7 Summer Reading Tips for Stragglers

School starts in a couple of weeks and your child still hasn’t started his or her summer reading assignment. Fortunately, it’s not too late. I have been teaching English for 14 years and can share with you a few tips that can help your child stop procrastinating and start celebrating the start of the school year.

First and foremost, be sure to find out what your child’s summer reading assignment is. Some teachers assign a specific book to the entire class and others allow students to read one or two or a few grade-appropriate books of their choice. Also, look for any projects or essays that must be completed along with the reading. You can usually find all of this on the school website or you can email your child’s teacher.

It can feel overwhelming when a child sees an entire book at once and wonders if he or she will ever be able to finish it, but there are many ways to make reading less frustrating and more enjoyable. Here are a few tried and true methods that have worked for my students and children.

Bird by bird

In the book of the same name, esteemed writer Anne Lamott shares a childhood story in which her brother waits until the night before school starts to write an extensive paper about birds. He was in tears over the idea of writing such a long essay, so his father sat down with him and said “just take it bird by bird.”

Not only does this work for writing, but it’s an effective strategy for approaching reading, as well. Most books are divided into chapters for a reason. Examine how many pages, chapters and parts are in the book. Everyone reads at a different pace, so work with your child to determine how many pages or chapters he or she can handle in one sitting. You can have your child read for two or three “sprints” in a day or he or she can conduct a marathon reading session. Print out a calendar and work backward from the deadline to write down each day’s section(s) so your child can see that he or she only needs to read a little each day. You could cover up the other days with sticky notes or write the day’s assignment on a white board, as well to lessen the intimidation factor. Crossing off a session when it is finished adds to the feeling of accomplishment. Make changes as necessary, reminding your child that he or she will need to read more per sitting if he or she skips a session. For the sake of accountability, check in with your child after each session by asking what’s going on in the book.

Level it out

There are many ways to assess a student’s reading level from Guided Reading Level to Lexile. The letters and numbers they use are helpful resources, but can also be confusing to parents.

One of my favorite ways to judge reading level is by having students self-assess to see if books are at their independent, instructional or frustration level. Independent texts don’t require any outside assistance to be understood. Students need a little bit of help with instructional texts (usually for clarification or context). Frustration texts are exactly how they sound: so overwhelming the child wants to quit. Your child can figure out whether a text is at his or her independent, instructional or frustration level by reading a page or section of a text for unfamiliar words or complicated sentence structures. If he or she can get through the whole page without stopping or slowing down, the text is independent. If a student makes it through the page with a few stalls but recognizes most of the words and doesn’t stumble over the arrangement of words and punctuation, it’s probably instructional. If there are so many unfamiliar words and very long sentences that the page doesn’t make sense, even after trying to read it two or three times, he or she may not be ready for that book. I would suggest choosing independent texts that aren’t too easy at this point in the summer, unless you are willing to work through an instructional text with your child.

Pique a child’s interest

It’s awesome when students get to pick their own book…until they remind you how much they hate reading and that they will never find a book they like. I assure you that there is something out there for even the most reluctant reader. The trick is to pick something that they’re passionate about. I have found that one of the best ways to get kids to read is by exposing them to one of the many forms of nonfiction. My own son would rather “watch a plant sprout than read,” but this summer before he starts middle school, he has been able to choose three books on his own.

Right now he is reading a memoir called Trevor Noah: Born A Crime by comedian Trevor Noah. He also just finished an informational book on stop-motion animation which gave him some great ideas for his own projects. Help your child search for reading material related to their own interests at the library or in an in-person or virtual bookstore and they will have a sense of ownership over their literacy.

Use supplements, not replacements

It’s tempting to skip the original text and opt for SparkNotes, movies and other summaries available online. While these are never a substitute for the art that is literature, they are a great tool for making sense of plot and character when kids are reading something that frustrates them, particularly on an assigned text from the literary canon that they just can’t get into. Your child can consult Spark Notes before or after working through chapters or the entire book. E-readers are also helpful because many of them have supplemental features such as dictionaries built into them. Even YouTube can offer some author interviews and reviews by informed critics who can offer some insight. All of these tools can help, but they can’t offer everything the book does, especially the opportunity for your child to develop his or her own ideas about the text.

Make it a partnership

Try introducing your children to a book you loved when you were the same age OR let your children take the lead and choose a title the two of you can explore together. If you can, try to stay a chapter or two ahead, especially if your children struggles with reading, so that you can offer some summary and analysis. You can even find discussion questions on teacher websites, such as Teacherspayteachers.com.

Even if you are not reading the same book, you can read at the same time. According to PBS, “When children see the adults around them using reading and writing in their everyday lives, they’re more likely to become readers and writers themselves.”

Finally, don’t think your child is too old to be read to. I read to my high school students and, honestly, love listening to audiobooks because some people (myself included) learn better when they hear something. Make reading a partnership between you and your children and you will see genuine results.

Change the scenery

Some kids prefer to read seated at their desks, while others like to be propped up on a few pillows in bed. Some kids like to read outside (the treehouse is a popular reading spot in our house), while others (believe it or not) focus best with some background noise, such as music or TV in the background.

My sixth-grader likes to read in the kitchen while I cook, breaking the silence periodically to tell me something exciting he just read. What works for you may not work for your children, so let them find a reading habitat where they feel comfortable and engaged.

Contact the teacher

I know it sounds like the last thing you want to do (and certainly the last thing your children wants you to do), but if your child is really struggling with summer reading due to comprehension issues or general aversion, consider contacting your child’s teacher.

Let him or her know the truth and, after reassuring you that your child is not the only one, he or she will know in advance that your child may need a little extra encouragement when it comes to reading. Most English teachers welcome the prospect of lighting the spark of a future bibliophile and most late-to-the-party readers can tell you the name of the teacher who inspired them to read. The teacher may also have some advice for you that I haven’t given here. This would be a great conversation to have before school starts rather than just before report cards come out!

Final thoughts

It’s frustrating when kids wait until the last minute to do their summer reading, but try not to lose your cool. Our job is to draw our kids towards reading rather than push them further away. I hope these strategies help you now and that you can put them in place as soon as school lets out next year so that by late August all the work will be done and all that’s left is fun!