Summer Reading Program 2016 for Teens! This year, we’ve decided to do things a bit differently. Now, you can enjoy participating in the Teen Summer Reading Program without reading, unless you want to! No, this is not a line picked up from a comedy TV show. It’s quoted from a public library’s summer reading program flyer. In desperate attempts to attract youth back to the library, the library is willing to eliminate even reading itself. But what is wrong with reading? If students were looking to impress their new literature teacher, or simply were in need of a good story to read over the summer, then what shall they do? Would a summer reading program be a good place to start with?
    

Now, the library is the most wonderful place in the world. It’s full of books of all kinds: the newest, the top-rated, the classical, and (of course!) the most beloved. There are attractive programs for all ages— daily “story times” for the younger children, clubs, tutoring, volunteering, games and activities, and so much more! The librarians are all the kindest and most caring. Most importantly, they absolutely love reading and will help you find any book you request for. In the past years, the summer reading programs were marvelous. You would read books, and record them in a special log. Every week, you could stop by at the library and turn in your log to receive a free book, some prizes, and to be entered into various lotteries for gift cards. However, there was no way out of reading. If you didn’t read, you wouldn’t get the reward; it was simple. This year, however, the library offers for you to do most anything as long as you find a library interaction to go with it. For example, if you decided to try knitting, you should check out a knitting eBook to go along with your experience to have it count towards summer reading. You don’t need to read the eBook, though. You just need to take a look and see what ideas you might get from it.
    

Let’s face the truth: our current generation doesn’t read many books that are considered ‘good’ for the development of their minds. In fact, many don’t read at all. Why read if you have high-tech gaming devices to busy yourself with and social media to constantly contact your friends? To supposedly fix this problem, some schools require students to read a couple books a semester, which is beneficial during the year. During the summer, however, many students (and even their parents!) cut themselves some slack and decided to skip reading over the summer. Statistics have shown that those who don’t exercise their brains over the summer perform worse in school than those who do. Reading is a great way to stay put while on break, but most kids don’t want to read. In the past years, the summer reading program got kids excited about reading to get their prizes that week, but now kids are getting excited to get their prizes all the same— as well as being excited that they don’t have to read anymore.
    

Reading is a very important part of our development. We learn about ourselves through reading— our literature taste, our likes and dislikes, and much more. We also take a step closer to making wiser choices as we pick out books. If, for instance, you are scared of those thick, old, classical books of which half the words you don’t understand, you can still enjoy reading— find something that suits you: it can be your hobby, a sport, or any other topic. Of course, you cannot forget about the knowledge you get from reading. As Dr. Suess once said, “The more you will read, the more you will know. The more you will know, the more places you’ll go!” We need knowledge as we progress towards our career and into the real world. When we participate in this modified reading program, we don’t get the most out of it (because as it can be expected, not many students will actually choose to read this summer).
    

Think about it the easy way: a video game costs money. Even apps for smart phones and tablets have a tricky way of getting money from you. You won’t be able to change the color of your character’s hair until you pay $1.99, and the prettier colors are (of course!) locked. Reading, on the other hand, can be for free. That’s what public libraries are for.
    

A solution can be offered: simply to go back to the old program. The problem is the loss of all the benefits of reading over the summer, which no one wants (or so it is hoped). So, let’s pry the kids from the screen this summer and sign them up for a program that not only gets them reading, but makes them eager to keep on reading for the rest of their lives. And most importantly, let’s not be afraid to make reading a required concept for every student so that no one misses out on all the “good stuff”.