatory summer reading

[–]realigion 1 point2 points ago

Pretty much every AP course requires some form of summer reading/assignment.

[–]R9913 1 point2 points ago

Ah. I'm only in middle school so obviously we don't have AP. The only classes where you are placed is math and Spanish.

[–]MagicBox10113 1 point2 points ago

Im in middle school and I've had summer reading assignments since about fourth grade.

[–]R9913 1 point2 points ago

Ouch

[–]RICH_LITTLE 25 points26 points ago

this is my reaction to ANY privacy policy

[–]HorriblePerson911 11 points12 points ago

I can do that dance.

[–]sailor_chibi_moonYOUNG 7 points8 points ago

We can all do that dance.

[–]HorriblePerson911 -1 points0 points ago

YA but mine is better than yours. Wanna know why?

[–]Grizzleshins_16 3 points4 points ago

I do.

[–]HorriblePerson911 -3 points-2 points ago

Because I have long skinny limbs and I am tall and awkward. And I have almost no ah fuck it I have no hand eye coordination. So imagine slenderman doing that dance but he was super uncoordinated.

[–]1nate14616 5 points6 points ago

Vid or it didn't happen.

[–]HorriblePerson911 -3 points-2 points ago

Ya don't have a video camera. Plus I'm lazy. Sorry but I honestly don't care about proving things to people on the internet anymore. If I make a vid sometime I will pm you. Just to be nice. Also have a nice day.

[–]sailor_chibi_moonYOUNG 1 point2 points ago

...sure...

[–]CarlTheHobo 2 points3 points ago

Good try, but no dice.

[–]HOYEAH15 6 points7 points ago

Even though I love reading, this was very funny.

[–]The_Meek15 5 points6 points ago

Ehh, a lot of the books(at least at my school) not only are very famous and get referenced all the time, but are actually quite good. I would read them if I were you, you might like them.

[–]goofygoobarock13 1 point2 points ago

At my school we had to read four books this summer. One was from my favorite author and I couldn't have loved it more. The other three made me seriously consider murdering a small child, they were so horrible.

[–]WellHeresMyFourthAcc16 0 points1 point ago

Could you specify the four books?

[–]goofygoobarock13 -1 points0 points ago

I actually remembered wrong. I loved two books and hated three.

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult was my favorite, by far. She's an amazing author and if you haven't already read her work, I'd recommend starting with House Rules or My Sister's Keeper.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell was... indescribable. I just finished reading another book of his, Blink. Very good. Otliers essentially takes the claim of "people who are successful got there by working hard and vice versa" and tears it apart and shits on it. Very good anger-releaser for a teengaer who's surrounded by stories of other teens accomplishing great things. Little does the media report that that 15 year old that cured cancer or built a more efficient wind turbine? Yeah, his daddy works as the head of that lab and got him a job as an intern. He mostly cleaned up spills and did repetitive tasks. Oh, but OMG A KID DID COOL STUFF!!! Bleh.

I hated Flyboys. I forget the author's name, but it was about Japanese pilots or something. George Bush Sr ot shot down, but it wasn't as amusing as it sounds.

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Camponelli (or something like that) was actually pretty decent. Wouldn't recommend it, but it wasn't painful to read. It was meh. (About the holocaust)

The Heretic's Daughter was the third one I didn't like. It was about these people during the Salem witch Trials who were falsely accused. I guess they thought we'd like it since it's set near where we live. The love to push MA's history on us waaay more that the rest of the country/ world.

[–]WellHeresMyFourthAcc16 1 point2 points ago

I haven't actually read Outliers so I'll add that to my list! Agree with you on Picoult and the last three just sound too cliche in terms of topic choice.

For comparison, what I read over the summer:

The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne: Yay another book about Puritan society- I found the author more interesting than the reading. It was really fun to examine and deconstruct.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Twain. Well, Twain's a big favorite of mine so I don't regret the read, although it was lengthy. I like Twain's tone- that's the big thing- although it didn't match up to Huck Finn.

Our Holocaust stuff is also really annoying (we specifically had a unit on it in English instead of History class- and read little to no literature; it was essentially a guilt-laden history lesson) but The Book Thief by Zusak wasn't too bad.

Where I live, we typically focus on Shakespeare, Dickens, and 19th century American and British authors, which aren't too bad of a read.

[–]goofygoobarock13 1 point2 points ago

Oh man, I loved The Book Thief. I'm waiting until Sophomore year to read The Scarlet Letter, as it's required reading and I want to be able to actually predict and not just say what I know.

No offense, but I would rather shove toothpicks between my toenails than read one of Mark Twain's books again.

Thanks though!

[–]WellHeresMyFourthAcc16 1 point2 points ago

Wait, you're a freshman? Ah. That explains it.

I was wondering why there was no Dickens or Melville on that list haha.

[–]goofygoobarock13 1 point2 points ago

Well, we're reading Great Expectations in class right now, it's pretty interesting.

[–]WellHeresMyFourthAcc16 1 point2 points ago

I hated that book.

[–]FloralStreuselYOUNG 2 points3 points ago

Summer reading lists, for me at least, were always horrible. This summer I read 'Anne of Green Gables'. OOH YAY A STORY ABOUT A TEN YEAR OLD WHO DOES NOTHING BUT FUCK UP CAKES AND PLAY IN THE WOODS, FUCKIN FANTASTIC

[–]goofygoobarock13 1 point2 points ago

I'm only a few chapters in, as we're reading them exclusively in class on Fridays. What's so bad about it?

[–]The_Meek15 1 point2 points ago

Of those, I've only read The Boy Who Dared(I actually liked it, but that was several years ago). This year I read Dracula, A Brave New World, and Guns, Germs, and Steel. I liked them all, though GGS was very dry.

[–]daBandersnatch18 1 point2 points ago

It was supposed to be a dry, unique take on imperial colonization. If that's your main comment on it, you read it wrong.

[–]The_Meek15 1 point2 points ago

Not so much imperial expansion but really why Eurasians and specifically Europeans were able to get to that point prior to anyone else. And I said it was dry, though still very interesting.

[–]goofygoobarock13 1 point2 points ago

Brave New World was great. How was Dracula?

[–]The_Meek15 1 point2 points ago

I liked it. It was a kinda slow read(it took me almost a week, which is unusual for me with a book of that size). Unfortunately my teacher isn't fond of it(don't ask me why she makes us read it then), so we basically didn't talk about it, so I feel like I missed out on a lot of the symbolism, etc. as all I know about that is from an hour long lecture on the metonyms of Dracula at Yale while I was at a MUN conference.

[–]GoDiscuss 8 points9 points ago

What book, and why didn't you read?

[–]GenericCommentGuy 6 points7 points ago

I honestly didn't fully read any of my books. I usually skim it. I also go on things like sparknotes for help and chapter overviews.

[–]hahahahahaha_16 8 points9 points ago

I got a perfect score for a book I read last year (not on the list but allowed to be chosen; the best loophole) and one I skimmed.

Summer reading to me is very counter-productive. With my school they give out a list of books and says "pick two books; you can pick one of your own but you have to read one on the list." If they really want kids to both be smarter and be interested in reading they should really open up to kids being allowed to read things other than story books. I read a whole 900 page book summarizing all topics of science. Could I use it? No, "it doesn't have characters or a plot." I find something I learn facts and can possibly apply in real life to be more worthy than a story book.

[–]WellHeresMyFourthAcc16 2 points3 points ago

Summer reading isn't just to encourage reading but to reduce the workload during a school year. I think of it as one less book I'll have to read during the school year- and they also lower the standards so it's easy to get by for the first 6/9 weeks.

[–]hahahahahaha_16 2 points3 points ago

It must be different by school because they have not mentioned once that it was to "reduce work load." It's not used that way at all here, the curriculum hasn't changed at all.

[–]WellHeresMyFourthAcc16 1 point2 points ago

We're going to have to jump into essays, etc., very early in the year (especially as the class is AP/Honors) and the class will need to be able to discuss a book and do a bunch of critical analysis on it. Rather than making us read it early in the year (at my school's typical pace of 4-5 chapters/night, which usually isn't much but hurts when I have other stuff to do) I get the option to be prepared over the summer, which even makes it feasible to do 1 chapter/night and analyze really thoroughly.

English is always going to have a huge workload, by the very nature of the beast and the way it's treated in exams. So it's just a good idea to stretch the timeframe for that workload a little bit further.

I still slack off, though. I usually speed-read the book and listen to the audiobook instead of music a while before the essay and MC exams.

I do wish we did more non-fiction, though. But that's what we have other classes for.

[–]GoDiscuss 1 point2 points ago

At my school, we utilize the summer reading books for a good 3-4 weeks into the school year. It doesn't reduce our workload, but it does allow us to immediately dive into interesting material on the first or second day of class.

[–]GoDiscuss 1 point2 points ago

While reading a book that summarizes the entirety of science would certainly increase your knowledge of science, it probably isn't great English class material. Characters and a plot are usually necessary in order to teach life lessons and express emotions, so sometimes it is necessary to sanction what books are read for an English assignment.

To be honest, I probably would have never read Crime and Punishment if my English teacher hadn't recommended it to me for a book analysis. I'm extremely grateful that I read it.

[–]GoDiscuss 1 point2 points ago

If skimming a book works for you, then I honestly don't see anything wrong with that. Some people spend 2 hours with English homework while others spend only 5 minutes. I view Sparksnotes/chapter overviews as a bit fuzzy in terms of honesty.

[–]modman2[S] 5 points6 points ago

Looking For Alaska. I really wanted to read it that's why I didn't just go on sparknotes to get everything. But mostly I didn't read it because I hate having to jot down every last detail on a book I want to enjoy instead of worrying about getting an assignment done. Also procrastination and laziness mostly.

[–]nicereddy15 4 points5 points ago

First of all, the author of that book does an amazing Youtube channel. Second, I hate that as well. I'm glad I haven't had to read Looking for Alaska in school because the forced writing ruins it. Perhaps it helps me understand the book further, but it ruins the fun of reading and for many people it ruins any motivation to read whatsoever.

[–]modman2[S] 1 point2 points ago

Yeah, The reason I picked the book was because of John Green. That's why I went out and bought the book instead of getting from a library, But the annotation assignment ticked me off so I'm going to go ahead and read it on my own time instead of feeling rushed.

[–]1Bam1814[!] 1 point2 points ago

Yeah I hated annotations. My school claims it helps with comprehensive abilities, but my comprehension level is Post Highschool. I seriously don't need to write down details when I have enough understanding of the book to get a 96 on my first essay's final draft when I only did 100 word chapter summarys.

[–]WellHeresMyFourthAcc16 1 point2 points ago

Don't let the annotation stuff get in the way. I usually read the book thoroughly and without any worries on my mind and just go back and BS annotation. But since I understand what's going on by the end (which makes it easier to find foreshadowing and motifs, too) it usually helps a lot on essays.

[–]orangeapple8916 1 point2 points ago

Damn your loss. That is one of my favorite books right there. I recommend reading it anyhow because it's pretty damn brilliant.

[–]GoDiscuss 1 point2 points ago

Annotations really depend on the teacher. Some teachers promote lousy and ineffective annotations, and the students are rightfully unenthusiastic about annotating.

This year my teacher is really focusing on useful annotations that will help significantly with in-class essays and such, so I'm paying some serious attention.

[–]sheepo3918 2 points3 points ago

What's with summer reading projects? I went to high school in Ontario, Canada and never encountered any of these (nor any summer project).

[–]In_a_british_voice15 1 point2 points ago

I'm baffeled too. It seems very unnecessary.

[–]kevster271717 1 point2 points ago

Wait, Canadians have summer?

[–]BlazeX344YOUNG 0 points1 point ago

I fake my reading log :D

[–]MooseWithFez 0 points1 point ago

Sparknote that shit!

[–]Zombie_Feeder 1 point2 points ago

Is that the guy from pysch or am I just racist for thinking they look alike?

[–]Arminas 0 points1 point ago

Mine was more like, "Wow, I was immature this summer, and I need to get my shit together because if I don't I have to come back for a fifth year."

[–]Supplemehntal 0 points1 point ago

We don't have those in my school. I never got those, either. Where do you turn them into? Aren't your grades for your classes final when the school year ends?

[–]Lilly_Satou15 1 point2 points ago

This needs a "DIDN'T READ LOL" caption.

[–]zeeeeebra15 1 point2 points ago

THIS SHIT HERE

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