Dur­ing this past sum­mer I asked my writer friends / col­leagues to answer this ques­tion: “What’s your favorite strat­e­gy for encour­ag­ing young peo­ple to read?”

While I strong­ly encour­age you to read each of the replies — they are much rich­er than my sum­ma­ry — here is my sense of what I felt the essence of what each author suggests.

Avi: Read aloud to young and old. In class, at home, every day, bed­time, anytime.

Dan Gut­man: Match high inter­est to what your young reader’s inter­ests are.  E.g., if he / she loves bas­ket­ball, then offer a book about basketball.

Karen Cush­man: Always offer the very best writ­ten books.

Gary Schmidt: “Do we want our kids to read? Mod­el it. Let them see you read.”

Dr. Pad­ma Venka­tra­man: Cre­ate a spe­cial place where kids can feel safe, secure, where they can read at their own pace.

Suzanne Sup­plee: As a teacher, she required stu­dents to choose a book, any book, and read it pure­ly for pleasure.

Pam Muñoz Ryan: Pro­vide sto­ries that are fast-paced, mys­te­ri­ous, or dramatic.

Jolene Gutiérrez: A librar­i­an, she helps read­ers find a book that feels com­fort­able to them.

Alan Gratz: Pro­vide books that tell the truth, which take the young read­er seriously.

Mar­gari­ta Engle: Invite kids to choose any book that they want to read. Focus on the feel­ings the book inspires, not what answers it might give.

Tina M. Cho: Pro­vide diverse books in which young read­ers can see themselves.

Bruce Cov­ille: Offer books that are fun­ny, some­times with a touch of the gross, which pro­vide a good time.

Deb­o­rah Hop­kin­son: Offer non­fic­tion that is ground­ed in evi­dence and fact, which pro­vide the truth about real lives.

Kekla Magoon: “Let kids engage with a book the way they want to, not the way you think they’re sup­posed to.”

Again, I urge you to read the full entries for even more ideas.