By Author Chris Bradford
As John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John sang in Grease “Summer sun, something’s begun…”1, the summer holidays are a perfect opportunity to begin reading a book.
No school assignments, no assessment and no targets to be met. Summer is a time for your children to leave all that educational pressure behind and focus on the simple pleasure of reading.
Yet this opportunity is often missed, set aside or completely forgotten, leading to a ‘summer slide’. This refers to the loss of reading skills and academic confidence that children experience during the summer break when they’re not regularly picking up a book and practicing such skills. In fact, research has concluded that the ‘summer slide’ can result in as much as two and half months of lost learning, and that loss can be cumulative over time.2
Understandably, this can cause anxiety in parents. You want your kids to relax, but you also don’t want them to start the next school year on the back foot.
The National Year of Reading highlights this important truth: the ability to read (and read well) is a key indicator of a child’s future success — more than their family’s income or social background. Reading builds empathy, expands vocabulary, reduces stress and sparks the imagination.
As an author who has spent nearly 20 years visiting schools and talking to tens of thousands of young readers, I recognise the importance of reading and see the positive impact it has on children’s learning, wellbeing and overall happiness.
So, what can be done to turn the ‘summer slide’ into a summer success?
Three Stress-free Summer Solutions
#1 Ditch The Mobile
I can’t ‘stress’ enough how effective this strategy is. In my own family, I’ve witnessed just how powerful this single change in behaviour can be. A couple of years ago, we decided to limit our mobile phone usage to half an hour a day while on holiday -- for everyone in the family.
Before we left, each of us chose a book to carry instead of our phones. The result was a literary miracle. Every morning we woke to find our three boys reading (rather than scrolling!) and they continued to read throughout the day. In fact, the experiment was so successful that our boys asked to make it a family tradition.
But you don’t have to go ‘cold turkey’ like we did. There are other ways to set the phone aside and allow the necessary time and space for reading.
The 15 Minute Passport
Rather than ask for hours of silent study, establish a relaxed 15 minutes of reading before any screentime or bed. This is their ‘passport’ to screens. It sets a reasonable boundary without being too long or feeling too heavy handed.
DEAR Holiday
Organise a daily ‘Drop Everything And Read’ time where the whole family (including parents) stop what they’re doing and read for 15-20 minutes. This makes reading feel like a shared family experience. Moreover, seeing their parents with a book in their hand helps children view reading as a rewarding activity, rather than a chore (role-modelling is crucial to encouraging reading for pleasure!). The bonus here is that many children will be familiar with the concept of DEAR time from their schools, making it easier to implement.
#2 Link It To Location
If you’re heading to a particular holiday destination, or getting involved in a sport or special activity, link it to a book. For example:
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For early readers, if you’re going to the beach, perhaps try my phonics book Jake & Jen and the Castle of Kings. Reading about sandcastle adventures while actually sitting on a beach towel creates an instant, tactile connection to the text.
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Maybe you’re off to the countryside? Alice With a Why by Anna James is an enchanting choice. With its return to Wonderland, the imaginative rural setting sparks curiosity (curiouser and curiouser!) about wildlife and adventures in nature. Reading a magical mystery set in the natural world encourages kids to look away from their screens and explore the hedges and fields around them.
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If you’re going swimming, or maybe even diving, then consider The Lost Whale by Hannah Gold. This enchanting novel about the connection between a boy and a whale will make any reader want to dive deep both into the water and into the book.
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Heading further out to sea? Then embark on my book Sea Wolf. Looking out at a vast ocean while reading about young Vikings on a thrilling voyage into the unknown brings the setting to life. The sound of the waves and the salty air helps turn a historical adventure into an immerse and multi-sensory experience.
There are so many books and so many locations to link up, the world is literally your oyster!
#3 Listen Up, Audiobooks Count!
If you're stuck in summer traffic, waiting in departures, or sunbathing on a beach, simply pop on an audiobook. This provides an easy and accessible way to engage with books on the move. In an instant, an audiobook can transform a flight delay into a delight or a boring car journey into a shared family experience.
And don’t think that it’s ‘cheating’ to listen to a book rather than read one. Listening to a story builds narrative comprehension and vocabulary just as effectively as decoding words on a page. All you need is your phone, a set of headphones and an app!
Top Tip: X-book - the audiobook app with super-powers!
While you can obviously use Audible, Apple Books and now Spotify to access audiobooks, I’d recommend is XigXag (www.xigxag.co.uk) especially for children. This fab app offers the first-ever fully integrated listen-and-read experience, x-book, allowing your child to read along with the story on their device. My boys love this app! (Best of all, you don’t need a subscription for this service.)
To warm up your ears, here are three recommended summer listens:
1. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate – this beautifully written and beautifully told story about a gorilla who wins his freedom is a truly heart-warming tale for all animal lovers and the perfect family listen on any journey.
2. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy – for older readers, this bestselling series about a brilliant, fast-talking detective who just happens to be a living skeleton hits the sweet spot for rapid-fire dialogue, dark humour and relentless action.
3. Nova by Chris Bradford – this is the third in my space survival anthology and is ideal for any aspiring astronauts. This adventure follows Max as he gets sucked into a wormhole. Think ‘Interstellar for kids’!
Summer Readin’
There are multiple other ways to combine reading with your holiday time, whether that is setting fun reading challenges (e.g. read a page under a blanket fort), or having a ‘Page to Screen’ night (i.e. read the book, watch the movie, then discuss what was different, whether it was how they imagined, which version was better, etc. Just be sure to include popcorn!).
The key thing is to give yourself the freedom to explore different books with your children – and don’t stress too much about the format they’re reading. If your child wants to read a comic book, a graphic novel, a manual for a video game or the back of a cereal box, let them. The goal is building momentum and regularity in their reading.
Throughout my career writing books, my mission has always been to craft stories that grip readers from page one and refuse to let them go. I write for the kids who claim they ‘hate reading’, but usually, it’s simply a matter of finding the right book for that child.
So, as we celebrate the National Year of Reading, spend this summer discovering what excites your children. Whether it’s Vikings, skeletons, or a simple illustrated tale about sandcastles, the right story is out there. It’s just about giving them the passport to explore the world of reading.
Have a great summer!
Chris Bradford
#GettingKidsReading
1“Summer Nights” from Grease (1978), performed by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John; written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.
2The Effects of Summer Vacation on Achievement Test Scores: A Narrative and Meta-Analytic Review https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/00346543066003227 and Summer Learning Loss https://thinkstretch.com/our-difference/summer-learning-loss/
Author biography:
Chris Bradford is the bestselling children’s author of the Young Samurai, Bodyguard and Jake & Jen series. A black belt martial artist, professional songwriter and qualified bodyguard, he’s known for his ‘method writing’ technique and dynamic author events. His life goal is #GettingKidsReading.