Yeah, speed reading The Scarlet Letter is probably not a good idea. I remember reading that initially in high school with the book in one hand and a dictionary in the other.

Summer reading is pretty part and parcel for AP courses across the nation though. I have very mixed feelings about it, but these AP kids have to have a pretty extensive reading "list" by the time they hit the end of senior year if they are going the AP testing track, and summer reading is not a surprise for those in the program. It is hard for those kids that move in and out though, but that's a pretty small percentage of students in our district. We work with them though. It used to be much more extensive than it is now. Previously, it involved reading two or three full-length works, annotating, projects, essays, etc. Now we just ask for the annotations which really isn't a huge deal, and our level only reads one full-length work along with a series of historical letters (about 30 pages worth), so it is quite manageable.