BOSTON -- Students excited for summer vacation are probably not so eager to get their summer reading lists.

News Center 5's Bianca de la Garza reported that an education expert said forcing kids to read wouldn't get any good results.

VIDEO: School Revamps Book Report Policy

A North Shore school district is revamping its policy on book reports, trying to get kids to think out of the box.

Sixth-graders at the Higgins Middle School in Peabody said that they like reading, but are not too fond of book reports.

Alfie Kohn may be their hero. The Belmont author and former educator said that book reports are pointless.

"We drain the joy out of that reading when we require them to do any kind of report that they've read," Kohn said. "You can learn intellectually by cooking, by playing board games, by planning and making decisions as a family."

Assistant superintendent Joseph Mastrocola made the book report optional for elementary and middle school students this year.

"We're going to put a list together of potential project kids can work on. We want them to select and find out what is their strengths," Mastrocola said.

Student Brianna Clark said artistic freedom made her book report last year less of a chore because she was allowed to choose the book.

"We have to light the fire under kids -- give them lots of choices -- what to read, when they read, how they read, how they respond to what they read," Kohn said.