According to the Scholastic Teacher & Principal School Report, more than 60% of educators say that reading over the summer supports students’ academic success. The Scholastic Summer Reading program was designed to help engage students even when they’re not in the classroom. The free, annual initiative keeps kids motivated to read all summer long, while expanding access to books. The program hosts virtual author events, provides e-books, and empowers kids to unlock a donation of 100,000 print books from Scholastic that are distributed in rural communities by Save the Children.
In this episode, host Suzanne McCabe talks with Lizette Serrano and Dr. Sayantani DasGupta about the joy of reading and how kids can access all of the free literacy resources on Scholastic Home Base over the summer. Lizette is the vice president of educational marketing and event planning at Scholastic. She has a wealth of experience motivating kids to read for pleasure —not just in the summer months, but all year long.
Sayantani, who is a pediatrician by training, is the New York Times-bestselling author of Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond, a wildly-popular middle-grade fantasy series. Her latest book, a stand-alone novel from The Kingdom Beyond, is called Force of Fire. She teaches at Columbia University in the Graduate Program in Narrative Medicine, the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, and the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race.
“If there’s ever been a time that all of us—young readers, teenage readers, adult readers—need the healing power of story, it’s this summer,” Sayantani says. “There is so much loss and confusion and anguish that we’ve all been through.”
Find out how you can help your kids discover their best selves in the pages of a book.
Resources:
Scholastic Summer Reading: Gain access to a fun, free, and safe program for kids.
Check out Home Base, a free 3D interactive world that celebrates favorite stories through book-based games, live author events, and a community of readers. Learn more about New York Times-bestselling author Sayantani DasGupta.
Special Thanks:
Music composer: Lucas Elliot Eberl
Producer: Bridget Benjamin
Associate producer: Constance Gibbs
Sound engineer: Daniel Jordan
Coming Soon:
Back to School, Back Together: A new website from Scholastic offers literacy curricula, classroom libraries, culturally responsive SEL programs, and interventions for striving readers.
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