With school now adjourned, the School Committee met yesterday for the last time until mid-August to discuss the district's summer reading program.
Like last year, changes have been made in the program.
The most significant revisions take place with the two middle schools' summer reading plan, said Assistant Superintendent Jean Kenney.
A total of two books must be read by each middle-school student - one title for each grade is required while the second may be selected from a list of over 20 titles in each of the three grades.
The controversial fantasy novel "The Golden Compass" appears as a choice on the seventh-graders' list. The Philip Pullman story is said by critics to promote atheism and contain anti-Catholic themes. However, neither the School Committee nor Kenney discussed the selection last night.
After completing a book, students must fill out recommendation forms where they give the book a rating and explain why they liked it or disliked it. Along with serving as a valuable exercise, the recommendations will be collated into a notebook and placed in libraries in the fall, Kenney said.
Similarly, seventh- and eighth-graders will write poems about characters in the books they read.
The books are labeled as "on the easier side of grade level," "on grade level" and "on the challenging side of grade level."
The high school is in its second year of its revised reading program.
Teacher and students have responded positively to the changes, said Kenney.
High school students are required to read one book over the summer of their choosing from a list of 59 titles.
The list contains a wide selection - from classics like Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons"; Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot"; and Toni Morrison's "Beloved" - to more modern literature experiments like "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War" by Max Brooks.
Recent bestsellers such as "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, "Bringing Down the House" by Ben Mezrich, "Eragon" by Christopher Paolini and "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom can be found on the list.
Several of the choices on the list have recently been adapted to films.
"At Hell's Gate," the autobiography by Claude Anshin Thomas, appears on the list. Thomas spoke in Walpole in last fall.
A handful of high-profile biographies litter the list including: "Dreams From My Father" by Barack Obama, "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer, "It's Not About the Bike" by Lance Armstrong, "John Adams" by David McCullough, "The Revolution: A Manifesto" by Ron Paul and "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Albom.
Elementary school students must complete at least one book during the summer, as well. Parents are given a list of suggested authors, but students are largely unfettered in their choice of reading.
They must, however, complete an accompanying project to their book in line with their grade level.
Students will be rewarded in the fall for reading more than the required amount, said Kenney.
"The students," she said, "are encouraged to read as much and as many different genres as possible."
M
