Do you have summer reading plans? Like most things in life, it’s important to make a plan in order to meet your goals. In my little corner of the world summer is almost a synonym for reading. Before I had kids, I used to send my books with Andy when he left for work in order to get things done around the house. Now I find myself sneaking in a few pages before the timer dings to take dinner out of the oven.
We find time for things that are most important. This summer, I wanted reading to be at the top of my family’s priority list. Therefore, the kids and I decided to take on a summer reading challenge. It’s not through a library or a website or school..it’s our own thing. This summer the kids and I are taking on 100 Book Summer. We each agreed to read 100 different books before the end of summer. We made a chart, each line equals ten books, and we each have different colors of smiley faces to add to the chart. We started Saturday — the first “official” day of summer. (The kids’ last day was on Wednesday, but mine was Friday — making Saturday the first official day.)
So far there are 43 books on our list. Each one is logged in our family readers’ notebook. It’s also led into many conversations about the books that should count for each person. Stephanie, who loves a challenge, has read more than half of the books logged. However, Sam, the youngest has logged 7 books, and 3 of them are chapter books. None of Steph’s are chapter books. It’s started a little bit of conversation. It’s made them think about their reading lives.
They’ve also made more specific reading plans than I’ve seen in the past. They all read fist thing in the morning. They find each other after lunch and read together. They pass books to each other. They beg me to read aloud from our chapter book. In fact, they’ve made a TBR pile of chapter books for us to read as a family.
How about you? What kind of reading challenge have you designed? A challenge is a great way to spice up your reading life.
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 
I love that you sent our books out of the house. Now, with ereaders, you could just sync and keep reading. 🙂
I have a good dozen PD books waiting to be read with the focus on literacy and technology. (I start middle school in the fall!) There are also a couple YA books and several fiction books, but those may continue to get moved down the pile.
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When my girls were little, we used to have “book festivals.” Each of got to choose the same number of books (usually about 5) and we would sit together on the couch and read them all straight through – “Leola and the Honeybears”, followed by “Where the Wild Things Are”, then “The Night of the Goat Children”, and on and on. This was our favorite way to spend time on a rainy day or when my daughter’s asthma made it hard to play.
Now that they are both middle schoolers, we don’t hold festivals anymore. But, you will find us on any given day each propped by pillows on the porch furniture, reading our books together, in silence. I love it just as much.
There is nothing better than a summer of reading. Enjoy.
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Go Ayers family!! What a wonderful reading summer yo have ahead to look forward to. I’ve always done a one-to-one book “read together” with each of my three kids. They pick what they want, we read, we talk – that’s it. Each of my three have such individualized tastes, that I wind up reading books I would NEVER have thought to read. Of all the summer reading I have to look forward to, this is my favorite thing. I have a ton of YA books to get through, another ton of PD books I’ve been dying to read, and then my personal list…books I’ve simply not had the time to read. Whatever else the summer has in store…I know I will be reading!
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What a great way to spread the love of reading and discuss and discover books over the summer. What a great way to spend time (together and alone)! I set a goal for myself on goodreads on January 1 to read 212 books this year. I like that I can log what I’ve read in goodreads and catagorize/rate it for later use.
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Ruth,
Sounds like your summer is off to a great start! I have been thinking about my summer TBR pile. I started a list on my iphone this morning while I was pursuing a Real SImple magazine and also heard a recommendation for Michelle O’Bama’s garden book. It’s available on the Nook. I have a growing stack of middle reader novels, professional books, blogs, etc. I think I need to make a list for my neglected blog. We have also started talking about this in my classroom and have 9 days left to finalize our plans. Happy Summer! ~ Theresa
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Sounds like a wonderful plan, Ruth! I love the image of your family reading together, passing books to each other, and having conversations about books! I also love the idea of creating a specific goal for the summer. When I was growing up (probably through about middle school), I always read over 100 books every summer (and kept track of them all, even though our community library’s summer reading program goals ended at something stupidly low like 25 or 50!), so your goal brings back good memories for me! You’ve inspired me to think about making a reading plan with my husband, even though we don’t have kids yet. We’re both formerly avid readers who went rather dormant in college and with the “busy-ness” of adult life, and we’re trying to get reading back into our lives again!
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I make a list of books I want to read but don’t have time to read during the school year. Every summer I look through my list and start tackling it. For me summer = reading too!
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Ruth, I would love to hear more about your family’s reading log and how you set it up. I have been keeping track of my reading on my blogs and this year have been enjoying linking my review posts to Good Reads in order to see the books I read all in one place.
Thanks for sharing about your family’s reading goals.
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I have piles everywhere, but mostly I have YA & middle grade books to catch up on & 3 professional books plus a pile of journals. I always read, so won’t put it off. It’s just I can’t seem to catch up, too many good books available. Good luck with your 100 summer-sounds fun.
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I love how involved your whole family is with reading during the summer! This sounds like a great challenge to work on together. The local library where we will holds a summer reading challenge that my kids participate in. Our elementary school also sends home a calendar and challenges students to read for at least 900 minutes over the summer. Since my oldest is moving from elementary to middle school next year, he didn’t get a summer reading calendar. He and I decided to start our own reading calendars together. Maybe I’ll challenge him to read more minutes than I read? He would LOVE to read more pages that I do but I’m not sure that is realistic. 🙂 Bring on a summer of good books!
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Yep. Challenging myself to read the new books I ordered this school year and never got a chance to read. There’s about 25 of them. Also some PD books I want to read. Should keep me busy.
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I try to get the reader’s award books that were nominated for our state and YRCA so I can book talk them for next year. I also try to read for book suggestions for my reading group. Love your family reading goal.
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