Eight percent of children between the ages of 6 and 17 feel that reading during the summer months will indeed help them out when they go back to school, according to the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report: 6th Edition. But that doesn’t mean that summer reading actually happens. So here’s where the 2018 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge comes in. Scholastic’s annual summer reading challenge program helps to motivate kids across the country to read, read and read some more!

The 2018 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is a free online program that helps kids to track just how much they’re reading during those non-school months. Oh, but that’s not all.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, this year’s Challenge has the theme, A Magical Summer of Reading. Along with seeing works by Harry Potter illustrated series artist Jim Kay, kids who register for the Challenge can access 18 reading-related activities that are based on the Harry Potter series (including quizzes, videos, puzzles and games), watch videos of some of their favorite stories read by children’s book authors and time their reading adventures with an online stopwatch.

So how does your child register for this magical program? Teachers, public librarians and community literacy partners can register their students for the Challenge. They can also get free educational resources, videos and booklists—in English or Spanish.

Along with the Challenge, the Scholastic Summer Reading Road Trip will be coming to 30 cities across the country. Road Trip activities include meet and greets with favorite Scholastic authors and much, much more!

The Challenge runs from now through September 7th. After the closing date, Scholastic will announce “Best in State” winners—one school, library or community group in each state that has read the most number of minutes total. The winners get a Scholastic party kit, banner, plaque and certificates. They’ll also get a mention in the 2019 Scholastic Book of World Records.

—Erica Loop

Featured photo: pixabay.com

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