Scholastic Encourages Young Readers to Stay Sharp with E-Reader App Storia

It’s summer, and with the Independence Day weekend in front of us, fun summer activities come to mind. Being active and enjoying the weather are great ways to spend time during the lazy, hazy days ahead, but Scholastic offers an alternative designed to keep young people reading. Scholastic’s award-winning ebook and ereading app, Storia, is encouraging young readers to take part in the Scholastic Summer Challenge.

The Scholastic Summer Challenge is a free online summer reading program designed to keep reading fun and to kids reading. Kids of all ages can win prizes and digital rewards by logging the amount of time they spend reading throughout the summer. But the possible rewards are not limited to individual prizes.

Teachers can track the reading of their entire class and compete with other schools across the country by pre-registering their students. Dav Pilkey, the author of the award winning children’s series Captain Underpants will pay a visit to the school that logs the most reading time in the country. The 20 schools with the most reading time logged nationwide will be added to the 2014 Scholastic Book of World Records and receive a “Reading Plaque” and a reading badge for their schools’ web sites. The top school in each state will also receive a plaque and a badge.

The below article, published by the Paris Review, shows that Americans read, on average, about five hours and 42 minutes a week. The study does not break out statistics for you specifically. While the wildly increased use of digital devices, such as smart phones, tablets and laptop computers, makes reading more accessible, it also pits reading against activities like gaming (Angry Birds, anyone?). The Scholastic app Storia emphasizes the importance of reading, and makes it into a game, too.