Student Perspective: Students Tackle Summer Reading

Curling up with a good book is one of the most relaxing traditions of summer. But for Advanced Placement (AP) English students, the assigned workload is far from easy. The incoming juniors and seniors are given four books to read for the summer with accompanying assignments in order to insure maximum retention and comprehension of the material.

Since both 11th and 12th grade courses are college level, the novels assigned are far from simple. However, despite the rigor of the work, students at both levels have found a way to manage the summer assignments. 

Alexis Davis, a junior at Lakeland, said she has found the 11th grade books "surprisingly interesting."

"I read Annie Dillard's An American Childhood and found it capable of holding my attention," Davis said. "I'm halfway through Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and am actually finding it pretty good."

However, the 12th grade selections have failed to inspire Lakeland senior Matt Freifeld.

"I don't feel like reading three sob stories about…[people] struggling to survive," said Freifeld, who admitted that he was basing his assumptions upon the blurbs on the back covers.

"Frankenstein looks interesting though, " Freifeld said.

The written assignments, which involve recognizing symbols, motifs, and themes within the stories as well as plot summary and evolution, both Davis and Freifeld plan to leave them until the end of the summer.

"I'm leaving those for the very end of the summer so the topics are fresh in my mind," explained Davis, who, in addition to that, has to complete summer work for AP Biology and AP U.S History.

Freifeld said that while it's easy for him to knock out the reading while traveling to different colleges, he recognized that it would be challenging to do both the AP English projects and AP Biology work.

Balancing the assignments with other summer activities is also tough for Davis, but she said she said she gets it done.

"It takes up a lot of my time, considering the other activities I have, like theater camp and taking care of my new puppy," Davis said. "But I make it work."

Freifeld said reading is a necessary part of summer.

"We need to have culture as a people," he said.

However, Freifeld said he felt the required reading should be catered to appeal to students.

"[The teachers] should make the assigned books that kids would want to read," Freifeld said, "or else they won't get read by the majority of the students thus rendering it useless. It's that simple."

Whether or not the students approve, summer reading continues to be an integral aspect of vacation for high school students, especially those motivated enough to take AP courses. While some students learn to enjoy the process, others learn to fight through the material. Either way, the work must be done and who knows, the novel you might be dreading to read could turn into a summer surprise.

To view the required Honors and AP high school summer reading list, click here.