Ah, the joys of summer. For most students, it means forgetting entirely about anything to do with school. Suddenly, math, science, English, and history are all nonexistent for the next two-and-a-half months. For many, summer also means no reading. Wahoo! These are the people who never read books unless they have to. To them, reading is a waste of time, or is boring. I am here to argue that reading after school ends is important, and has both short and long-term effects.

A quick search for “the importance or summer reading” on Google showed that an overwhelming majority of groups only look at the statistics. ALA, the American Library Association, chimes “Numerous studies have shown that summer programs help ensure that school children retain reading and learning skills over the summer recess.” The National Council of Teachers of English insists that students should “read at least four to five books over the summer to keep their reading skills sharp.” Reading Rockets warns us that “Researchers commonly find that students score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer than they do at the beginning.”

What these organizations are telling us is that if students don’t read over the summer break, they lose a lot of what they learned during the school year. I have experienced this, even at an early age. During the summer between third and fourth grade, I barely read anything. Upon returning to school, I found myself unable to remember how to spell the word “park.” No matter how hard I concentrated, my brain just somehow couldn’t function. This was also true for other alarmingly simple words, and was a result of me not continuously feeding my mind the English language. One may argue that there were other causes (no, I was not dropped as a baby), and maybe there were. However, I also realized in later years when I didn’t read over the summer, it was more difficult to get right back into the school environment.

While retaining reading and learning abilities is critical for students, it is also important to recognize the long-term benefits. One main reason for summer reading at an early age is to give students an appreciation for literature. Reading is a way to get exposed to so many different things. Books tell you about cultures from other parts of the world. They reveal to you all sorts of different ideas, and can give inspiration. Some books cause us to change our way of life (Like force us to study them for months in school. Thanks, Shakespeare.). Others just let us get away from it all and dive into an alternate world. Many kids or even young (or older) adults don’t have this love for reading – yet. By encouraging them to read for pleasure, and not just because they have to, many young people will learn to appreciate it. I plan to read for the rest of my life so that I may continue to receive all of these great benefits, and hope that you do, too.