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Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 5, age appropriate for kids over 10; suggested age 8.

  • Is it any good?

    4.0

  • Common Sense says

    Summer reading program encourages reading (and sells books).

Why We Rated This iffy for Ages 8–10

The good stuff

  • Educational value:

    Reading is chic and cool for tweens on this site. Users are encouraged to share their thoughts about authors, books, and current events and track the time they have read throughout the summer.

  • Messages:

    The site not only promotes summer reading, but also encourages kids to work together to set a world record for most hours read by a group. The summer reading program centers around a system where time spent reading equates to money donated to the Save the Children U.S. program.
 

What to watch out for

  • Violence:

    Very little violence, however during the quiz to choose which summer reading team a user will be on, a question asks what type of "heist" you would commit and one of the answers is, in effect, "I would tell you but I would have to kill you afterward."

  • Sex:

    Not an issue.

  • Language:

    Not an issue.

  • Consumerism:

    This site is part of Scholastic's larger "Stacks" Web site, which is a tween interactive reading community. There are promos all over the site for Scholastic books and a click of an ad will take you to Scholastic's online store. Additionally, users can earn "points" for reading, which can then be redeemed via the Web site SmartyCard for both real and virtual prizes.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Not an issue.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge

Parents need to know that although this site has a very noble goal to inspire kids to read more over the summer, there is still a lot of commercial footnotes to this story. The site is run by Scholastic, which uses the program to promote its books and authors, and there are even convenient links to purchase titles. The program is partnered with SmartyCard to offer prize incentives to kids. SmartyCard is a pay site where parents purchase the rewards that are awarded to kids for playing education games on the site.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about reading and what makes it enjoyable. Do you find it more interesting to read a book if your friends are reading it as well? Is reading a social activity? Will a Web site like this get your to read more over the summer months? Do you think Scholastic has an interest in getting kids to read more? Should kids be rewarded with prizes for reading books?
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