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Summer Reading

Raising a Summer Reader

When the lazy days of summer arrive and the schedule is packed with swimming, camp, and family vacations, it can be a challenge to find time for learning.

But kids' reading skills don't have to grow cold once school's out. Here are some ways to make reading a natural part of their summer fun:

Explore your library. Visit your local library to check out books and magazines that your kids haven't seen before. Many libraries have summer reading programs, book clubs, and reading contests for even the youngest borrowers. With a new library card, a child will feel extra grown-up checking out books.

Read on the road. Going on a long car trip? Make sure the back seat is stocked with favorite reads. When you're not at the wheel, read the books aloud. Get some audiobooks (many libraries have large selections) and listen to them together during drive time.

Make your own books. Pick one of your family's favorite parts of summer — whether it's baseball, ice cream, or the pool — and have your child draw pictures of it or cut out pictures from magazines and catalogs. Paste the pictures onto paper to make a booklet and write text for it. When you're done, read the book together. Reread it whenever you need to fend off the cold-weather blahs!

Keep in touch. Kids don't have to go away to write about summer vacation. Even if your family stays home, they can send postcards to tell friends and relatives about their adventures. Ask a relative to be your child's pen pal and encourage them to write each week.

Keep up the reading rituals. Even if everything else changes during the summer, keep up the reading routines around your house. Read with your kids every day — whether it's just before bedtime or under a shady tree on a lazy afternoon. And don't forget to take a book to the beach! Just brush the sand off the pages — it's no sweat!

Reviewed by: Laura L. Bailet, PhD
Date reviewed: February 2010

Take a look at some of the Top Children’s Books, provided by the New York Public Library

Ages2-6

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon. Illustrated by Marla Frazee. Beach Lane, $17.99. A gentle celebration of families, friendship, and community expressed in flowing rhymes and appealing art.

El Barrio by Debbi Chocolate. Illustrated by David Diaz. Christy Ottaviano Books/Holt, $16.95. Jewel toned art captures a boy’s proud account of his sister’s quinceañera party and their vibrant community life.

My Abuelita by Tony Johnston. Illustrated by Yuyi Morales. Harcourt/Houghton, $16.00. Apple-cheeked handmade dolls illustrate this intimate tale of a little boy and his grandmother preparing for their day.

Ages 6-8

How Oliver Olson Changed the World by Claudia Mills. Pictures by Heather Maione. Farrar, $15.95. Third grader Oliver finally gets his parents to stop doing his homework by building his own space diorama.

Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel by Nikki Grimes. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Putnam, $10.99. Eager to make friends after moving from Brooklyn to Harlem, Dyamonde wonders what’s up with the classmate she dubs Rude Boy.

Ages 8-12

The Nine Pound Hammer by John Claude Bemis. Random, $16.99. The children of John Henry and other tall-tale heroes join forces with the Pirate Queen to save orphans, rescue captives, and battle villains.

The Kind of Friends We Used to Be by Frances O’Roark Dowell. Atheneum, $16.99. Despite growing differences, cheerleader Marylin and rock star wannabe Kate try to repair their once close friendship at the start of seventh grade.

The Lost Conspiracy by Frances Hardinge. Harper, $16.99. Two sisters unwillingly lead a rebellion in this epic fantasy set on a tropical island dominated by active volcanoes and other deadly dangers.

For more information on the New York Public Library, click here