Why is it important to read in the summer?
“Research continues to indicate that extended learning breaks contribute to diminishing literacy skills such as fluency, vocabulary acquisition, and reading comprehension.” –School Library Journal, June 2012
“For many readers, this recipe for reading engagement success—time to read PLUS book access PLUS free choice—seems easier to follow during the summer because we have more time for leisure activities like reading.” – The Key to Summer Reading? Invest in Children’s Reading Lives All Year by Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer, Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child
According to Scholastic, “Thirty-two percent of kids ages 15–17 said the number of books they read over the summer was zero, up sharply since 2016 (22%).” – Kids and Family Reading Report: The Summer Reading Imperative, 2019
And you should know that ALL reading is GOOD reading, so here is A Friendly Reminder That Comic Books Still Count as Reading (Book Riot). Graphic Novels are Real Books (Capstone Pub)! The vocabulary exposure in comics and graphic novels has a higher density of new and complex words than traditional prose. The images both support those readers who need it and increase the complexity to engage higher-level thinking skills.
Additional Reading
Lost Summers: Few Books and Few Opportunities to Read (Reading Rockets, WETA)
The Importance of Summer Reading (The New York State Education Department/The University of the State of New York)
The Power of Pleasure Reading: What We Can Learn from the Secret Reading Lives of Teens (Jeffrey D. Wilhelm and Michael W. Smith, English Journal from National Council of Teachers of English)
