The Value of Summer Reading

   Having taken a break from blogging to concentrate on my work-in-progress, (now out of the way, entered in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s Creative Writing Contest), many bloggable topics are crowding into my brain. One which has grabbed me with great urgency is Summer Reading. We are well into the summer holidays, a time when children can gain an academic advantage simply by immersing themselves in story books. One a week would be a good number for them to read. (See my post on Summer Reading - Some Surprising Findings.) Simply put, children who read for pleasure during the summer do better in school the following year than those who don’t.

   A challenge for many parents is to find suitable books which children will enjoy. The easiest option is to fall back on the books which they read as children - Enid Blyton, Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. But what is the effect on Jamaican children of reading nothing but ‘foreign books’? Diane Browne has written extensively on the importance to children of reading about characters like themselves in books. In October 2012, she wrote "Books allow them (young people) to work through their fears, their sources of joy, their experiences, to try on various selves. It would seem a good thing if these selves could be related to their own lives.” On June 17, 2013, she revisited this theme in "Making the case for children's literature - the Doctor Bird Series: Part 3."


    Books about Jamaican children by Jamaican authors are available. In my post on October 18, 2012 ‘Books by Jamaican Authors for children aged 8 - 14’ I listed forty-three books for that age-group. In addition, there are many books by other Caribbean authors for that age group.
Another challenge is to find these books in the bookshops, except for the Sand Pebble Series, available in Sangsters. The ‘foreign book syndrome’ is a system of positive feedback. Foreign books are displayed, therefore sell, therefore the ones which are most stocked. They are also cheaper than Jamaican books, because of their mass-production. The parents’ argument is that they can get two foreign books for the price of one Jamaican. What do they do with these books after their children have read them? Usually, they give them away. I would therefore encourage parents to form book clubs for their children. If each child in a group of three were to buy two Jamaican books, for example from the Sand Pebbles Series, when the children have finished reading one of the books, they can swap.

I will soon prepare a list of books for younger readers for them to read or for someone to read aloud to them. One such book, recently published is “Bolo the Monkey” by Jonathan Burke, published by Blue Moon. I had hoped to have a copy to review, but unfortunately I can’t get it in Montego Bay. This book, like many others is a victim of the ‘foreign book syndrome’.

While I’m currently emphasizing Summer Reading, I’m also questioning how much reading happens in term time in our Primary Schools, especially in the lower grades. A blog I like to read is “A Year of Reading - Two Teachers Who Read. A lot”. Not only do Franki and Mary Lee read a lot, they also write a lot of worthwhile information.

I make no apologies for quoting from Franki’s most recent post. The highlighting is mine.

“I've spent lots of time this summer catching up on series books that I think my new third graders will be reading when school starts next month. Catching up on these transitional books is key to supporting their reading development. I'm also looking for stand-alone books that help readers understand the power of story and that help them build conversation to understand character, see the world differently, and laugh and learn together. 3rd grade is a challenging one when it comes to book choice because it is tempting to choose books that are just beyond what kids are ready for so they don't quite understand them. They are 8 year-olds so their life experiences are not quite ready for the depth of some middle grade novels. And I am a firm believer that if we give kids great books too early, we take away the joy of experiencing an amazing book later, when they are able to fully enjoy and love it. But, I also know that third graders are brilliant people who have lots to say and need books to help them think through life. It's just that finding books that match the stage of life is not as easy as it appears.”

I would love to hear from a Grade 3 teacher who can say the same as Franki. I'm sure she has a much more difficult time accessing books than Franki does.

If you come across a child who appears bored with the summer holidays, suggest to him/her that he/she could read a book. Better still, look in your book collection for titles you could lend to him/her.

Summer Reading - Some Surprising Findings

   For reluctant readers,
  .... a book should be compelling, so interesting that the reader is "lost in the book".

During the summer holidays, many children read books of their own choice purely for fun, without a book report or comprehension questions hanging over them. Other children do little such reading or none at all. While both groups of children improve their reading comprehension equally during the school year, it has been shown that children who read for pleasure continue to improve their word knowledge and reading comprehension, while those who don’t regress.

In their book Summer Reading Program and Evidence, Fay H. Shim and Stephen D. Krashen analyzed a number of studies which produced these findings. The studies also showed that children from higher income families with access to a wide range of reading material at home and in libraries were the ones who read for fun, while children from lower income families with less access to books were the ones who were less likely to read.


They therefore designed a summer program that was devoted to “encouraging self-selected, enjoyable reading”. For 200 sixth graders with lower than average reading scores, it ran for 6 weeks. Each day began with 25 minutes of library time, when children were able to browse and select books and magazines which interested them. Because the existing library at the school was inadequate, they stocked each classroom with 400 books and the district spent $25 per student on popular paperback books and current magazines.

The next 80 minutes were spent in independent recreational silent reading. (No talking was allowed.) The most popular books were from R.L. Stine’s Goosebump Series. Also popular were the Sweet Valley Kids (for 2nd grade), Sweet Valley Twins (for 4th grade), the Boxcar Children, Animorphs and the Baby Sitters’ Club.This light, easy reading helps to develop vocabulary and grammar and the feel of how stories are put together, and becomes the bridge to more difficult reading of what adults consider to be better books. For cultural diversity, books by Mildred Taylor, Julius Lester, Allen Say, Paul Yee, Gary Soto, Pegi Deitz Shea and Sherry Garland were included. They also provided non-fiction books about animals, celebrities and sports figures; and magazines such as Teen People, Hip Hop Connections, and Car and Driver.

45 minutes were also devoted to Literature Based Instruction. Students read books such as Maniac Magee  by Jerry Spinelli, Hatchet by Gary Paulson, and The Giver by Lois Lowry. Reading was followed by discussion and a writing assignment. Another 45 minute slot was allotted to Project Activity when the students made posters, book markers and did writing which was put together to make their own books.

     Finally, the teachers spent 25 minutes reading aloud to the children to encourage reading. Another daily activity was conferencing - teachers held brief conferences with each student every day and kept a log.

The progress of the children in this program was compared with a similar-sized group which followed a regular summer program. The gains made by the children in this program far outstripped the regular group in general tests of reading, vocabulary and comprehension. Furthermore, the response of the students and teachers indicated that reluctant readers had been converted into enthusiastic readers. They concluded that children and teenagers really do like to read but they need to have access to genuinely interesting reading material (interesting to them, not necessarily what adults think would be interesting for them).

     What is the relevance of these studies to Jamaica? I submit that children here need far more access to more books, so that they can benefit from the summer reading experience. How many of our primary schools have libraries and librarians (full-time or part-time)? Even in at the high/ secondary level the quality of the libraries varies a great deal. At one high school I visited where the principal complained that the students don't read, I would describe the library as pathetic. There was nothing about it to encourage even an enthusiastic reader. Libraries the world over tend to suffer when cost cutting measures are needed. Libraries in Jamaica have thus been suffering for a long time.

     Another problem we have here is of course that so many children can't read at all, or are reading well below their grade levels. They need a helping hand onto and up the reading ladder.  In a future post, I will highlight the Granville Reading and Art Program, where wonderful work is going on to encourage children in the area to become enthusiastic readers.

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