Snips & Specs and & Summer Reading

I just went back to grad school this week - I'm studying to be a high school English teacher. So this week I've been thinking about summer reading!

I was one of those obnoxious students who actually (almost) always did my summer reading, although this didn't work out so well for me in middle school. The more popular kids would always "ask" for my "help" in writing their book reports, aka... write it for them.

For real, though

As a future high school teacher, I was ruminating on the best and worst summer reading assignments from my own high school years. Here are some!

The Book of My Soul:

 Made me convinced I was going to find my true love in a field of blue flowers in Italy. Seriously, one of the most gorgeous and romantic stories I've ever read.

The "My Teacher Didn't Know How to Pronounce Any of the Characters' Names" Book: OH-diss-seuss? Pa-TRO-cuh-lus? Just... awkward.

The Book with the Whiniest Protagonist:

Holden Caulfield, you win... or lose. And do us all a favor and stop calling everyone a phony, would ya??

The Worst. Ever.

No, for real guys, my Catholic high school made us read this non-fiction book about a kid who survived a fire. And I feel really bad that that happened, and he seems like a great person. BUT this book is so badly written, it's unreadable. My brothers and I still joke about Joel being an underappreciated literary masterpiece.

Now I want to know, what are some of YOUR most memorable (for better or for worse) summer reading assignments??

-Meg