Books on display. (Lance H./Staff)

As Columbus Academy approaches the end of another school year, returning students are choosing books titles for Summer Reading. Fifty-four titles have been nominated by teachers and faculty. Although required by the school, summer reading is student-driven and beneficial for stopping the summer slide.

This year’s faculty-nominated summer reading list has something for everyone. Follow a disastrous mountaineering expedition to Everest with Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air; dive into a classic of philosophical fiction and self-discovery with Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha; or learn about the discovery of a high schooler’s racist social media account, its impact on a community, and how it forces us to revaluate our understanding of accountability in a digital age with Dashka Slater’s Accountable.

Ms. Popelka oversees the program and says her favorite part is coming back from break and the students telling her what they liked reading or even if they disliked their book. Student opinions help her fine-tune the next year’s list by adding more books of a popular genre. 

Faculty are passionate about their nominations and want their books to get chosen. If they have mature content, there are warnings on the summer reading website for what is in the book if students don’t want to read it. Teachers also try new and inventive ways to make summer reading assignments rather than just administer a simple pop quiz.

Ms. Popelka’s book is Cain’s Jawbone which first appeared in a 1917 newspaper. A mystery novel, the book itself is a puzzle. It’s printed out of order, so the reader must cut up the book and place it back in order. Solving this puzzle would be the assignment itself and a cool way to get students involved with the text in an unorthodox manner. 

Students must submit their top two choices in a google form and will hear back on their group assignments in mid-May. Groups will meet for an hour during the first week back to discuss what they have read.