Free Pizza for Summer Reading or $10 in a Savings Account? How Kids Are Motivated to Read in the USA?
Getting a child to read over the summer is a tough challenge. How can they sit with books when there’s so much fun to be had outside during vacation?
But summer reading has proven benefits — it helps prevent loss of skills and knowledge gained during the school year. That’s why reading in summer is important.
In the US, interesting incentive programs have been created to solve the question: “How to motivate kids to read?” And children receive prizes and rewards for their achievements.
Summer Reading Motivation Programs
Pizza Hut's Camp Book It!
Pizza Hut encourages kids to read by rewarding them with certificates for free pizza when they meet their monthly reading goals.
Local Library Summer Programs
Nearly all public libraries in the US run summer reading challenges with fun and useful prizes. Kids track books they read, join events, and sometimes win big prizes.
Amazon's Summer Reading Challenge
Amazon motivates kids by letting them track books read in a special tracker. After meeting the goals, they receive a personal certificate and bonus content from Amazon Kids+.
There are also many reading apps that give prizes and rewards for completing reading goals.
Sylvan's Book Adventure
A free online platform where kids read books, take quizzes, and earn points that can be exchanged for real prizes — games, books, and gadgets.
TD Bank Summer Reading
For every 10 books read, the child earns $10 deposited into a TD Bank kids’ savings account. This program encourages regular reading and teaches kids the basics of money management.
Chuck E. Cheese's Rewards
Parents upload a reading tracker, and kids earn 10 game tokens for each book read, which can be used at Chuck E. Cheese.
And these are just a few examples of summer reading programs for kids — and they’re awesome!
Why Read Books in Summer?
During summer, kids relax and don’t exercise their brains much. This leads to loss not only of knowledge but also skills. In September, teachers often notice worse handwriting and poorer reading and math skills.
The brain needs regular workouts, and reading is one of the most interesting, exciting, and enjoyable ways to do it.
Books open windows to new interests and help shape a child’s personality.
How to Motivate Your Child to Read at Home?
You can borrow ideas from these big platforms and create your own summer reading challenge for your child.
Make a reading list for summer and set rewards for reaching certain goals.
For example, give your child a small amount of money for each book they finish. Or agree on a bigger reward for reading a set number of books — maybe a purchase your child has been dreaming of.
To keep your child’s Russian language skills strong, include books in both English and Russian in the reading list. By the way, we’ve already published a list of Russian stories and books for summer reading.
And we’ll send you a full list in a file right after you fill out the short form below this article.
