Having just been forced to extend my holiday by a couple of days (thanks to the Flower Battle - whatever that is) - my thoughts turned to the annual issue of keeping the holiday reading going once you get back home.
You know the feeling, you’ve paid for the flights. You’ve wrestled with SPF, exchange rates, suitcase weight limits, and the mysterious disappearance of all chargers. And somewhere between the airport WHSmith and the sun lounger, your teenager did something unexpected: they started reading a book.
Not for school. Not under duress. Just reading - willingly, even happily.
It never seems to last, it’s tempting to let that holiday reading habit fade into the background along with the tan. But here’s the thing: if your child found their way into a book over the summer, there’s a golden opportunity to keep that momentum going - and it doesn’t involve flashcards, five-year plans or a single Sunday night meltdown.
Students who read widely and often develop stronger essays, sharper arguments, and the kind of original ideas that examiners actually sit up for. You can teach and tutor only so much - that last bit of magic comes from a wide-read student. That’s one who is more confident with words, more agile with abstract thinking, and so more likely to land those top grades that ask for conceptual thinking, evaluative analysis. So, that novel they picked up at the beach? It might just sneak into their coursework later. And that daily reading habit? It becomes the quiet superpower in a year that’s otherwise full of pressure and deadlines.
Keeping the habit alive doesn’t require heroics. If they’re studying The Handmaid’s Tale, they might enjoy 1984 or Never Let Me Go. Reading around a syllabus text isn’t cheating - it’s groundwork. It helps them build connections and see literature as a conversation, not just an exam.
So if the holiday sparked something - curiosity, calm, a moment away from the scroll - keep feeding it. Set up the living room with a couple of sun loungers, ambient ocean sounds on the stereo and turn up the dial on the central heating. And if you’re thinking about how best to support them as term begins, whether they’re tackling their GCSEs, A Levels, or IB coursework, I’d be delighted to help.
The LangLit Studio is open for one-to-one tuition and small group sessions this term. You’ve had the holiday. Let me help make sure the learning journey is just as rewarding.
