What Happened to The Joy of Summer Reading?

Recently, I was approached by one of our  Journalism students because she was doing an article about the Summer Reading program at East Lyme High School.  The program has a reading requirement for students and when they come back to school in September, they are expected to be able to discuss the two books they have read and write a brief summary. They are given a Pass/Fail grade for this assignment.  The students are provided a list of suggested books, prepared by the me. Last year they were asked to read one book from the list and one book of their own choice.  My purpose for the summer reading program is to provide students with a variety of books for all interests and levels, with hope that the students will find a book that they really enjoy reading when they have time to read for pleasure.

The conversation I had with my young journalist revealed that she was so bogged down with other homework over the summer and required reading for other classes that she didn't even have time to read the summer reading books.  In fact,  she has not had an opportunity to read a book without any sort of assignment attached to it since fourth grade.  Now this is a girl I think would read for pleasure it she had the time too.

Her article was published and it was titled The Problem with Summer Reading. Her article prompted me to start a conversation with students, teachers and parents.  From the students responses, it became clear to me that students who are avid readers are going to read no matter what.  The students that correlate reading with the pain of a writing assignment were going to either watch the movie or just read a review of a summary online, which would give them enough information to squeeze by with the passing grade.  From the parents, I gathered there was a struggle to get their child to complete the summer reading assignment, especially if the child was a reluctant reader.   There was  a varied response from teachers, but most agreed that the graded assignment was not working.

When I was in high school,  I always looked forward to summer because I would have lots of free time to read books and reading was really a pleasure.  I am concerned that students are not experiencing this and I question what we as teachers are doing to kill this pleasure. I am beginning to worry that our attempts as teachers to assess, develop and broaden reading skills is having a negative effect and in essence creating reluctant readers.  In fact, studies have shown that the more a person reads, the stronger their reading and writing skills and vocabulary bank will be.  We need to bring back reading for pleasure as an activity in school.   We may win the battle with reading assessments for standards purposes, but we are losing the war against just reading for pleasure, especially with competition from electronic devices and video games.

In a recent article in NEA Today entitled, Good News! They are Reading!, the author, Cindy Long, points out that "given a chance, students will read for fun.  They just need a little help making the right selections (Long, 2016. p.38). We as librarians, whether public or school based, are tasked with maintaining collections that will entice our young readers and providing them a comfortable space to read.  Some reading incentives wouldn't hurt either.    It is important to get to know the child in order to help find the perfect book that will unleash reading for pleasure.   That is one of my favorite challenges.

With all this in mind.  I have decided to totally revamp my Summer Reading program and allow the students to read whatever they want with no grade or assignment attached.  I readily acknowledge that reading over the summer is very important and I am sure most students will have required reading assignments from other classes.  What I would like to do is come up with an incentive program that rewards students for whatever reading they do over the summer, no strings attached.   The only requirement would be a reading log to determine the number of items read.

I would like to start a conversation here on what reading incentive plans have worked for other public and school libraries, especially at the young adult level where students have very little free time. Another program I would like to implement at the high school is a set time for independent reading where students can choose their own book.

Please feel free to comment with suggestions and ideas about what works or hasn't worked for you.

Long, C. (2016). Good news! They are reading! NEA Today, Winter, 38-43.