Country Fair 2023: Summer Reading

By Henrik Pang ’25

Article from the Country Fair 2023 Hearth Issue

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness

Over the summer, Eaglebrook gave us books to read during our free time. These books range from comics and fiction-based stories to even books on constructing things. Every grade has a required book. These books include “Brian’s Winter” by Gary Paulsen, “Touching Spirit Bear” by Ben Mikaelsen, “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness, and “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon. These books correspond with grades six, seven, eight, and nine respectively in order. Over the first couple of weeks, these books will be used in class for projects, activities, and much more. Lastly, students would be required to read another book from the list that they can choose themselves.

Because I am in the eighth grade now, I read “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness. This book is about a boy named Conor who lives in England. Throughout his life, Conor had experienced many unpleasant things that made him desolate. For example, his father had left him and went to the United States.

Another meaningful tragedy was his mother’s battle against cancer. This is significant to Conor as he loves his mother a ton. While all this misfortune continues, every night at 12:07, a yew tree comes to life and becomes a monster, and then visits Conor. This monster is not a typical evil being that obliterates everything in its path. Instead, it reads Conor its stories, which contain a purpose for Conor to accept his mother’s death. Every day, Conor refuses to believe the monster and continues to tell himself that her mother will survive. All his hopes for her mother to leave ended when none of the medicines and remedies failed except one. That one medicine was the yew tree medicine. This medicine was always known to be the last resort to cure people because it was poisonous sometimes. Finally, the story ended with Conor’s mother dying and Conor finally accepting her death.

The biggest reason that schools give out summer reading is because they want students to be engaged and keep an academic mindset over the summer holidays. They also want their pupils to develop skills that prepare them for the upcoming school year. Lastly, they want their students to have an enjoyable time reading.