Summertime reading

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Here’s my new version of Gershwin’s Summertime. All together now, sing along…..

Summertime,its time to get our kids reading
There are reading programs, all around the town
Just read a few books and they’ll see it’s rewarding
And once summer is done, they’ll still be reading all the time .

Ok, ok, I see the quick curtain call!

Jokes aside, I really love the summer reading programs as they encourage kids who don’t regularly read to actually pick up a few books and read even if it’s just to win a reward or two. Books grow on you. Over time, kids realize that reading can actually be fun and as the saying goes, a book can get to be their best friend.

So here are some of the summer reader programs out there. Click on the links for more information on how to enroll your kids.

• Barnes and Noble – read 8 books and get a coupon for a free book from B & N. (May 26- September 7 2009)

• Half Price books – kids (12 years and under) can earn a 3$ gift card every week for reading atleast 15 minutes every day of that week. If you stay close to a Half Price book store you can get upto 24$ in gift cards by the end of the promotion, if you started at the beginning of this month! (June 1- July 31 2009)The only hitch is you can only use one 3$ card per purchase.

• Chuck E Cheese – click on the Reading rewards link to download the form. Your child will get 10 free tokens on submission of the form. (December 31 2009)

• HEB – Read 10 books and send in your form to get a kids t-shirt, stickers, a certificate and some other cool stuff. (August 9 2009)

• TD Bank – read 10 books, fill in the form and get 10$. (May 4- September 30 2009). Valid only in SE Florida, NY, NJ, DE and Washington DC.

• Scholastic – a chance to win different sweepstakes.

• Sylvan Learning– a reading motivation program for kids from Kindergarten to Grade 8. Kids read books from the list and earn points that can be redeemed for various prizes.

• Pottery Barn Club– your child will need to attend 5 story sessions at a Pottery Barn book club and get a special gift at the end of the 5th session. (This isn’t really a Summer reading program but something that is year round, every Tuesday from 11am-11.30am)

• Reading is Fundamental (RIF) – log in reading minutes to collectively reach a goal of 5 million minutes read with kids. All participants are eligible to win a Disney World package, US Airways giftcards and books. (ends June 30 2009)

• Check with your local library for more information on their summer program. (This varies from library to library)

Now with incentives like that, why wouldn’t our kids want to read?

Check out an earlier post titled Read,read,read.