Can Summer Reading be Fun?
My daughter once said to me “I wish I could read Beloved for the first time again.” She has
always loved books, summer reading was not a problem. My sons were not so easy.
I don’t think anyone can argue that reading in the summer is good for kids. The challenge
is making it actually good for kids and not just one more arena for nagging, begging,
bribing, threatening. Opening a book and reading words so that you can answer some
questions does not accomplish even the educational goals much less the goal of
encouraging kids to enjoy reading.
At the beginning of the summer, sit down with your kids and say, “let’s make a plan that
works for you. How would you like to handle the summer reading requirements?” When
the response is a dull stare or an “I’d like to just forget about it” try saying:
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I understand that you would prefer not to have required reading. But, the reality is
that you do. How can we make it work best for you?
What books have you enjoyed? Why? How can we find books that interest you?
(see resources below)
I’d like to avoid taking on the job of nag. How can we avoid that?
Wouldn’t it be great to get it finished before the last week of August? Let’s
brainstorm some schedule options.
Some perspective to keep in mind is presented by Alfie Kohn in Summer Learning Loss:
What’s True and False. Kohn reports that studies of summer learning loss find the problems
primarily significant in lower income students.
“Second, to the extent that low-income kids are likely to lose ground in reading proficiency,
Richard Allington, who specializes in this very issue, points out that summer school (and
summer homework assignments) aren’t necessary or even sensible. Rather, he and his
colleagues have shown that the key is to ensure “easy and continuing access to selfselected books for summer reading”[4] — a solution that’s not only a lot cheaper than
summer school but a lot less likely to cause kids’ interest in learning to evaporate in a
sweltering classroom.”
The sad reality is that when kids are reading for someone else’s goals or to receive a reward
or avoid a punishment, they do not read in the same way. They read to get the specific
answers they need to meet the requirement. We are not encouraging kids to love books, in
fact, we are discouraging them. So the question to ask is: how can you make this
requirement not cost your kids an opportunity to experience a mind-expanding book?
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Help them find books that bring in their interests or help them explore new ones.
Parents read the book too.
Pull together a group of your kids’ friends to read the same book and meet for a book
club.
Spending any time with the extended family? Have others read the book and share the
story together. We were once on a multiple family vacation with 3 high schoolers all
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being required to read Ender’s Game. By the end of the week most of the kids and
adults had read it. It was fun to talk about the book, just informally – where are you
now? What did you think about…?
Read out loud. There are some great books that work well as a chapter a night and
allows for pulling together a family with children of different ages.
MCPS allows schools to set their policy on summer reading. I suspect that by now you
have received or will soon receive your school’s summer reading lists. How much choice is
allowed? How can you help your kids evaluate the choices and pick books that will interest
them? I’ve found some websites that have lists of books to suggest.
Book ideas for encouraging reading:
http://readkiddoread.com
http://blog.readkiddoread.com/i-hated-to-read-til-i-read-this-book-list-for-boys/
Lots of resources and information on this website:
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/40180/
Best ever teen novels http://www.npr.org/2012/08/07/157795366/your-favorites-100-best-ever-teen-novels
MCPS policy
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/readinglists/
Kohn http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/summer-learning-losswhats-true-and-false/2012/07/19/gJQAl3B3wW_blog.html
Pam Mintz
Parenting Education Coordinator
YMCA Youth & Family Services
301-229-1347
[email protected]