Tips for Summer Reading

Ah, the freedom of summer. No hectic early mornings, no strict bedtimes, and no homework all make for a wonderful opportunity for pleasure reading for your child. You can stay up with your beginning reader just a little bit later to finish that exciting chapter or linger just a tad longer over coffee in the morning with some picture books before you head off to the pool. Or you can take advantage of that time in the car on the summer road trip to listen to a great audio book as a whole family.

It is important to keep up a summer reading routine, however the freedom of summer should extend to your child’s choice of what to read. The effectiveness of summer reading in maintaining students’ academic skills is a well-documented finding in education research. And more recent studies are showing us that choice, above all else, is the most motivating factor in whether or not students enjoy reading. A recent article in The Washington Post advises just this strategy to get kids reading.

So, insist on a reading habit, but give your child lots of choices and lots of suggestions about what they can read. Make a trip to the public library or a local book store, such as Union Avenue Books in downtown Knoxville, to help them select a wide variety of books on whatever interests them. As a jumping off point, help them choose books that connect to what they studied in school last year or what they might study in the upcoming school year. Surround them with reading options. Books, magazines, newspaper articles, comics, recipes, you name it. They all count. As you read with your child or as they read alone, they are building their understanding not only of literary language – vocabulary, spelling, sentence structure – but of life as well. The more books and stories they can experience the more prepared they will be for whatever comes their way.

For summer reading suggestions, check out some of these links:

• The Episcopal School of Knoxville Summer Reading Lists include title suggestions for each incoming grade level.

• The New York Public Libraries Annual 100 Children’s Books for Reading and Sharing highlights the year’s best titles in a well organized list searchable by age level and interest.

• Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, suggests the following summer reading lists for 3 elementary age divisions.

By: Miranda Clark, Lower School Librarian