R eading shouldn’t stop when school’s out. To make reading a priority year-round, Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, is encouraging millions of kids across the country to participate in the Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza. Summer is a pivotal time for families and communities to come together to support students’ reading skills by encouraging kids to keep reading and ensure kids have access to books while school is out of session. Research shows that kids who do not read during the summer months are more likely to feel the “summer slide” — the learning loss that takes place during the long break from school. Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza empowers kids to unlock book access for other kids by reading and tracking minutes on the online “challenge” experience or participating in local book drives or both! Through the power of kids helping kids, Scholastic will donate at least 200,000 books to book deserts across the country and together with local partners, enable kids to give back in their own communities. • Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Challenge • Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Give Back • Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Celebrations “The Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza program unites students, educators, parents, public librarians, community partners and booksellers in a nation-wide movement to get books to kids in need during the summer, keeping every child reading,” said Stephanie Smirnov, Executive Vice President of Global Corporate Communications. THE READING CHALLENGE The Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Challenge is a free online reading program specifically designed to help students turn the “summer slide” into the “summer leap” by helping kids discover the power and joy of reading for fun. And this year, every minute read and entered will help to unlock book donations from Scholastic through the Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Give Back. The Challenge officially kicks off on Monday, May 6 th and over the course of 18 weeks, kids can enter their summer reading minutes and unlock digital rewards by completing weekly reading activities, gain access to book excerpts, videos, and content from beloved titles such as Clifford the Big Red Dog ® , Captain Underpants, Dog Man, The Baby-Sitters Club, The Bad Guys, Geronimo Stilton and more! Data from the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report™: 7 th Edition reveals that 77% of kids ages 6–17 and 94% of parents believe reading books over the summer will help me/my child during the school year. And for over a decade, kids have collectively entered millions upon millions of minutes between May and September through the Challenge. In 2018, kids read an impressive 135,865,170 million minutes! Whether you’re a parent interested in signing up your child, a teacher looking to get your whole school involved, or a public librarian or community partner organization leader hoping to start a reading group, you can get started as early as April 8 th to pre-register with the Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Challenge at scholastic.com/summer Educators, public librarians and community partners can register students for the Challenge and together work towards earning “Best There are three major components of Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza:
in State” and Top honors for most minutes read! THE GIVE BACK
The Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Give Back empowers kids to unlock book access for other kids. Every minute read during the summer counts on the Summer Reading Challenge website, as kids work together to reach Give Back minute milestones. Upon reaching 25, then 50 and then 100 million minutes, Scholastic will donate a minimum of 200,000 books to book deserts across the country! What are “book deserts”? While you may have heard of “food deserts”—areas where people face limited access to supermarkets, grocery stores and other places that sell fresh, whole foods—book deserts are another detrimental yet more unfamiliar geographical experience that can have a lasting impact on academic outcomes. Once children are out of the classroom, where can they turn to for reading materials if they don’t have access to any at home? The most common answers are a public library or bookstore, but these can still present their own challenges. While many communities simply don’t have either of these options available to residents, other communities face barriers such as limited public transportation services, working hours or library staffing. In schools, a classroom or school library is right at a child’s fingertips; in book deserts during the summer, reading materials can be completely out of a child’s grasp. In Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids , authors Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp describe how plentiful and meaningful access to books both at school and at home goes a long way in ensuring that all children reach their full potential. “When they have access to books, they read more and they read better” (Miller & Sharp, 2018). This summer, kids can also help close the gap in access through local book drives. Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Give Back boxes will bring the experience to retailers in select communities that are participating in the Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Celebrations. THE CELEBRATIONS The Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Celebrations will take place at participating stores and libraries nationwide to bring communities together in the spirit of giving back while encouraging every child to keep reading. Families who attend will be dazzled by a fun and engaging event that brings literacy to life! Readers can engage in activities, photo ops, and giveaways based on their favorite characters and series. Select events will even have appearances by both Clifford the Big Red Dog and Dog Man. All events are anchored by a Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Give Back book drive to collect books for a local charity partner of the retailer’s choice. Every minute read during the local celebration events can be entered on the Summer Reading Challenge website to help reach minute milestones that unlock book donations throughout the country—enabling kids to help other kids near and far. Check scholastic.com/readapalooza for an event list to find a celebration. “Not only does the new Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza campaign tap into children’s natural sense of altruism, it also brings summer reading to new audiences and encourages ongoing learning,” said Smirnov. “With the Give Back element, Scholastic is helping bring books directly to the areas that need them most. As we’ve discovered in the Kids & Family Reading Report , creating a literacy-rich environment for children by surrounding them with books makes a difference.”
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