Though it's not required statewide, students in some districts are keeping their literacy skills sharp this summer by digesting a menu of books prescribed by their schools, and keeping notes on what they've read.

08:32 AM EDT on Tuesday, August 23, 2005

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

Brandon Smith's summer reading list includes, predictably, the latest wonder of the wizarding world: Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. He devoured the 652-page book in a week.

He is halfway through an autobiography by a Sherpa who has climbed Mount Everest: Touching My Father's Soul, by Jamling Tenzing Norgay. "It's about how people live in Nepal," Brandon, 12, said. "Also, one day I'm going to attempt to climb Mount Everest, and the book talks about that as well."

He tore through a Star Wars book about clones earlier this summer.

Brandon has one required book left to read before he begins seventh grade at Curtis Corner Middle School in South Kingstown.

He isn't sure yet what he will pick, but he must write answers to a series of questions about each book by the time school starts Sept. 6.

"I always finish," said Brandon, who has been required to read several books a summer since elementary school. Although Curtis Corner publishes a recommended list, students are free to choose what they prefer from several categories. Seventh graders are required to read an autobiography and a science fiction book, along with two free choices.

"I think it's a good idea," said Brandon's mother, Lisa. "It keeps them reading throughout the summer."

THERE ARE also pragmatic reasons for summer reading programs, according to Peggy Noble, an instructional coordinator for English at Curtis Corner and a reading specialist. Noble said South Kingstown requires summer reading of elementary, middle and high school students.

Journal photo / John Freidah

Brandon Smith, 12, of South Kingstown, is reading Touching My Father's Soul, by Jamling Tenzing Norgay, after having read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince earlier this summer. He is following the summer reading program at Curtis Corner Middle School.

"Kids lose skills over the summer and this is an important way for them to retain those skills," Noble said. "Also, state standards require that all students read 25 books a year. So if we require them to read four over the summer and about four each quarter, that just about does it."

Many schools in Rhode Island require summer reading. Some request one-page book reviews or test students on their summer reading during the first weeks of September.

Thompson Middle School in Newport requires its students to read two books over the summer and matches its suggested book list with topics students will study in the coming year, said Tina Brownell, a literacy coach.

Bristol-Warren offers a suggested reading list for Kickemuit Middle School students and purchases extra copies of the books for the public libraries in the two towns. Students are expected to read at least two books over the summer and are tested on the material during the first month of school, according to fliers provided by the school district.

NOT ALL SCHOOLS require summer reading, however.

Fort Barton Elementary School in Tiverton does not have its own summer reading program; instead the school encourages its students to participate in the statewide summer reading program for 4- to 12-year-olds offered at public libraries, said Principal Suzette Wardell. This year's theme, Reading Up a Storm, focuses on hurricanes, tornadoes and thunderstorms.

Libraries set up special weather displays to promote the program and host performers and storytellers, who travel around the state, entertaining younger readers and their families.

"I think the programs are popular because parents want to introduce their children to reading early, and want to show them it can be fun and entertaining," said Gina Sollitto, children's librarian at Mayor Salvatore Mancini Union Free Library in North Providence. Between 40 and 100 young children between the ages of 4 and 7 and their parents come to the weekly performances, Sollitto said. This year's most popular book is Night of the Twisters, by Ivy Ruckman, which recounts "a night of freakish tornadoes" in the Midwest from the perspective of a 12-year-old, Sollitto said, and is a favorite among middle school students.

Cranston abandoned its universal summer reading program for high school students about 10 or 12 years ago, and opted instead to require only honors and advanced-placement students to read books over the summer, said Sandra Storti, chairwoman of the English department at Cranston High School West.

"Parents complained they didn't want their kids reading over the summer because they had so many other activities," Storti said. Times have changed. Now, she says, she often receives calls from parents requesting a summer reading list for their children.

Elaine Desjardins, who now supervises Cranston's English programs K-12, recalls polling her college-prep students a decade ago, just before the district suspended the program. She found none had complied with the requirement to read one book off the suggested reading list.

"I remember asking 'why not?,' and they said 'we don't like to read,' or 'we want to go to the beach,' " Desjardins said. "For me, reading is a delight and I would hope they would find something that captures their imagination."

THIS YEAR, incoming freshman honors students at Cranston West must read the bestseller The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, a coming-of-age story set in Georgia against the civil-rights era of the 1960s.

Freshmen are also expected to select another book from a list of six titles, and compare that work with The Secret Life of Bees. During the first week of classes, students will be given an essay test on the books and notes they took on the books are graded.

Entering sophomores must read The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck; advanced-placement juniors must read A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, and seniors must read Shakespeare's Othello.

All grades are tested on the material through essays and other assessments. Storti said about 180 students participate in the honors and advanced-placement programs at Cranston West.

"The books become the starting point of the year's class," Storti said. "We do like to challenge them throughout the summer, and the summer reading helps us get a jump-start on the year's curriculum."

In addition, requiring a class to read the same book over the summer creates a shared experience that can unite the group and help kick off discussion during the first days of a new school year, which is particularly valuable for freshmen, Storti said.

The state Department of Education disagrees that summer reading programs cannot be required.

Sharon Osborne, special assistant to Education Commissioner Peter McWalters, said that each district can choose to require one.

"It's completely up to the districts," Osborne said. "If you come right down to it, a school district can't force students to do school work over the school year either, but that's certainly the expectation."

Staff writer Jennifer D. Jordan can be reached at: jjordan [at] projo.com

***

Share your stories about summer reading assignments -- yours or your children's, good or bad, at:

http://projo.com/summerreading