Want to Hear a Pathetic Story?

There was a party recently at McCraken Middle School. It was a reward to kids who participated in the Summer Readers' initiative. Want to guess how many kids were eligible to attend said party? According to my sources, about 12-13… out of what? Maybe 1000 kids? Of the dozen or so that were eligible NONE were in the 8th grade, 2 were in the 7th grade, and the remainder were in the 6th grade.

That is what most people call a TREND and not a very good one at that. Reading throughout a long summer break exercises kids’ vocabulary and helps them hone everything from reading comprehension and context cues, to grammar and spelling, not to mention expand the horizons of young minds.

The books cost nothing if you simply check them out from the public library, all that’s really needed is the time (and gas) to take your kids to the library and the gumption to make sure they read the book. It’s really not that hard, but when you consider how many kids failed to read over the summer, you’d think it was damn near impossible.