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The Chosen by Chaim Potok.

http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Chaim-Potok/dp/0449213447

I generally agree that voluntary reading is better for the reader than assigned reading. And yet I must give my tenth grade English teacher in Wisconsin credit for assigning me to read The Chosen by Chaim Potok,

http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Chaim-Potok/dp/0449213447

a wonderful book that acquainted me with the author, whose subsequent books are also well worth reading.

I think it is a replicated result among students of gifted students that they GAIN ground intellectually during the summer school vacation, because they pursue their own intellectual interests by independent reading and aren't slowed down by the school curriculum. At least, that was my experience in childhood.

A really good book for a teenager would be The Chosen by Chaim Potok,

http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Chaim-Potok/dp/0449213447/

which I think I read at age fourteen. It's an excellent story about two very bright boys growing up in Brooklyn during World War II.

⬐ decode

"I think it is a replicated result among students of gifted students that they GAIN ground intellectually during the summer school vacation"

The way you phrase that makes it sound like there are studies that show this. Do you know of any, or are you just saying that was true for you and others you know?

⬐ tokenadult

That means I don't have the citations at hand, but I recall reading that gifted students in general gain knowledge (as shown by curriculum-based achievement tests) during the summer, regardless of whether they are in programmed activities or reading on their own.

⬐ andreyf

I think it is a replicated result among students of gifted students that they GAIN ground intellectually during the summer school vacation, because they pursue their own intellectual interests by independent reading and aren't slowed down by the school curriculum.

Malcom Gladwell cites something similar in his book, Outliers - a study which showed that economically advantaged (high SES) kids progress in reading/math skills over the summer, while low SES students either stay within similar scores or score worse on reading/math tests over the summers. And by "something similar", I suppose I mean "the exact opposite" - kids whose parents engaged them in academic activities over the summer gained intellectually, while those left to "pursue their interests without a curriculum" fell behind.

This is actually a very old tradition.

One notable example in popular culture is in Chaim Potok's novel "The Chosen"

http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Chaim-Potok/dp/0449213447/ref=p...

From a review here:

http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1...

"At Reb Saunders’s synagogue, he experiences Hasidism in practice, especially the practice whereby the Reb makes an intentional mistake in his sermon every week and challenges Danny to identify the mistake and elucidate it from the Talmud and commentaries."