Review of Summer Reading Challenge

 Summer Reading Challenge 2024

A year ago, I spent some time writing on this blog about how the public library's summer reading program was not all that I had hoped it would be. And then I decided to do something about it. What if I were to make my own summer reading challenge? So I did. 

The result was that about 10 guests gathered at our house for an end-of-summer celebration of participating in the reading challenge, complete with smoked hot dogs and burgers, prizes, and good discussion.

So, now that we've completed the challenge, it would probably be appropriate to review how it went.

Party Review

I have to say, I think the party was great. We picked a weekend date a few days after the feast of the Assumption, and my man smoked hot dogs and hamburgers - people brought sides and desserts. There were more desserts brought than sides, but there was enough for all to enjoy!

It was pretty hot outside where we ate, and very buggy - I forgot how pesky those summer flies can be when they sense food around. We spent most of the party outside, talking through tier after tier, and then went in after it cooled off. So, that was a little backwards, but it all worked out fine.

Talking through the tiers went longer than I anticipated - if we'd been able to stick with one activity per person per tier, I think that could have helped speed things up. However, even with most of us talking a little about every activity we did in the tier, I enjoyed hearing what people had to say. My favorite part of discussion was when a few folks shared their creative efforts - we had two poems and two essays that people composed. They were hilarious or heartfelt, depending on the author and the direction they went with it.

We did have prizes - I invested in some gift certificates to a local bookstore: $10, $15, $15, and $30, I think it was - or something like that. We gave out tickets to participants for every tier they completed, and all those tickets went into one drawing for the three lower certificates. The $30 prize was exclusive to those who completed all the tiers, and that was a separate drawing.

Activities Review

I sent out a Google Forms survey to get feedback on the specific activities, because this is something I'd really like to do again. I also asked for ideas for activities to try in the future. Six people total responded (including myself). My thoughts on the survey feedback follow.

The Best Activities

The activities that received the most positive responses were: 

Set a goal

Reflect on 5 books that have influenced you

Read a book you've been meaning to read (100% approval rate)

Watch a movie based on a book

Be part of a 15 minute book discussion (100% approval rate)

Reread a book (although my husband said he didn't love this one as much)

Read an auto/biography or life of a saint

Alternative activity: Write a 5-paragraph essay about the true hero of LOTR (although one person indicated dislike)

These are activities that I will try to make sure are included in next summer's challenge. I will probably change the "reflect on 5 books" goal because it would be an unnecessary repetition. My husband liked tweaking it to this idea: if you were to write a book, what would it be about? Write down an outline here: [y].

I would also probably need to tweak the alternate activity a bit. Not everyone wants to write, and as this is a reading challenge, I don't necessarily want people to feel put out by doing a lot of required writing. Maybe the activity can still have a creative writing focus, but more flexibility. It could be to write a humorous (or serious) 5-paragraph essay about any book, character, plot/genre trope, etc. that interested the participant.

Honorable Mention Activities

Other activities that received a respectable rating (67% approval) follow:

Read a book of the Bible and meditate

Visit a local bookstore

Listen to an audiobook (one person indicated dislike)

Pray one hour of the Divine Office (one person indicated dislike)

Alternate activity: Create a work of art, story, poem, or craft inspired by a book you have read

I know I want to keep Bible-reading in some form in these activities. I think that I'll combine this with the poem-memorizing one that people didn't love as much. What if participants had to memorize a psalm? I think I'd keep that as a level-5 activity. The only downside is that this removes Bible-reading from the first tier. Maybe I change it so it's "spend 15 minutes reading and reflecting upon the Bible." That way, people will be able to pick a passage or book that is meaningful to them, and it may be something that they end up doing anyway. I could always do both!

Middling or Tolerable Activities

The activities had a lukewarm reception:

Check out a book from the library

Read a graphic novel or children's chapter book

Listen to a podcast about a book or author

Read a chapter book that's less than 150 pages long

Read or watch one of Shakespeare's plays

Reflect on a prayer composed by a saint

Read from a magazine or a journal

Read in a coffeeshop for 30 minutes

Read an essay

Memorize a 12-line poem

Make a recipe of food from a story

Write down 10 quotes

Alternate activity: Recommend a book to someone outside the challenge and have them read it

I think I'd remove the "check out a book from the library," "read an essay," and "read a book <150 pages". The first one doesn't really hold a lot of meaning; if people frequent libraries, they do this anyway - and if they don't, it's just an extra box to cross off. The <150 page activity sounded like people had to go and research short books that they wouldn't necessarily have read otherwise, and I don't like doing things just to do them. I'm also going to nix reading from a magazine or journal (same reason as the previous). 

I like the idea of reading a graphic novel or children's chapter book...maybe I word it more broadly to be something like, "Read a book from a genre you wouldn't usually read from." I figure that there can be enjoyable books in genres we don't frequent, but I don't want people to feel that they have to read a book they hate. Maybe it could be "try out a book from a genre that you usually wouldn't read" and make it so that they can put it down if they hate it. Yes, I think I like that better. If people give a sincere effort but really don't like it, they can stop. I can put down, "Did you finish it?" and, "If no, why not? If yes, what was something you liked about it?"

There were mixed feelings about the podcast activity, and I can't think of a good way to change it to make it better, so that one may end up going. I was surprised the Shakespeare one was actively appreciated only by half of the people who responded, and one person disliked it. I have a feeling this one may reappear, but in a different form, perhaps. I personally think it would be fun to do a read-through of a Shakespeare play, but making time to do it on a night that would work for everyone would be pretty tough. Maybe that could be an alternative activity.

I kind of liked the taking quotes activity. That might stay, but it might go. The food idea was good in theory, but it was more of a box to check. If I keep it, it would definitely have to change. The "recommend a book" one was also good in theory, but I don't remember if anyone succeeded in recommending a book to someone and having that person finish it before the end of the challenge.

Worst Activities

These weren't all completely disliked, but there was enough "dislike" responses (33%) to warrant a place in this section:

Read for 30 minutes in a library

Read a book to someone

I'm not sure why the coffeeshop was appreciated more than the library as a reading setting, but the votes are in: I won't make people read in a library next year. To be entirely honest, I can't say I loved this one myself, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. I imagine that reading a book to someone else could be pretty difficult if you live on your own and don't have the opportunity to hang out with little people. I could see this one being included next year, but I'd have to make sure there were some decent alternatives, etc.

Ideas for Next Year

I had some ideas about what could stay or change for next year, but I also received some great feedback from the survey! Ideas follow.

Instead of "listen to an audiobook," perhaps say something like "read or listen to a book in an alternative format." This could open it up to ebooks or online viewing (Project Gutenberg on the PC) as well as audiobooks. Or serialized stories in magazines. However, that last one might be difficult to even find in today's age.

Rather than "read for 30 minutes in a library" (or coffeeshop), these activities could be combined into something like, "Read in an alternative location for 30 minutes." Alternative locations could include coffeeshops or libraries, as well as the outdoors. It would have to be a place you don't usually read (home, or even adoration chapel).

Keep the "read a book you've been meaning to read," but add "finish a book you've already started." This is, again, hopefully going to be functional, and it could provide some encouragement to just sit down and getterdone if it's a book we've been working through for forever.

Read a book published before you were born; or published in the last 5 years; or read a short story; or read an ebook.

Read some poetry (maybe read poetry for 15 minutes?); attend a literary event; spot literature-themed items in a store; listen to book-inspired music (I like this one!); watch a booktuber; evaluate a book cover.

Reread a book you had to report on in grade/high school/college and ponder if you would reach the same conclusions; something that has to do with maps (maybe write a review of a map found in a book?)

One respondent said: "Perhaps a mystery would be interesting. I think it would be good to have required creative activities. One activity could even be a cooperative work among the entire group." I, too, like the idea of a required creative activity (see the essay-writing idea).

Another respondent said: "Also, it would be great to have something about historical reference material (such as an atlas or old specialty dictionary). Perhaps a challenge to identify the year of a historical map of unidentified origin; that would be great fun." Maybe it would be fun to provide a phony map (that I drew) and ask people to make up a story that would fit this map.

Could there be a way to incorporate a murder mystery or escape room activity? Maybe, as an alternate activity, people could come up with one of those. A detailed outline could count as one activity, and a full set-up could count as two.

Additional Comments

I'm including these here so I have them in one place. Here are some final comments that participants left:

"If you want help getting the PDF formatted so it could be easier to print as a booklet, let me know."

"Knowing the date well ahead of time was very helpful for me."

"I don't really want to read a dictionary. Please don't make me read a dictionary."

Group/pair activities: a lot of these activities were fun for me because I did many of them with my husband. I wonder if other people might enjoy some of these more if they made a point of doing them with someone else.