Read for a Better World Summer Reading Program Aims to Help Children Grow as Readers and as People
MINNEAPOLIS, MN— Strong literacy skills are an essential part of education. Literacy allows students to communicate effectively, keep up with current events, and understand the issues that are shaping the world. Ultimately, literacy can transform students into socially-engaged global citizens.
Learning loss over the summer is a challenge educators, students, and family members face annually. On average, students lose about one month of learning over the summer (1). Due to the global pandemic, the 2020 school year looked very different from a typical year. By the fall of 2021, students are predicted to have lost between three months to a year of learning as a result of disruptions due to COVID-19 (2).
In addition to the pandemic, the last twelve months have emphasized the need for cultural literacy – an understanding of the world around us, in order to make sense of current and historical events. From learning about hidden history to reading about a variety of perspectives, it is more important than ever to think about what children are reading.
The Read for a Better World Summer Reading Collection is one tool families and educators can use as part of a remediation plan for both literacy and diversity awareness. These books and activities encourage readers to reflect on their own identity, the world they live in, and how they can act for a more just world. These take-home packs of award-winning and highly recommended books are curated by a collaborative team of educational experts including principals, superintendents, librarians, and master teachers and will be available just in time to stop the summer reading slide.
Each summer reading kit is pre-packaged for individual students and contains 5 paperback books as well as IDEA sheets full of prompts and activities designed to promote reading and increase family engagement in education, a key indicator in preventing learning loss. Schools have the option to select from different themes which include “Read for a Better World,” kits focused on literacy and diversity for grades PreK-5; a Crayola® collection with a creativity theme; and a Sesame Street® collection focused on Social Emotional Learning.
“As a leader in the School & Library publishing space, Lerner is well aware of the struggles that students, parents, teachers, and librarians are facing due to limited in-person learning during the pandemic,” said Adam Lerner, President and CEO of Lerner Publishing Group. “These new summer reading collections are the perfect way for students to bring our award-winning books into their homes so they can stay entertained and engaged over the summer months, while learning more about the world around them.”
About Lerner Publishing Group
Lerner Publishing Group creates high-quality fiction and nonfiction for children and young adults. Founded in 1959, Lerner Publishing Group is one of the nation’s largest independent children’s book publishers with fifteen imprints and divisions: Lerner Publications, Millbrook Press™, Carolrhoda Books®, Twenty-First Century Books™, Graphic Universe™, Darby Creek™, Kar-Ben Publishing™, Carolrhoda Lab®, LernerClassroom™, Hungry Tomato®, ediciones Lerner, First Avenue Editions™, Lerner Digital™, Zest Books™, and Lerner Publisher Services™.
Media contact:
Lindsay Matvick
Publicity Manager
800-328-4929, x385
lmatvick@lernerbooks.com
(1)https://www.brookings.edu/research/summer-learning-loss-what-is-it-and-what-can-we-do-about-it/
(2)https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Industries/Public%20and%20Social%20Sector/Our%20Insights/COVID-19%20and%20student%20learning%20in%20the%20United%20States%20The%20hurt%20could%20last%20a%20lifetime/COVID-19-and-student-learning-in-the-United-States-FINAL.pdf