Inspiring Summer Reading Program

When I was younger, I loved to read – everything from each book in the Sweet Valley High series to magazines and newspapers. This love of reading inspired my love of writing. I would read books and articles and try to mimic the style, the action and the flow that engaged me for hours on end.

Over the years, time has not been kind to my love of reading. Between preparing for my classes, running kids to soccer games and dance lessons and maintaining somewhat of a clean house, the hours turned to minutes (and often these minutes consisted of keeping up with my RSS feeds on my mobile phone).

My children, though, have found the time to read and they read hours on end, especially when the cable is out or their Nintendo DS games need to be charged.

Since my schedule allows me to spend the summers at home (for the most part), I’ve always wanted to launch a summer reading program with them. My initial idea was to make it a game or a contest, with prizes for thousand and million word readers. But, ultimately, I’ve been hesitant because I don’t want reading to become a chore, like homework …

This summer, though, they launched it for me. In fact, my daughter was most inspired on the last day of her parish school religion class last week. Our parish priest challenged each child to read a gospel from the Bible before the fall semester. She pushed aside her Babysitter’s Club books and the Twilight series and cracked open the big book.

Each day, I have been inspired watching my daughter pick up her Bible and read a few passages, eager to accomplish this goal. I was touched that she was taking her faith seriously and inspired that she was seeking information to guide her on a daily basis.

As we were sitting outside today, soaking up some sun – my daughter with her Bible in hand and me on my MacBook – I leaned over and asked her which gospel she chose to read.

She smiled, giggled a little, and said, “Mark. Father Joe told me it was the shortest.”

I may have jumped the gun with my awe of her dedication, but I’m still quite inspired by her clever thinking.

Happy Summer Reading!

– Shannon Philpott
Blog Entry: May 28, 2010

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