What is on your Summer Reading List?

“What did you read this summer?” is a question often heard after school starts each year in early September. Teachers might ask students to answer the question and reveal why they chose the book they read. But, what do teachers read every summer when they have more time? And most importantly, why?

Over the summer, English teachers read novels, essays, graphic novels, magazines, newspapers, and a plethora of other genres. Texts that were read during the summer even became new additions to coursework for students in the fall. 

Summer exploration of books often leads to new findings for a class. “I read a variety of books — some are titles that I will be teaching for the first time, like ‘Sigh,’ ‘Gone,’ by Phuc Tran, and ‘Tomboy,’ a graphic novel by Liz Prince,” Upper School English Teacher Theresa Collins said.  

Collins is not the only English teacher who discovered new titles to put on the class syllabi. “I started reading some plays to shake up the Genres course a little bit, so I read ‘Sweat’ by Lynn Nottage which we are going to be adding to the curriculum,” Upper School English Teacher Cory Zeller said. “It was fun to read some more modern plays, and specifically ‘Sweat,’ which Lynn Nottage wrote to explore how Trump won the last election. It was particularly interesting reading that as we are now in another election season — just to think about the factors involved.” 

Upper School English Teacher Mike Mahany also added books to his curriculum. “And I read a book that I ended up using, that I am going to use for my American literature class called ‘Good Talk’ by a woman named Mira Jacob,” Mahany said. 

“I read a couple of books to prep for my classes,” Upper School English Teacher Matt Laufer said. “Shapes of Native Nonfiction” is one of the books he read to prepare for his classes.   

“It’s a collection of essays, personal essays and other kinds by native writers and they were picked because they’re interesting in their shape, their forms, kind of creative or experimental,” Laufer said. “Shapes of Native Nonfiction” was his favorite. “Combination of really important, yeah, sort of cultural, social justice development for me as a teacher and a person, and then just beautiful writing, really weird, interesting, experimental creative essays,” Laufer said, “I read two books that are by Native writers and that is partly I think to kind of fix some blindspots of mine. You know, I just don’t know a lot of Native writers.” 

Besides finding new books for their classes, both Collins and Zeller take advantage of the summer for reading texts they might not normally read during the school year due to time constraints. 

“I love reading magazines like ‘The Atlantic’ or ‘The New Yorker,’ which I don’t tend to have time for during the school year,” Collins said.

Like Collins, Zeller enjoys what summer provides in terms of time to read. “Summer for me is a time to read for pleasure, and I really enjoy having a text that I’m always reading,” Zeller said. 

Zeller also took time to read a book with her son. “I read ‘Stamped’ by Jason Reynolds. My son and I read it together. Ibram X. Kendi wrote the original text. I was really curious to see how Jason Reynolds had adapted it for a younger audience,” Zeller said.

Summer is also a time to explore in different genres. “I read some science fiction, I read a great, one of my favorite science fiction books I ever read, called ‘A Memory Called Empire’ which I loved,” Mahany said.

Some English teachers engaged in book clubs or reading groups this summer as well. “There was an abolitionist study group that was offered that I partook in, and so we were reading articles about abolition and so for instance, Angela Davis’s book, ‘Are Prisons Obsolete,’ is one example of non-fiction that I read,” Upper School English Teacher Alicia Abood said.

Abood was not the only English Teacher in a book club. Mahany was in a book club with Middle School English Teacher David Fuder. “We read ‘Home Going’ by a woman named Yaa Gyasi which I really liked. And we read a book called ‘A Burning’ which I also liked,” Mahany said. 

In light of unfolding events on the topic of race relations, teachers read a variety of books regarding the topic. 

“I read a number of books that I would categorize as books about anti-racism, trying to, you know, educate myself more and learn while I had the time to do some reading,” Laufer said. Some of the books Laufer read included, “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo, and “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi. 

Abood also read non-fiction that discussed various topics as well. “There are some other titles of books that I did read online that were about kind of like intersectionality and police violence with like women specifically,” Abood said. 

Book recommendations are also a central aspect in summer reading, either giving them out or receiving them. “Sometimes a parent will reach out when it’s near a holiday or a birthday and ask what I would recommended as a good text to give as a gift,” Zeller said, “And up until last year, I used to have my students do a summer reading, and I had them think about a text that they would want to read or recommend to others.” 

Zeller explained that with COVID-19 it would have been more difficult to continue with her summer reading tradition. “And with COVID-19, I just did not feel like the circumstances allowed it to be as easy of a process, but in the past it’s been a really amazing way to think about holding us all accountable to at least reading one text over the summer,” Zeller said. 

Other English teachers suggest that before breaks/vacations and summer they tend to give more book recommendations. 

Collins discussed how she loves getting book recommendations from friends. Mahany explained that he visits bookstores often letting him be able to be on top of new books that come out. Zeller explained how she liked the personnel connection that book recommendations provide. 

Whether reading for a book club, a study group, or simply picking out a book that was previously recommended, summer reading can look different from reading during the school year. 

“We’re all in our bubbles you know, and recommendations can help get you out of your bubble, and discover a new voice, a new point of view, a new writer,” Laufer said. “When you recommend a book or somebody recommends to you, you’re kind of knitting people together, and there’s kind of a social element that’s really lovely and fun and supportive. And then you kind of speak the secret language of the person.”