It’s almost difficult to believe that we recently ended a naturally hectic 2010-2011 school year here at Hewitt. Students, and probably teachers too, were eager for the clock to announce the first minute of a well-deserved summer vacation. However, no Hewitt student’s summer would be complete without a healthy dose of summer reading
This past summer, members of the Upper School were asked to read a myriad of books for more than just their English classes. Some of these books were even interdisciplinary, such as Karen Maitland’s black plague mystery Company of Liars, which presented a black plague induced, page turning reinterpretation of Chaucer’s classic The Canterbury Tales, according to a Booklist review on Amazon.com. Ninth Graders had a riveting introduction to their study of British and European literature in Dr. Sabol’s class.
The book that all rising juniors and seniors study were assigned to read, One With Others by C.D. Wright, poses the interesting dilemma of a white woman ostracized from her family because of her participation in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The juniors and seniors also were asked to read materials woven around the themes of their English electives – for example, the Literary Monsters class had to read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Doris Lessing’s The Fifth Child about a couple cursed with the birth of their monstrous fifth son.
But after such a busy school year, why should Hewitt assign summer reading? According to the New York State Library, students can lose up to a month’s worth of schooling after a fun-filled summer break. Surely it would be much more difficult to re-learn skills for subjects in which material builds upon material, such as math or foreign language, than to sacrifice a little bit of time each day during the summer to finish the reading. Reading helps keep both the mind and memory sharp and in turn helps both students and teachers have a productive start to the school year.
Reading sometimes also speaks to our own current situations through hypothetical circumstances. Janae Barrett ’13 became “very paranoid” as she was reading The Fifth Child because her sister is pregnant. Personally, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde gave me a new perspective on the duality of man; the novel caused me to think about the aspects of the good doctor Jekyll and the unscrupulous Mr. Hyde that exist within me.
Although summer vacation is officially over, most Hewitt English classes will continue to work with the assigned readings up until the end of September. As we progress through the school year, we will be required to read even more novels and materials. Certainly, the summer reading provides an excellent way to hit the (school)ground running.