Summer is in full swing for students now and there are already articles about the summer slide in knowledge that studies found students exhibit in the fall. Some schools provide a summer reading list to combat this.

I have mixed feelings about this. Yes, students are not getting formal instruction or assessments over the summer, but students do get an opportunity to engage in another type of learning that is not addressed in schools - play. I believe in the importance of play. When children play they are not afraid of making mistakes or worrying about getting it wrong. Children rejoice in the silliness of the mistake and the eureka moment that comes with it. (I feel that research is play that grown-ups renamed. Scientists are really playing with variables to see what happens next, aren’t they?)

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE learning and the idea of spending an afternoon reading in the shade is bliss. But I worry that if we require students to read, the fun of reading will be missed.

I think Jon Scieszka’s book from his Time Warp Trio Series may sum up the feelings of some young readers - "Summer Reading is Killing Me!." Jon Scieska’s books are laugh-out-loud hilarious. The Time Warp book series follows the adventures of Joe and his friends Sam and Fred. Joe was given a special book from his uncle who is a magician. "The Book" ends up having real magic itself and of course no owner's manual. As the boys learn through trial and error the workings of the book, they are transported to the past and future for many adventures. In "Summer Reading is Killing Me!," Fred sticks their summer reading list inside the Magic book and their next escapade ensues. “Fred's mistake has mixed-up characters from all kinds of books. And not in a good way. Dracula has Winnie-the-Pooh in a headlock. A cat in a hat and a kid with a hatchet look lost. The only way to stop the evil Teddybear from ruining every book forever is ... to get The Book away from him.”

Scieszka does an excellent job of incorporating characters from popular early readers like "Cat in the Hat," "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "Where the Wild Things Are" and characters from popular upper-level books like "Hatchet," "Dracula," "Sarah Plain and Tall," and "Robinson Crusoe." I enjoyed how he had the various book characters predictably and unpredictably interact and actually made the library dangerous!

Young readers may not get all of the character references, but perhaps they will be motivated to check out the stories to learn about the unfamiliar characters. So this book may spark your young reader's interest a little this summer reading. This book is suggested for third- to fifth-graders, but Scieszka does include leveled suggested reading lists in the back of the book. These are the characters' stories that are included in the book. Young readers may enjoy revisiting some of their favorites and discovering new ones along the way.

So let's think of the reading list as a suggested list of readings to consider. Let your child play with genres like science fiction, fantasy, comic books or informational text and even play with different reading levels. If you are interested in some other reading suggestions you can check out Good Morning America’s suggestions for tweens and teens and this list of lists. Or go to this site for pointers on how to create your own or do what I do and just wing it. Have fun and keep reading.

Lisa Bankey is a parent, an Enrichment Facilitator for the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and a librarian-in-training who blogs about Children’s Literature for AnnArbor.com. Lisa can be reached at lisabookblog@gmail.com.