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Secondary education

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Original poster

Anyone else's child got a summer reading list? [grin]

30 replies

seeker · 05/07/2012 22:20

dd has a list of books she has to read over the summer before starting A level English. Given that she is an incredibly down to earth and practical person, who thinks Juliet was a twit, Marianne was incredibly annoying and who couldn't even finish Jane Eyre because "I just want to slap them all", how do you think she's going to get on with Mrs Dalloway, The Great Gatsby, The Picture of Dorian Grey, Emily Dickinson and Yeats? I think she'll be OK with The Turn of the Screw and Frankenstein.....

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bruffin · 05/07/2012 22:43

DS has loads of maths to do and history to read. As he is not even sure what 6th form he is going to yet or even if he is taking history, he could end up with twice the homework for the summer. He has another induction day next week

didofido · 06/07/2012 07:34

My DD would know exactly where she was coming from! Hero (from Much Ado) and Tess (of the Durbervilles) both 'needed a good slap', 'too wet for words'. She loved Chaucer and Atonement, but the suffering ladies between the 14th and 21st centuries got no sympathy. Perhaps we should be pleased when our daughters don't see themselves as victims?

CecilyP · 06/07/2012 09:28

Dorian Gray is a very quick read that she should have no problem with and the poetry should be OK. A senior librarian, probably the most avid reader that I have ever met, started Mrs Dalloway as a result of reading 'the Hours' in book group and just could not get into it at all.

mummytime · 06/07/2012 09:53

She should read them, and if she's still annoyed she needs to grow up. Sorry but Jane Austin is not being serious most of the time, and if she can't see that there is more to literature than the surface story she may struggle with English Lit.
Get her to read some literary criticism alongside and see if she can see more in the books than a surface reading. Try to get her to empathise. Maybe read "The Feminine Mystique" along with Mrs Dalloway? Some American History of the 20s with "The Great Gatsby" (and at least use a map, it does help to have a picture of the area in your head).

luckylavender · 06/07/2012 10:22

Jane Austen

BackforGood · 06/07/2012 10:30

I wish.
ds actually went and asked the teacher taking his A-Level Eng Lit, (he likes reading, doesn't see it as homework Wink) and was told that there isn't a reading list and not to worry - they will be looking at some poetry in the Autumn and then move on to some books in the Spring!!!! Shock

e-mails will be being exchanged!

Original poster
seeker · 06/07/2012 11:02

"She should read them, and if she's still annoyed she needs to grow up. Sorry but Jane Austin is not being serious most of the time, and if she can't see that there is more to literature than the surface story she may struggle with English Lit."

Thank you. Next time I need some advice, either on English literature or on parenting I'll know where to come...............

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mummytime · 06/07/2012 11:08

Oh Seeker I didn't spot it was you. I should have known.

Anyway, if you study English Lit you have to read books you don't like/enjoy/see the point of.

Original poster
seeker · 06/07/2012 11:21

"Oh Seeker I didn't spot it was you. I should have known. Why?

Anyway, if you study English Lit you have to read books you don't like/enjoy/see the point of. Obviously

OP posts:
boschy · 06/07/2012 11:59

Well I did Alevel Eng Lit back in the day and got an A. and I totally agree with Seeker's DD, Jane Austen is highly over-rated IMO, irritating beyond words and not remotely funny.
Yeats though is fantastic! Good luck to her.

Themumsnot · 06/07/2012 12:02

I have to say that, speaking as an English teacher, I would far rather teach a pupil like Seeker's DD who has an opinion on what she reads than one who is reverential and uncritical and comes to the subject predisposed to regurgitate received opinion.

Original poster
seeker · 06/07/2012 12:03

Oh, she loves Jane Austen- it's just Marianne she can't stand. Oh, and Fanny. And Catherine.

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Original poster
seeker · 06/07/2012 12:04

And she wasn't keen on Emma, either. Or Harriet......

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outtolunchagain · 06/07/2012 12:45

My ds has just done A level English and is v opinionatedWink.

How about Persuasion for a bit of Jane Austen ,a sensible heroine for once.Ds ( and I 30 years ago !) did Frankenstein ,the trick is to read it in one go , a lot of inconsistencies ,try contrasting it with something like Angela Carter and also she might enjoy a biography of Mary Shelly / her mother Mary Wolstencroft for some early feminism

outtolunchagain · 06/07/2012 12:53

Oh and just for the record I love Jane Austen but want to slap Jane and Mr Bingley,but then of course so did JA and as for Catherine in Northanger Abbey well the least said the better

BackforGood · 06/07/2012 12:53

That's good that Eng Lit A-level teacher like opinionated students - ds has chosen all his subjects based on whether he can have a good argument discussion in them or not Wink

Themumsnot · 06/07/2012 16:04

Seeker - how does she feel about Anne Elliot?

Themumsnot · 06/07/2012 16:06

BackforGood - that's great. Nothing drives me crazy quicker than a class with 'baby bird syndrome' who sit there with the little beaks open expecting to be fed what they need to pass the exam.

pointythings · 06/07/2012 19:51

I'd like to see set books replaced with a long, long list of books and poetry from which A-level students should read a selection (so many books of poetry, so many books from whatever century, so many plays).

I realise that this would make it more difficult for the teachers to assess, but it would be so much more helpful in engaging young people with literature instead of turning them off.

I went through the Dutch system and the Dutch language A-level equivalent was set up very much in this way. And if you found a book you thought would be interesting but wasn't on the list, it could be negotiated with the individual teacher in collaboration with the department.

Mine had two books my Dutch teacher hadn't read - he was pleased to have his horizons broadened, bless him.

Original poster
seeker · 06/07/2012 20:04

Fascinated by my earlier "insult and run" poster!

These aren't set books dd's reading, pointy things, they are just books they a expected to read!

I haven't asked her about Anne Elliot- I will next time I see her. She's really enjoying Mrs Dalloway- rather to my surprise. And Antigone, which she is reading at the same time. Bizarre combination I would have said!

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pointythings · 06/07/2012 20:19

I haven't read Mrs Dalloway - obviously did A-level English as a foreign language. I did do Jean Anouilh's Antigone for French, also Le Cid and Phedre, so that we could have a lovely discussion (in French) about classical theatre and how it manifested in the 20th century. I found that having a theme or a focus to my reading really helped - I'd pick something I was interested in and then build my reading list around it. For French I also did Madame Bovary, so we had a lot of discussion around feminism and female characters in literature as well.

I don't think there is a lot to slap in Yeats, to be honest, but then I love poetry.

BrigitBigKnickers · 06/07/2012 20:33

DD has this problem- she has applied to two different VIth forms where they have set work for all four subjects which will be tested on the first two weeks and used as an assessment giving teachers an idea where they are ability wise.

She has no idea which school she will go to so has to do both sets of work.
We are away for 5 weeks in the summer so she needs to get it done now.

And she thought school work was over for 2 months!

glaurung · 06/07/2012 22:52

dd hasn't been given any (science subjects though, not arts). I almost wish she had as September is a long way off and she is prone to forgetting things, but then again the break is nice too.

Original poster
seeker · 07/07/2012 00:49

Dd has loads of physics as wel!

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Kez100 · 07/07/2012 04:02

I used to simply enjoy or dislike books. I thought that was why I was awful at Lit. They used to say to me that not liking was OK but I needed to think about the book in terms of the author, their social standing, life at the time, we're they trying to say something about that era or their experiences .... I hated History, so didn't really stand a chance. (lucky I could do Maths). Put up against that, If it's still the same, I think she'll need to read them (however irritating) but think around it and critisise it in more detail! .......or start to sympathise, depending on what she discovers.