It’s that time again. Summer vacations come to an end, kids return to school and adults exchange summer whites for fall colors. Along with the change in weather, our reading changes, too. The term “summer reading” evokes cheap paperbacks and light fare suitable for a day at the beach, or classic texts assigned for the first day in a new grade. We often assume that weighty reading does not occur in the summer months – except under duress – just as blockbuster summer movies typically don’t appear among Oscar nominees. If we read at all, summer is a time for fluff. So the thinking goes.
Reading books of substance in the summer months is hugely important, though. Teachers have long remarked on the “summer slide” during which students forget material from the school year and enter the classroom in the fall struggling to catch up. That is why some education activists urge the adoption of a twelve-month school year. The general summer slide problem – and the disparities it produces between groups of students based on income – is particularly acute when it comes to reading. Reading disparities over the summer months highlight the so-called “Matthew effect” in which the distance between rich and poor in reading competency expands.
What is it about reading that makes it particularly ripe for a summer slide differentiated by socioeconomic status, and particularly devastating when that slide occurs? Research shows that higher levels of reading competency correlate with access to books. The more books available, the more kids read. Without school providing texts to children over the summer months, children whose families don’t own books or who don’t visit the library are at a disadvantage. And such kids are more likely to be in families with fewer economic resources. Furthermore, the impact of the summer slide in reading has long-reaching consequences.
To address this problem, many public libraries and other community institutions offer innovative summer reading programs that engage children in reading in fun ways, celebrating reading through enrichment activities, contests and events. Studies show that such programs can make a tremendous difference in reversing the summer slide and the Matthew effect – but only when families are aware of and able to take advantage of these efforts.
Without disparaging lighter reads, summer shouldn’t be time to completely “take off” from serious reading. This implies a burden in engaging with books, and the notion that reading is an afterthought to more important pursuits. Rather, summer offers an opportunity to read widely and deeply – not only because reading is illuminating and invigorating, but because we may even find more time to dig into a longer or more challenging book.
Without good summer reading, we face the possibility of a summer slide. Books@Work programs – which continued during the summer months – provide one avenue for parents to prevent their own summer slide, signal the importance of reading to their children and, in some cases, even to share books with their children. So as fall officially descends later this month, let’s commit to continuing reading substantive, challenging, thought-provoking books every season of the year – whether in Books@Work seminars or on our own.
Image: “Summer day, Brighton Beach” by Edward Henry Potthast [Public Domain] Sotheby’s New York, 19 May 2011, lot 19.
