Overview 

Devote time during your last weeks of school to promote summer reading by inviting students to create brochures and flyers that suggest books and genres to explore during the summer months. Rather than a teacher-centered requirement, summer reading becomes a student-driven exploration with brochures such as “Beach Books” and “I Know What You Read Last Summer: Great Suspense Novels.”

You can customize the lesson, if desired, to promote reading any time of the year. Create suggestions for reading over Winter holidays, such as a brochure titled “Books for the Snowbound,” or on African American authors for Black History Month, such as a flyer on books that fit the theme “What’s Civil About Civil Rights?”

From Theory to Practice 

Gloria Pipkin explains in her Notes Plus article, “Of course we want our students to read over the summer, but I’ve yet to be convinced that the typical summer reading assignment does much to extend love of reading or increase literary competence. There may be a handful of students who can’t wait to tackle our scintillating assignments on their summer vacation, but for the most part, summer reading assignments are regarded as a plague and a pox, even by avid readers, who much prefer choosing their own books.”

Rather than required readings, Pipkin suggests that we invite students to create their own summer reading opportunities, which they then share and promote within the classroom or school. Summer reading projects become student-centered explorations in this way, as students begin making, promoting, and sharing their plans. Further, by creating brochures and flyers that share their suggestions, students have a chance to write persuasive texts for an authentic audience and purpose. 
 

Student Objectives

Students will:

• determine the criteria for effective booklists.
• brainstorm categories of books based on genres, themes, and specific authors.
• identify books and readings that fit a specific category.
• create persuasive brochures or flyers that promote the books they’ve identified.

View the complete lesson

ReadWriteThink, established in April of 2002, is a partnership between the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the Verizon Foundation. Visit the ReadWriteThink lesson plan index.