• To encourage the lifetime habit of reading as a compelling option for leisure.
  
• To create a culture where reading is cool.

On the pages linked above, you will find books that have been recommended by faculty and students from which you can choose titles, including book group sponsored by faculty members.  If you select a book group, you are committing to reading the three books in that group and then participating in a discussion with the sponsoring faculty member and other students who chose that book group, to be held during Community Period in one of the first weeks of school.  

Most books are worth 1 point; some books are worth 2. Book Groups earn you 4 points even though you read only 3 books. There is no minimum and no maximum. Earn as many points as you want because those points transfer into chances at the drawing to be held at an assembly early in the fall, when we will award  six prizes of $100 Hamilton Place Mall gift certificates (three for Middle School and three for Upper School).  

Book Fairs: Students may browse and purchase books from the recommended lists during the Book Fairs. The Middle School Book Fair will be held April 25-26, and the Upper School Book Fair will be held May 2-4. Both Book Fairs will be located in the Brock-Lazenby Room of the Dining Hall and will be open from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

Another option, however, is for a student to read any book he chooses. The goal is simply for every student to read this summer, so we welcome any title a student might select, as long as it is not already listed in his cumulative summer reading record or included in the McCallie curriculum. As always, we encourage parents to take an interest in which titles your sons select.

In the fall, each student will report the books he read by signing on to his summer reading record on the MOSIS site.  He will click on a book group or a recommended title or enter any other title he read as long as he can furnish the exact title and the ISBN number.  The ISBN number is a 10-digit number usually found on the book's back cover, spine, or inside on the title page.  Being able to supply this number is crucial to getting credit for reading a book that is not in a book group or on a recommended list.  Submissions are governed by the honor pledge and will be added to a student's cumulative summer reading record, which is also available to parents.  

McCallie's approach to summer reading is different from the programs at many other schools in that we do not seek to extend the curriculum through required titles, summer reading tests, or adjusting students' grades to reflect compliance with summer reading.   Rather, we prefer to promote summer reading as an enjoyable experience in which students read because they want to read.   After all, nine months of school provide us with ample enough opportunities to require books we think our students should read.  We don't need to do that in the summer, too.  Taking tests or writing essays on summer reading books forces students to read more for detail and plot, which can detract from their ability to immerse themselves in the world of the book without worrying about what might be on a test.   Furthermore, knowing that they will have a test on a book often encourages boys to wait until the last minute to read, so they read quickly and superficially, and that's not summer reading.  It's late August reading.

Our approach does not guarantee that every student will read.  Frankly, we doubt that any approach actually does that.  But some programs benignly encourage students to skim good books, to misrepresent the extent of their reading, and to think of summer reading as just another assignment.  We want our boys to choose to read and then to share their experiences with other members of our community.  That's why our suggested lists come from both teachers and students and why book groups are a significant option. 

Parents might wish to take advantage of this opportunity to emphasize the value of reading good books.  Boys in particular may not lean toward spending quiet time with a book.  It is up to parents, along with teachers, to reinforce the joy of reading, its intrinsic rewards, and its crucial contribution to the full life.  We should ask boys about their reading, take an interest in their opinions and reactions to what they read, and even read something that they suggest.  We are all partners in this enterprise of preserving the culture of reading for future generations.