{"id":3600,"date":"2017-06-20T23:05:44","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T03:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/?p=3600"},"modified":"2018-03-28T19:47:16","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T23:47:16","slug":"summer-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/summer-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

June \u2014 the seniors have graduated, the underclassmen have finished assessments (which are what we at kinder-gentler Williston used to call “exams”), and a lazy green quiet has settled onto the campus.\u00a0 Our parting shot to our returning students: “Goodbye, and don’t forget your summer reading!”<\/em>\u00a0 It has been so for nearly a century.<\/p>\n

I have a confession.\u00a0 Back in the summer of 1966, prior to my entering Williston Academy’s 9th grade, I was handed a list of perhaps half a dozen books.\u00a0 Now, I loved to read, almost at the expense of any other summer activity.\u00a0 And there was good material on the list, most especially Walter Edmonds’ Drums Along the Mohawk,<\/em> which was an exciting story, although in retrospect, I don’t recall its subsequent mention even once in David Stevens’ English 9.\u00a0 But also on the list: Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.<\/em>\u00a0 Now imagine yourself in 1966, as a 13-year-old boy who has recently discovered the works of Ian Fleming and is anxious to get back to them (albeit under the covers with a flashlight), but is faced with endless pages of prose about living in the woods and planting beans.\u00a0 I tried.\u00a0 I really did.\u00a0 But I couldn’t do it.\u00a0 And in the ensuing 51 years, I’ve tried several more times but, apparently scarred by my adolescent experience, I still find Walden <\/em>barely readable.\u00a0 I think of Thoreau as the guy who put the “trance” in “transcendentalism.”<\/p>\n

A summer reading requirement at Williston appears to date from the 1920s.\u00a0 No syllabi have surfaced from that early date.\u00a0 However, we have a list from 1941, which is worth reproducing in its entirety.\u00a0\u00a0 (Please click images to enlarge).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Once one gets past the still-valid point about a “foundation for effective expression,” as well as whiff of testosterone, one notes that the requirement \u2013 a minimum of three books \u2013 isn’t especially onerous, despite a suggestion (“hearty cooperation”) that one attempt “as many as possible.”\u00a0 Where something doesn’t appeal, students are encouraged to move on.\u00a0 And nowhere is there even a hint of a test or paper in the fall.\"\"<\/a>It is interesting to note what is, and isn’t, here.\u00a0 So many of these authors have fallen utterly out of fashion, never mind out of the canon, that some names are unrecognizable even to a pre-elderly librarian.\u00a0\u00a0 And with few exceptions, almost everything is by American or English authors, the overwhelming majority of them male, and only one identifiable as an author of color.\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>A 1953 list from Northampton School for Girls shows considerably more breadth.\u00a0 It also ups the ante with a September test.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
(Donated to the Archives by Harriet Donais Tatro ’57)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Northampton School pamphlet runs to 18 pages, more than we can reproduce here.\u00a0 Recommendations are coded by grade level: 1 for grade 9, 2 for 10, etc.\u00a0 It should be no surprise that there is a greater proportion of women authors.\u00a0 But there is also more of a focus on serious literature, especially for the upper grades.\u00a0 (Again, please click the images to enlarge.<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There are also many pages of serious nonfiction titles, including substantial biography and autobiography.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Principal Sarah B. Whitaker taught Bible.\u00a0 The presence of several novels in that section,\u00a0 particularly the works of the Polish-Yiddish writer Sholom Asch, are a bit of a surprise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Progressive “muckraker” journalists such as Ida M. Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens also suggest a far less “plain vanilla” approach than at Williston.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Northampton School list also includes a substantial section of non-English material.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In 1958, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Paquin Cantarella established an eleven-year reign over Northampton School’s senior English program.\u00a0 Writing that she was the most demanding teacher in the history of either Northampton or Williston is simply an understatement.\u00a0 Mrs. Cantarella took no prisoners \u2013 and to this day, her former students love her for it.\u00a0 Here is her English IV summer reading list from 1959,\u00a0 It begins with 18<\/em> required books, before suggesting a few dozen more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
(Donated by Edith Nelson Milbury, class of 1960)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For more about and by one of Northampton School’s legendary giants, please read H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Cantarella \u2013 \u201cNoblesse Oblige.\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>With the merging of the two schools in 1971 came a curricular emphasis on electives, which was reflected in the summer reading requirements.\u00a0 But there is also a sense, particularly in the English syllabus, that we had started to catch up with the 20th century.\u00a0 And the list certainly reflects the decade, with J.R.R. Tolkien and E. B. White having supplanted some of the favorites of earlier generations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And what are Williston students reading this summer?\u00a0 Here are our Summer Reading Requirements for 2017!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A final note, or request: the Archives don’t have enough of these lists \u2013 none at all, for example, from Williston Academy in the 1960s.\u00a0 If by any chance you’ve hung on to copies (or to academic or other documents of any kind), they would be welcome additions to our collection.\u00a0 If you have memorabilia you’d like to share, please let us know: archives@williston.com<\/a>\u00a0 Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June \u2014 the seniors have graduated, the underclassmen have finished assessments (which are what we at kinder-gentler Williston used to call “exams”), and a lazy green quiet has settled onto the campus.\u00a0 Our parting shot to our returning students: “Goodbye, and don’t forget your summer reading!”\u00a0 It has been so for nearly a century. I … Continue reading Summer Reading<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[44,9,347,476,12,43],"tags":[82,437,438,18,435,436],"class_list":["post-3600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academic-history","category-northampton-school-for-girls","category-opinions-rants","category-publications","category-williston-academy","category-williston-northampton-school","tag-helene-cantarella","tag-literary-canon","tag-literary-fashions","tag-sarah-b-whitaker","tag-summer-reading","tag-walden"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3600"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3654,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3600\/revisions\/3654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}