NPR – Cory Turner 
You sneak them into backpacks and let them commingle with the video games (hoping some of the latter’s appeal will rub off). You lay them around the kids’ beds like stepping stones through the Slough of Despond and, for good measure, Vitamix them to an imperceptible pulp for the occasional smoothie. Books are everywhere in your house, and yet … they’re not being consumed. Because it’s summer, and kids have so many other things they’d rather do. As the parent of a 4- and 7-year-old, I’ve been thinking a lot about the summer slide, and a timely story from The New York Times reminded me of just how delicate a balance it is, encouraging your kids to read during these wildly distracting months — enticing them at every opportunity — without jumping the shark.(more)