Miller, Ben

School Library Journal has proudly partnered with We Are Kid Lit Collective to share and promote the group's annual summer reading recommendations. These 18 beginning readers and chapter books are just right for kids starting to read on their own. A PDF of the full list is also available for download.

Ask your students about book preferences, access, and more to create personal goals, plan spring lessons, and motivate for summer reading.

Typically, generic worksheets, book report templates, and cookie-cutter projects are assigned to prove that students read. Here are ways for them to truly share their responses to the text. 

Identifying students’ reading preferences (or lack of them) provides insight into their experiences and how best to help them grow and remain engaged.

Reading a series can increase students' understanding of storytelling, text structures, and the author’s craft, as well as offering a connection with peers.

During the pandemic, social readers have lost outlets for discussing books, but we can encourage students to keep their reading momentum going with personal recommendations.

Foster reading engagement, no matter the learning environment.

In quarantine, read-alouds remain a powerful way to engage young readers and support their long-term reading growth.

Learning to read is a constitutional right, but functional literacy has never been equitably attained by Americans, says Miller. Here she offers tools of empowerment that enhance information and civic literacy.