Ah, June! School is out, and it’s my time to read!
These were my sentiments every year when I was teaching full-time. I couldn’t wait to begin the summer with a good book.
As an English teacher I spent most of the school year reading and studying books that I used in my classroom. Every year I re-read and studied the books on my syllabus, and I honestly found something new in each text with every re-read. However, I wasn’t reading for my own enjoyment. That pleasure had to wait until school was out.
Once my summer began (usually around Memorial Day), I started on the latest Danielle Steel or John Grisham or Mary Higgins Clark book. No offense to these authors, but to me the plots were uncomplicated and exactly what this tired English teacher needed to give her a respite from the school year.
“There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away.”—Emily Dickinson
I wasn’t always a reader. My older sister, who was smarter and a much faster reader than I, devoured books. While she sped through the classics and books like Ben Hur and Exodus, I spent a year struggling to finish The Bobbsey Twins in the Country.
I didn’t like books that took five pages to describe a tree. I wanted quotation marks. I wanted the dialogue to engage me.
My mother probably recognized my plight and spent quality time reading aloud to me. She didn’t push me to read the books my sister read, but she encouraged me to find my niche. She modeled good reading behavior. She took us to the library. Once a month she received a copy of the Reader’s Digest Condensed Books in the mail. Through these books I learned to appreciate Mary Higgins Clark, Victoria Holt, and Arthur Hailey.
(I think those condensed books only took two pages to describe a tree.)
As I reflected on my reading past, I researched the SRA (Science Research Associates) Reading Laboratory I remembered from my childhood. Google led to me an interesting clarification:
“A supplement to regular reading instruction delivered to elementary school children with Intellectual Disability to develop reading and writing skills that should enable greater academic achievement later in school.”
Hmm. I didn’t realize I had an “Intellectual Disability” at the time, but I’m glad I was somehow able to improve my reading and writing skills enough to achieve my college degree in English.
Nonetheless, with my mother’s encouragement, the SRA program at Gateway Elementary, and some wonderful teachers along the way, I grew to love reading. While I still struggle through the works of writers like Dickens and Dostoevsky, I marvel at the insight of these authors and their ability to inspire others with their words.
As an adult I have often challenged myself with tomes like Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett or The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, but I honestly prefer writers like Jan Karon, Nicholas Sparks, Charles Martin, James Patterson, and Lisa Patton.
After teaching the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, I sought out books about the Holocaust and World War II. Historical fiction is now one of my favorite genres, and I appreciate writers like Kristin Hannah, Kristy Cambron, Marie Benedict, Anthony Doer, Kate Quinn, and Lisa Wingate. Being semi-retired now gives me the time to read books of my own interest as well as book club selections, Bible studies, and children’s books.
While attending an NCTE conference in Nashville, I met the famed author James Patterson. I had never read any of his books before the conference. When a fellow teacher asked him for suggestions on how to get her students more interested in reading, he encouraged her to try his Maximum Ride series. Specifically designed with short chapters, these books indeed leave the reader hanging at the end of every chapter. He suggested that teachers challenge students to read just a few chapters, and then they would find themselves wanting to read more.
Patterson was right. I had great success with getting my reluctant readers to finish the Maximum Ride series. I also loved those books. I would not normally have been interested in characters implanted with avian DNA, but those short chapters had me hooked!
I also appreciated Patterson’s good vs. evil theme. In high school many of my friends were reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I wasn’t interested in short creatures with hairy toes, and I didn’t want to read about dragons or elves. However, in my early teaching years I quickly discovered that many of my students (especially the boys) did enjoy Tolkien’s works. As a result, I read and studied The Hobbit, included it in my syllabus, and enjoyed teaching its universal truths. Today I have much appreciation for Tolkien and his friend C. S. Lewis.
Attending Christian writers’ conferences over the years has also exposed me to a world of authors I would never have otherwise known about. In most recent years I have flocked to writers like Cynthia Ruchti, Cindy Sproles, Rachel Hauck, Tamera Alexander, Susan May Warren, Ann Gabhart, Patti Callahan Henry, Susan Page Davis, Liz Curtis Higgs, DiAnn Mills, Johnnie Alexander, and Patricia Bradley. Their works have led me to discover Sean Dietrich, Susan Meissner, Daphne Simpkins, Valerie Fraser Luesse, and too many others to name.
For many years the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville and the Southern Kentucky Bookfest in Bowling Green have enlightened me with a world of different tastes in literature. Through these venues I have discovered writers like Pat Conroy, Rick Bragg, Susan Gregg Gilmore, Mo Willems, River Jordan, Clyde Edgerton, Lee Smith, Sharyn McCrumb, Kathryn Stockett, Henry Winkler, Mary Elizabeth McDonough, and Mitch Albom.
(I will never finish this blog if I don’t stop listing authors, but you can follow me on Goodreads for more suggestions.)
What rewards can you reap from reading?
As Emily Dickinson believed, books can take you to places you’ve never been. They can transport you to other worlds in the past, the present, and the future.
You can increase your vocabulary and finish those crossword puzzles in record time. Knowing about the latest bestseller might help you start a conversation. If you’re a student, reading can help increase your ACT and SAT scores.
Whether you prefer fiction or non-fiction, eBooks or audiobooks, paperbacks or hardcovers, beach reads or biographies, reading can help you grow in knowledge and provide you with some lifetime friendships.
If you haven’t been in the habit of reading, consider trying again. Your interests or your circumstances may have changed, and you may be delighted to find a new favorite author.
Case in point: Over twenty years ago a librarian friend in Memphis suggested I read At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon. I was busy with a summer job and working on a new curriculum for school. I tried to read Jan Karon’s book, but I couldn’t get into it. There were too many characters and too many plots to follow. I put the book aside and tried again the next summer. At Home in Mitford and Jan Karon’s works are now my all-time favorite books.
According to Proverbs 4:13, “Do yourself a favor and learn all you can; then remember what you learn and you will prosper.”
See if there’s a Pizza Hut summer reading program in your area. Create a family challenge. Use bribery. The payoff doesn’t have to be money, but there will be an even bigger payoff in the long run.
Check into any special summer reading programs sponsored by your local library. Browse through Barnes & Noble’s summer reading program website. Download and print this “Happy Reading” bookmark.
Just read. Read to your kids. Read with your kids. Let your kids read to you. Study the Bible. As I said last month, let it speak to you. Find joy in the journey of reading.
Book Kids offers the following suggestions to help your child fall in love with reading:
“So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.”—Roald Dahl
“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”—Maya Angelou
“’Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.’ As long as you have the books, you’ll always have that light.”—from The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson (internal quote by Rabindranath Tagore)
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”—Dr. Seuss
“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.”—1 Timothy 4:13
2 Timothy 2:15; Proverbs 16:16; Ecclesiastes 7:12; Colossians 3:23; Proverbs 19:8
