Summertime provides the perfect opportunity to encourage your kids to read – keeping them motivated and challenged until school starts. In fact, some of the best free reading programs are available now, just a click away.
It’s hard to get excited about summer reading when all your kids have is a list of book titles to churn through. When teachers or parents incorporate an element of fun, creativity, social networking or even a prize package into the mix, reading becomes something fun. Check out these programs and find the one that works best for your reader.
Pre-K
For early readers, check out the PBS Kids Reading Activity page. Here you’ll find fun family activities that help encourage pre-reading skills in very young children, including a word of the day, printable resources and daily activities that incorporate word smarts into craft projects.
Grades K-6
Parents of kids in grades K-6 can check out the Pizza Hut Book It! page for book trackers, games, a list of 100 suggested reading titles, and, my favorite, a page of recipes for young cooks. Kids who meet the summer challenge of five books are eligible to enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win lots of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” merchandise.
The Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program offers wonderful incentives to keep your kids reading all summer long – a free book! Read any eight books during the summer and record them in their downloadable reading journal and then let your child choose a free book from the list they provide; it includes both classic best sellers, popular titles and a few surprises, so there’s something for every reader. The site also contains games, puzzles and downloadable projects based on popular book titles, which reinforces their efforts and encourages them to read more.
This year, Scholastic Books challenges kids to read every day during summer, with an exciting program that includes a free downloadable reading timer and an opportunity to appear in the next 2013 Scholastic Book of World Records. Log in and see where your school rates!
Teens and Young Adults
Most major municipalities also have wonderful summer reading programs, many with special selections and activities for teens. Check your local branch for the latest. Some libraries offer theme-based units in which books and movies are explored together (like “The Hunger Games” or “Twilight”). Book discussion groups are another popular activity at public libraries. If these aren’t to her liking, encourage your child to get together with a group of friends. Reserve a room at your local library to keep the focus on book discussion and make it a social event.
If apps are more his style, here are a few of the best. Hot off the presses, the Young Adult Library Services Association has just released the free Teen Book Finder app (available at the Apple Store) – a fantastic resource for teens, parents and educators.
A great free application that’s customizable and perfectly suited to any young adult genre is Goodreads. For older teens, the site can be especially useful; the site doesn’t just track your reading, but serves as a virtual bookshelf. It’s as unique, personal or a social as you wish to make it, and serves as a wonderful tool to record what you’ve read and then, based on book preferences and ratings, suggests new books.
Another interesting function of Goodreads is its appeal for social network junkies. Teens can see what their friends are reading and follow their reviews, and even practice important writing skills by penning a few reviews of their own (as a former Advanced Placement Lit and Comp teacher, I can promise you this is a very valuable tool). The site allows you to record observations as you’re reading, document what you’d like to read in the future and even make personalized lists of titles others to which others can subscribe (for example, “Best Movie Tie-Ins” or “Cool Classics”). Older teens can connect their social networking accounts to their Goodreads page, and, in doing so, provide a new way to interact with their friends – a chat over books!
Take advantage of the free summer reading programs and applications geared to kids and young adults, and give your children a world of summer fun… no matter where they do their reading.
