Ten Reason Your Kids Should Participate in a Summer Reading Program

by Rebecca J. Gomez When my kids were young, summer reading programs were a sure thing. For the most part, my children were avid readers, especially my girls. A summer reading program wasn't necessary to encourage them to read, but we participated because it was a fun addition to summer. And the free pizza, books, and water park tickets definitely didn't hurt! There are lots of reasons to participate in a summer reading program or challenge, and here are ten of them: 1. Many summer reading programs offer prizes. And while we all know that reading is its own reward, some kids haven't figured that out yet. For those kids, a prize is just the incentive they need to stick their noses in a book now and then over the summer. 2. It's a fun way to reward those kids who will be reading no matter what! 3. For some families, trips to the library may help break up summer monotony.  4. Summer reading programs promote reading together as a family, especially for those with very young

More Poems (and drawings!) from our Readers

National Poetry Month is coming to an end, and so has our Poetry Challenge. It has been fun and inspiring to see the creativity of young poets this month. We hope that you and your kiddos will continue to read and write poetry well beyond the end of April. Thank you to everyone who joined in and shared poems with us. You have made this month extra special! 

 Some fantastic shape poems!

This one rhymes!

By Hadley, age 10

By Easton, age 8

The following poems and drawings are by a young girl named Ernestine:





Did you miss any of the challenge? Here are links to all our Poetry Month posts! If you and your kiddos write any more poems inspired by this challenge, we'd love to see them!


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