Promoting reading 1
Chapter 7. Summer reading programmes School stude
nts tend to fall behind with their learning over the long summer holidays and students from families of lower socio-economic status tend to fall behind even more. Over time, this creates ever-greater gaps. The phenomenon is termed Summer Learning Loss (Cooper 2003) or the Summer Slide (Smith 2012). Concerning reading specifically, terms such as the Summer Holiday Reading Dip and the Summer Reading Setback are used. Summer Reading Programmes are often regarded as a means of combating these effects. At Swedish public libraries, summer reading programmes have gone under the name “the Summer Book”. In a Masters thesis in library and information science, the summer book has been defined as a reading promotion method where children are required to read a number of books over the summer and then rewarded if they succeed (Karlsson & Steen 2006). The current national programme Sommarboken (The Summer Book) has departed from the method of reporting and rewards, and instead placed the emphasis on book conversations in various forms. This kind of no-obligation variant of the Summer Book programme has been studied by researcher Linnéa Lindsköld (2015), who investigated children’s experiences of participating in the reading promotion project Sommarboken 2014. Abroad, summer reading programmes often follow a kind of read-and-report structure, where the children get to report on what they have read, orally or in writing. Often the children are required to read a certain number of books, with some form of reward in sight. In the research, programmes of this type have been called Incentive Programmes (McKenna 2001). An example is the British programme called the Summer Reading Challenge. This programme includes thousands of libraries in the UK and requires children to read at least six books over the summer holidays. They are then rewarded for their efforts. The programme is offered through public libraries and has a particular theme each year. The organisation behind the program is The Reading Agency which continuously publishes evaluations of the activity on its website. The programme is financed by the Arts Council England and a number of sponsors. The target group for the Summer Reading Challenge is children aged 4 to 12 years. The participants are encouraged to interact with the books in the form of writing, drawing and making things. The children who participate get stickers, posters, banners, bookmarks and medals. Summer book programmes may include a variety of reading promotion methods such as competitions, book conversations, book-related craft and making activities, author visits, storytelling and rewards. In the following, the focus will lie on two things that often distinguish a summer book programme internationally: quantitative reading accomplishments and rewards. That extensive reading can generate positive qualitative effects such as extended vocabulary, improved writing skills, better results on reading tests and more positive attitudes to reading in general has already been dealt with. A number of investigations 79