Fighting the summer reading slide at Arendell Parrott Academy
Playground and water park slides add up to summer fun, but for students, the summer reading slide is no joke. The tendency for school-aged kids to read less—or not to read at all—during summer vacation creates a step backward in reading skills.
AP Literature students celebrate their last summer reading test of high school on John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. (Left to right) Front: Natalie Christiano, Allison Christiano, Lucas Ouano, Reagan Perry, John Grice, and Jenks Jenkins. Back: George Dismukes, Jackson Crocker, Megan Blair and Baylor Merritt.
And the problem is growing. According to the report “Kids and Family Reading” by Scholastic, “32% of kids ages 15–17 said the number of books they read over the summer was zero, up sharply since 2016 (22%).Among kids aged 9–11, the percentage who read zero books over the summer has doubled since 2016.”
Returning to school on August 19, Parrott Academy middle and high school students were expected to have completed a summer reading assignment for their new grade level. The school’s overall summer reading program includes required texts and “choice books.” Well-known classics like Of Mice and Men and Brave New World are part of the program, but so are newer works like Sue Monk Kidd’s The Invention of Wings and John Grisham’s A Painted House, and nonfiction like Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich.
New sixth grade reading teacher Melissa Warren assigned her classes the young adult novel
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen. The first week of school, her students completed an imagery project identifying various sensory descriptions in the work.
High school students face first-week-of-school tests and essays on their required books. “I like reading,” said senior Emily Angel, “but it’s difficult when you have to do it for a test.” Several of her classmates agreed, saying they waited until August to do the required book so the details would remain fresh in their memories. English teachers face stacks of reading tests, but they feel it’s worth the work if it motivates students to read.
“Parrott has always emphasized reading, and we’ve had a summer reading program since 2005,” English Department chair Melissa Lambert explained. “Many of our teachers promote books that are more current and sometimes much different than what we teach in the classroom, which can help students relate to classic literature texts.”