Avi’s 2025 Summer Blog Series Summer Summary

During this past summer I asked my writer friends / colleagues to answer this question: “What’s your favorite strategy for encouraging young people to read?”

While I strongly encourage you to read each of the replies — they are much richer than my summary — here is my sense of what I felt the essence of what each author suggests.

Avi: Read aloud to young and old. In class, at home, every day, bedtime, anytime.

Dan Gutman: Match high interest to what your young reader’s interests are.  E.g., if he / she loves basketball, then offer a book about basketball.

Karen Cushman: Always offer the very best written books.

Gary Schmidt: “Do we want our kids to read? Model it. Let them see you read.”

Dr. Padma Venkatraman: Create a special place where kids can feel safe, secure, where they can read at their own pace.

Suzanne Supplee: As a teacher, she required students to choose a book, any book, and read it purely for pleasure.

Pam Muñoz Ryan: Provide stories that are fast-paced, mysterious, or dramatic.

Jolene Gutiérrez: A librarian, she helps readers find a book that feels comfortable to them.

Alan Gratz: Provide books that tell the truth, which take the young reader seriously.

Margarita Engle: Invite kids to choose any book that they want to read. Focus on the feelings the book inspires, not what answers it might give.

Tina M. Cho: Provide diverse books in which young readers can see themselves.

Bruce Coville: Offer books that are funny, sometimes with a touch of the gross, which provide a good time.

Deborah Hopkinson: Offer nonfiction that is grounded in evidence and fact, which provide the truth about real lives.

Kekla Magoon: “Let kids engage with a book the way they want to, not the way you think they’re supposed to.”

Again, I urge you to read the full entries for even more ideas.