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How to Keep Reluctant Readers Reading over the Summer

It's been six years since Robert took his first look around his kindergarten class and said, "Just how much more of this do I have to do?" He still thinks writing, spelling, math, science, and social studies are annoying, but most of all, Robert dislikes reading.

This summer, read Robert the riot act. Read him his rights, read him the directions, the ingredients, the computer manual, and the back of the cereal box. Read to, read on, read up, read around, read along, read with him and through him, but this summer, get reading and Robert together. It's good for him and for you, too.

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body," said Joseph Addison, an early eighteenth century English poet, playwright, and essayist, and centuries later his words are still right on. Especially for beginning and reluctant readers who have more attitude than answers when it comes to this complex skill. Reading consistently and everywhere during any long breaks from school is critical for kids like Robert.

The following tactics will keep reluctant readers involved in books all summer long. Unless otherwise noted, they apply to kids in grades four through twelve. At the end of the chapter, find book titles listed by age level. They are recommended by kids who loved them though they swore they'd never, ever feel that way about a book.

Get the Basics in Place
Lay down the law. The equation is simple: no watering, no tomatoes. It's the same with a reading-reluctant elementary-aged kid like Robert: read books over the summer or else. Stand in front of the tomato plant together and read him the riot act. He's got no options here. His teacher will thank you for it in the fall, and so will Robert, though he might be in high school before you hear it. Be the boss about this.

Give him what he likes. Though there's no option about whether or not he reads over the summer, inform him that he's got plenty of choices when it comes to topics to read about. However, don't assume you know what he is interested in reading. Elementary-aged kids move with lightning speed from one interest to another. Track that ever-hopping spark of interest and be ready with a book that stokes that flame.

Give him a target. In two months of summer vacation, Robert should read at least five or six books to maintain any strides he made in reading during the school year. Determine how many pages he can read in twenty minutes and make that number his daily target. Tell him, "Sorry, Robert, picture pages do not count." Steadily increase the number over the summer until he's reading at least thirty minutes a day.

Balance reading-list books. Many schools provide reading lists over the summer, and some are sure to have titles Robert wouldn't read if they were the last books on earth. When he's laboring through one of these, keep a high-interest title handy so he can switch back and forth between the two during each daily 20- to 30-minute reading session.

Gather your resources. Search the Internet, the library, and neighborhood bookstores for books. Keep your eyes peeled for kid-catching titles at garage sales, consignment shops, secondhand-book fairs, and flea markets.

Spread them around. Put books in all Robert's favorite places so he stumbles upon them at every turn. Put a few on the kitchen table, in the bathroom, in his bedroom, and in the attic where he retreats to get away from his little sister. Just like you did when he was two, keep a few books in the car.

Book-Work for Adults
Read yourself. There's no getting around the fact that if Robert sees you reading, it speaks volumes about how much you value this skill. Read your own books, your grandfather's books, the cheesy romances your aunt sends you in the mail, magazines, newspapers, weekly local bulletins, cookbooks, and computer manuals. Keep your eyes moving across the printed word all summer long, and do it where Robert can see you. If you have a reluctant reader in your life, make books on his reading level or on his summer reading list your top priority. Read around kids all the time.

Read to Robert, even if he's in high school. Do not make the mistake of asking him if he wants you to read to him. Do it spontaneously whenever you encounter an amazing, amusing, interesting, weird, wonderful, tragic story, or hilarious dialogue in the newspaper, a magazine, or one of his books piled on the steps leading to the attic. Inserting oral-reading intermissions into each summer day increases his vocabulary and visualization skills, stokes his imagination, and kicks up his comprehension, in spite of himself. So read to him.

Get theatrical about it. Make googly eyes and strange voices whenever you read something interesting out loud to Robert. Read heart-throbbing descriptions passionately at the dinner table. In the car on the way to his grandmother's, moan and complain about a villain who doesn't get his due. Give him bedtime directions in your favorite character's voice. Warble renditions of your favorite lines. But don't give the endings away. Compose your own instead. Add mouth sounds accompanied by air instruments. But always wiggle your eyebrows and saunter away when he wants to know how that ornery kid in the book turned out. Be embarrassing and shameless in your attempts to get him to read.

Write book reviews. Whenever you read a book that is on Robert's reading list or one that is on his reading level, write a one-line book review and stick it under a magnet on the refrigerator door or the bathroom mirror. Note the title and author, and then make short but enticing comments about the characters, plot, author's intention, or writing style. Your review might simply read, "I can't believe the things Danny dreamed up to drive his parents crazy."

Link the book to the movie to the video to the cassette to children's theater. Go to the library together and find a good book, and then explore it in different incarnations: watch the movie, listen to a cassette, or attend a children's theater presentation. Don't let Robert get away with merely saying he liked the movie better than the book or vice versa. Dive into the details. The ASAP format below works best with strong elementary school readers or those sixth grade and above. Note that this technique polishes critiquing skills for all types of literary works.

What's Better, the Book or the Movie?
Track a story's incarnations using the ASAP format below. Spend 20-30 minutes on this activity.

Add
What did the producer add to the story? A new character? A different setting? A different time period? A happy ending? A new ending?
Did the producer add a romance where there was none?
Was the movie told from another perspective?
Was there a narrator?

Subtract
What did the producer leave out? A character? An important plot element like the death of a character? An important relationship in the past?
Did the producer omit or skim over a detail about a character that was critical to understanding his or her motivation?

Amplify
Did the producer highlight certain character traits more than the author did? Was the character weaker, braver, dumber, wiser?
Did the producer play up different plot elements? Was there more violence in the movie than there was in the book?

Personalize
How did the setting of the movie compare to the one Robert visualized?
How did the characters on-screen compare to his imagination?
Why does he think the producer chose to highlight certain traits in a character over another? Certain plot elements over others?
What did the author do better than the producer?
What did the producer do better than the author?
How would Robert rewrite the script? Rewrite the ending?
Find a wealth of classic books-turned-movies in films by Walt Disney. Or investigate Weston Woods, a collection of audiovisual adaptations of classic children's stories for preschool through grade eight, in English as well as French, Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish, at www.scholastic.com/westonwoods.

Family Book Projects
Become a theatrical family. This was one way families entertained themselves before television and computers took over. Engage in playacting when kids are reluctant to read. Make it a family production by assigning everyone parts of a play to read. Take it "on the road" by memorizing parts, dressing up, and putting on your play for a highly appreciative audience, like the grandparents. Get pointers by attending plays or children's theater presentations. After Robert has seen several, he'll understand how expressive he can really be and learn some innovative ways to add to your simple one-act play.

Picture it. When reading to younger kids from books without pictures, have them cut pictures from old magazines that look like the characters and settings they visualize. Or make separate sketches and compare them. Did Robert remember that the character always wore blue? Do this before you go to a movie or play based on the story! Put the pictures together so he can "retell" the story to his younger cousins or his favorite uncle.

Make book brochures. Elementary-aged Roberts and older artistic types might enjoy making a brochure about a book they just read. Use crayons, markers, computer clip art, or magazine clippings to design typical three-fold, travel-like pamphlets. Brainstorm which kind of illustrations, photos, graphics and short, engaging descriptions about the plot and characters would tempt someone else to read this book. Book brochures provide fodder for book reports later in the school year. And more importantly, they give elementary and middle school kids early experience in writing persuasively-a big focus of writing in high school English classes.

Make book-based family trips. If Robert is amused by a story that relates how the American colonists kept their teeth white with acid, gunpowder, and sticks of sea coral, take a trip together to see a colonial American exhibit at a local museum. Or read a circus book and then attend one. This reinforces, especially for young readers, that adventures can begin in books. Attend story-reading sessions, oral-storytelling events, or author visits at bookstores, libraries, and community events.

Make book-based foods. Make foods together that characters eat. For kindergarten through grade three readers, look for books that feature food as a main ingredient. Then, make the food together. Make chocolate cake with a secret ingredient like in Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco, or make meatballs after you read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judy Barrett. As you're sharing dinner with family or guests, have Robert tell them the story.

Have him provide reading services. Is there an elderly relative, neighbor, or sick friend to whom Robert can read each week over the summer? An appreciative audience always makes an odious summer book list title a little easier to swallow. It could well be that the affirmation of his skills that he sees reflected in a grateful listener's eye is what will keep Robert reading all summer long.