This is from guest blogger Siobhan O’Boyle, a school librarian, mother of a second grader and avid reader:

I was in Barnes & Noble the other day for about a half hour, and I must have heard those two dreaded words at least three times. That’s right…”summer reading!”  The note of controlled panic in one mom’s voice could not be missed as she struggled to discern whether a book existed (and was available for purchase) called simply “Frog and Toad.”

What was an option in June, and a possibility in July, has now become a task in August.  The number of books or chapters still to be read has been doled out across the August calendar. We love to read in our house, and our son is a good reader, but there is something about a requirement that turns what should be a pleasant part of the day into a power struggle. So I resort to deception and bribes.

Most authors these days have Web sites which feature interviews and information so I use the pull of the almighty computer to pique his interest. We listen to audio books and playaways we get from the library in the car, at lunch, whenever I can pry the DS from his hands. Speaking of the library, there’s a cool function on the Baltimore County Public Library catalog called “More titles like this” where you can look up a book that your child liked and click a feature on the right when you get into the book’s page.  It’s a great way to find similar books. If you liked, for example, “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH” you might enjoy the “Gregor the Overlander” series by Suzanne Collins. It offers you concrete suggestions like that.

So, good luck with summer reading. I’m with you as I too search for the secret to making summer reading less of a chore and more of a pleasure.

Would you like to be a guest blogger? If so, send a sample blog to cclemens@patuxent.com.