We’re thrilled to announce that more than 100,000 kids participating in the Scholastic Summer Challenge broke the 2010  Read for the World Record of 52,710,368 reading minutes! But it’s not over yet…kids are still reading and logging minutes.

With just one week left in the Summer Challenge, kids can still log their reading minutes to set an even bigger record for 2011. The 2011 Read for the World Record is up to 53+ million minutes as of today with 4,176 schools participating from more than 22 countries. But, if I had to guess…I think that our voracious young readers are going to hit the 55 million mark by August 31! Once the program closes, a new record will be set and published in the 2012 Scholastic Book of World Records.

We’re truly proud of all of the kids who stepped up to the Challenge and read this summer. We always talk about how important it is for kids to read during the summer in order to avoid the “summer slide” – common loss of skills due to being out of school during the summer – but we should remember that summer reading is also about kids exercising choice when it comes to finding their next great read. It’s all in the research…

• Ninety-one percent of kids say they are more likely to finish reading a book that they’ve picked out themselves. (2010 Kids & Family Reading Report)
• Studies also show that making sure there are always interesting books at home can increase the likelihood of a child being a frequent reader, especially among ages 9-11 and 15-17. (2010 Kids & Family Reading Report)

So keep encouraging your kids to log their minutes all week long. There are still sample book chapters and virtual badges to be unveiled in the weekly challenge!

For the Fall: If you and your kids enjoyed the Summer Challenge, sign up for Scholastic Book Fairs’ READ 100,000, a school year-long reading program. More to come on READ 100K when registration opens. Stay tuned!