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While summer reading programs are wonderful, it does mean a parental time commitment. Not only are you helping your child with book selections and tracking what they are reading (and for how long), but you’re making time - and using up gas - to take them to the library or bookstore.

One way to get their reading done with a minimum of hassle is to invest in a subscription to a good children’s magazine. Not only do kids love getting mail, but it comes straight to your mailbox.

One terrific children’s magazine is Ladybug, from the Cricket Magazine group. Ladybug is for children ages three to six who aren’t reading on their own yet. Each issue is 40 pages and filled with stories and poems to read aloud and share with your child. They’ll also enjoy looking at the gorgeous illustrations on their own.

Each issue features activities, games, songs, appearances by characters Molly and Emmett, and a removable four-page activity section with craft ideas. You can also check out the Cricket for Kids website for additional activities, projects, and book suggestions. There’s even recipes like this one for Blueberry Pile-Up.

The annual subscription price is $33.95 for nine issues. While this seems like a lot, Ladybug has no outside advertising and is supported by reader subscriptions.

If you have younger children, check out Babybug magazine. If you have older children, the Cricket Magazine Group has numerous award winning children’s magazines covering a variety of interests.

(And thanks to The Parent Bloggers Network and the Cricket Magazine Group for the sample subscription.)

Participating in a summer reading program means taking your child to the library or bookstore. One way to save time, money and gas is to order from an online bookstore like Apple Children’s Books owned by William Waldman and Lucy Molina, Independent Educational Consultants with Usborne Books in New York City.

This month they’re featuring an incredible Usborne Summer Reading Set for ages five and up. It’s only $26.99 - that’s a savings of over $25. If I didn’t own these books already - I love Usborne and used to sell them -I’d be first in line to order this set from Apple Children’s Books.

The Summer Reading Set includes:

• Vacation Things to Make and Do - This fantastic book will banish boredom during school breaks forever. Easy step-by-step instructions show you how to make a pirate cutlass, fairy wings, bouncing bats and more! The book comes with over 800 stickers to use with the projects in this book.
• Summer Activities - This book contains over 50 stickers to use with the projects and on homemade cards and gift activities.
• Great City Search - A bustling train station, a crowded shopping street and a busy hospital are just a few of the places you will visit. The Great City Search is packed with fascinating facts about cities and the people who live and work in them, and will provide countless hours of puzzle-solving fun.
• Puzzle Journey Under Sea - Imagine reading about a sunken wreck and then going on the expedition to find it. That’s just what happens when Jon, Dirk and Ally become the crew on an amazing futuristic submarine.
• 50 Travel Games and Activities - This fantastic pack of cards is full of fun games and things to do while traveling. Just choose a card, then follow the simple instructions on the back. These are great to bring on roadtrips and vacations.
• Little Book Vacation Activities - You’ll find ideas for a new activity every day: drawing, painting, making things, cooking, gardening and even dressing up. With easy-to-follow instructions and illustrations, this handy little book is guaranteed to keep boredom at bay the entire summer.

It’s an incredible deal for some awesome Usborne Books. Plus, it’s a small investment to keep your kids busy and reading this summer. Click here to order from Apple Children’s Books.

While you may be thinking, “Oh I can get these books at Barnes & Nobles or Amazon,” you can’t buy the set at $25 off. Also, Apple Children’s Books has an incredible Lifetime Replacement Policy. If your child drops their book in the pool or spills breakfast all over it, they’ll replace it at half the retail value plus shipping and handling. Try getting another book vendor to do that.

So what are you waiting for? Order the Usborne Summer Reading Set from Apple Children’s Books today.

Summer vacation has barely started and I’m already fighting with Nathan about his summer reading. (Yes, I really do think he’s a Weirdo from Another Planet! and acts like Calvin at times.)

We’ve joined our local library’s summer reading program. To be eligible for all the rewards (coupons to the rec center, mini golf, fast food places, etc.) each child has to read (or be read to) for 21 hours from June 2 to August 8. Without timing it down the last second, I’m having Nathan and Lucie read 30 minutes a day, Monday through Friday. It’s a reasonable amount of time for an eight- and a five-year-old.

Nathan is also attending his school’s summer reading camp. The class is meeting three times this summer for an hour each time at the library. Nathan’s goal, set by his teacher, is to read 11 books in June.

Did You Really Read That?

This morning when he came to me with a pile of books he supposedly read in one hour between yesterday and today, I knew summer was going to be tough. Either Nathan choose books that were too easy, or he zoomed though them, reading a paragraph here and glancing at a picture there.

He claims to have read an old kid’s book called “The History of Chemistry” this morning. However, it’s 75 pages long, and would take me an hour to read it - and I read very quickly. So as his reward for such stellar behavior (not!) he has to read the whole book Saturday and tell his father, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry, what the book was about.

Thank goodness I don’t have this problem with Lucie. She loves books even though she can’t read yet. Since Nathan is the Wildest Brother, I have him to read to her out loud just so they can stop fighting for a few minutes - another big problem this summer.

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This week, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation’s oldest and largest children and families’ literacy nonprofit organization, is celebrating Reading Is Fun Week, which was started in 1979 to mark the start of summer reading. The RIF website provides free resources to help families celebrate Reading Is Fun Week including a day-by-day children’s activity calendar for each day of the week.

Summer’s Just Around the Corner

Summer, huh? Well, I don’t know what’s going on in your school district, but this week is my children’s last real week of school. Next week it’s clean up time, field day, parties and preschool graduation.

Like me you may be in a slight panic thinking, What am I going to do with these kids all summer? Thank goodness there are such things as library summer reading programs, summer camps, visits to parks, zoos, and the rec center, and playgroups with friends.

Lucie will be attending a preschool summer camp three days a week. I have Nathan enrolled in several mini-camps at his school, including a book club and a writing club. He’ll also be learning American Sign Language and the principal (who’s also our town’s mayor) will be taking a group of kids to the state capitol building in Denver for a field trip.

Both kids will be participating in a week-long soccer camp and a career day at school. Plus, I’ve signed them up to help with a community service project that two teachers are supervising.

We’ll be doing some camping as a family, too, and before we know it August 18 - the first day of school - will be here. Then I’ll have two kids in school full time. I’m so exited!

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The kids and I are participating in our library’s summer reading program, Get Lost in a Book. The program started today and goes until July 22. The kids are to read (or be read to) two hours per week. For the adults, we need to read five books. We’ve been provided with log books as well. (We’re also logging in our hours and books over at Scholastic’s Summer Reading Buzz.)

The kids will get weekly prizes and a free swim party at the rec center for meeting their reading goals. The adults get a travel coffee mug and a chance to win gift certificates and other prizes if we meet our goals.

Today’s book was Usborne’s Aesop’s Fables I would read the story aloud, then Nathan would finish up by reading the moral of the story (the last paragraph). Nathan said he enjoyed the story and thanked me afterwards. I’m not so sure how much Lucie enjoyed it, since she spent most our story (half) hour climbing up and down the coach, but she thanked me too.

Me? Well, I’m indulging in a little scifi, Anne McCaffrey’s Acorna: The Unicorn Girl. I haven’t decided yet if I like it or not since it’s a bit on the silly side, but I’m hoping it gets better.