LessonsMore Reading for Pleasure
His schoolhouse was a low building of one large room, rudely constructed of logs; the windows partly glazed, and partly patched with leaves of old copybooks.
—Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, p. 6
There are many books that you can choose to read for pleasure. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, for example, is presented in this National Geographic video. Such books can be the start of a self‐guided reading program. A self‐guided reading program is one in which you do not read just the books that your teacher asks you to read, but books that you choose simply because you think they might be fun to read. They do not need to have anything to do with your school work at all.
Here is an alphabetical list of thirty classic books you can select from to help get you started on your self‐guided reading program. (You may need to install Acrobat Reader to view them.)
Note that for self‐guided reading you are not expected to understand everything you read. You are not taking a test! Instead, you should focus more on understanding the main idea of each paragraph or section that you read. In this way, you will hopefully come to understand the important things that the author is trying to communicate to you, and not worry quite so much about the smallest details. Save worrying about the little things for your exams.
Try This!
Set a reading goal for yourself. You might decide to complete one fairly long book, or as many as two or three shorter ones in a school term. As your reading speed and comprehension improve, try to increase the number of pages you read each semester. When you finish a book, write a book report recipe to help other students decide if they should read it, too. (Acrobat Reader may be required.)