I know many of us educators (and those at home) have been working hard all year to try to cultivate or protect a love of reading in our learners. Now with warmer temperatures and summer beckoning for the Northern Hemisphere comes the real test; will kids keep reading over the summer? Is what we did enough? Did we lay enough of a foundation, get them excited, get them hooked so that the next few weeks or months will not put them in a reading drought? While time will truly be the judge of how the work might pay off, here are a few ideas that may help depending on the age of the learner.
Have a to-be-read list. All year we have cultivated ours, trying to add as many titles as possible so that when the students leave our classrooms they have something to help guide them when they are either at the library or at the bookstore. This is especially important for our “fragile” readers, those who have just discovered that books and reading may be for them after all and need a constant diet of amazing books. But really all kids should have one, not just some. I just had students send home an email with their to-be-read list or create a Goodreads account, so reach out and ask your learner’s teacher to see if they have one made. Even if the school has not created a to-be-read list it is not too late to make one! Browse the displays at the library or at the bookstore and write it down somehow. Keep the list on you because you never know when you come across an opportunity to find more books.
Visit places where books are present. We go to the library a lot; when it is too hot and the pool is not open, when it is stormy, when we are tired. We also go to our local bookstore and browse. Accessing book, touching books, getting excited about books and anything that we can read is vital to keep the desire alive. Sign up for the public library’s reading challenge or make it a routine every week to go and get new books. Spend a few hours reading while you are there. If there is no library or the library is not accessible to you, reach out to your learner’s school, is there a way they can lend you books? Our school library does a summer checkout before the end of the year, as do I. If you are not able to go places where there are books, ask your child’s teacher if you may borrow a big stack of books from them if you promise to bring them back. I have often lent books to families over the summer as a way to help them keep reading.
Make it social. I love reading a great book and then talking to others about the book or even better passing the book on to them. Make reading a social aspect of your summer; have reading “parties” where kids can discuss books, create a book swap with other families, scour garage sales for long-lost favorites. Offer up yourself to read with your learner or get more than one copy of a book (if you have access to them) so that others may join in the reading. Too often as parents we think we should read all of the books our child is reading and while that can be a fun bonding experience, it may be more powerful if you can get a friend of your child to be a reading partner.
Read aloud. Many parents assume that their older kids do not want to be read aloud to, and yet, my students tell us repeatedly how much they miss it. So why not find a great book and take some time to experience the book together?
Use audio books. I love that I can borrow audio books from our library – both Harry Potter and the Lightning Thief series has captured our imagination for months. When your children are in the car, put on an audio book. Have a copy of the book ready if anyone wants to keep reading and you have reached your destination. With all of the research coming out correlating audio books with further reading success this is a winning situation.
Find great books. Get connected online to communities like #Titletalk, #BookADay, #WeNeedDiverseBooks, or Nerdy Book Club to get ideas of what to read next. I am constantly adding to my wish list due to these places. Use the professionals like librarians, booksellers and teachers. Also, ask other parents what their kids are reading, create a Facebook page to share recommendations or simply use you own page, anything to find out what great books are available.
Create a routine. We read every night and sometimes even in the morning (as well as throughout the day but then again we may be slightly book obsessed). Helping your child create a routine where reading is a natural part of the day mean that they will create ownership over the habit, thus (hopefully) inspiring further reading. I encourage my students to read first thing in the morning before they get up or as the last thing they do before falling asleep. Whatever the routine may be, sit down and read yourself, it is vital for all of our children to see their parents/caregivers as readers.
Allow real choice. I have seen some parents (and schools) require learners to read certain books over summer, but summer is meant to be guilt-free reading. Where we reach for those books we cannot wait to read because they will suck us right in, where we fill up our reserves so we can perhaps finally tackle that really challenging book that we have been wanting to read. Where we explore new books because we want to. Too often rules and expectations infringe on the beauty of summer reading; falling into a book’s pages and not having to come up for air until it is done. That also goes for reading things that may be “too easy” or “too hard” – I devour picture books, graphic novels and all thing “too easy” in the summer, as well as trashy beach reads and Danish crime mysteries. I refuse to feel guilty about my choices in reading, because that is never what reading is about.
Have books everywhere. Again, this depends on how many books you have access to, but leave books wherever your kids go. I have books in the car, in their rooms, in the kitchen, living room, etc. That way the books seem to fall into their hands at random times; stopped in traffic, quiet time before lunch, a sneak read before falling asleep. It is a luxury to have books in our house and so we try to make them as visible as possible.
Celebrate abandonment, but ask questions. When a child abandons a book, this is a great thing. They are learning that this book is not for them and they can use their energy for a book that will be for them. But ask questions so that they may think about what type of book they might like. So they can think about what type of reader they are and want to be. Make sure that there are other books they want to read as well so that they can keep trying to find great books.
Explore new books together. Summer can be a great time to try to push your own habits of reading, as long as it doesn’t feel like a chore. Set a reading challenge, compete against each other if you want, challenge each other to read each other’s favorite books and revel in the shared experience.
Be invested and interested. This does not mean that you ask your child to write reports about what they read, in fact, I would be very careful as to what type of work goes along with reading over the summer beside reading, but do ask questions. Ask whether they enjoy the book or not. What they plan on reading next. Read along with them or beside them. Make reading a part of your life so it can become a part of theirs.
Keep it fun. Too often, especially if our child is not a well-developed reader, we can get rather nervous as parents and think that we must keep them on a regimented reading program at all costs. That we must have them write about reading or track it somehow. Have them read, yes, but keep it light and fun. The last thing we want to do is to make reading a worse experience for them or adding more stress to your family.
What other ideas do you have?
If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child. This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block. If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.
Pernille Ripp 
You make some great suggestions–thank you! I do have my incoming ELA students read “A Long Walk to Water.” (Incoming 7th graders.) It’s engaging and a fast read, plus it fits well with our Social Studies curriculum later in the year. I like that it gives us all something to talk about at the beginning of the year, and I use it to model how a Lit. Circle discussion will work. I also like that it integrates a lot of my ELA standards seamlessly–fiction vs. nonfiction, take on history, comparison of voice, etc.
Have you seen the game “Bring your Own Book” Looks like fun. I thought middle school kids would like it. You use any book to satisfy the prompts to find the most entertaining passage. Check it out on Amazon.
As a parent, I encourage the gift of magazine subscriptions for birthdays/special events. When we are too busy to read them during the school year, I save them in a box and they are easy grabs for when we are traveling, when we finish a book and don’t have another or when we just need a break. My kids and I both enjoy them.