Summer Reading Resources: Journals, Author Studies, and More

Summer break doesn’t have to mean a reading break. The research is clear: students who read consistently over the summer maintain their skills, and students who don’t often return in the fall behind where they left off. The National Summer Learning Association estimates that students can lose up to two months of reading achievement over the summer without continued engagement. That gap hits hardest for students from under-resourced communities, and it compounds year over year.

The good news is that it doesn’t take much. A study by Jimmy Kim (2009) found that reading even four or five books over the summer was enough to prevent a measurable decline in reading achievement scores from spring to fall. The challenge is giving students resources that make reading feel worthwhile rather than like homework.

That’s exactly what Kami’s summer reading library is designed to do. From reading journals and monthly activity books to author study books and series companions, here’s what’s available for your students this summer.

Last year, librarian Shannon Miller joined David Hotler, our community manager, for a webinar where she showed how to quickly set up a summer library:

How to Set Up Your Summer Library

1. Browse resources – Remix literacy books into a new library
2. Personalize – Combine books, delete extra pages, and add your own video instructions
3. Invite students – Use QR codes or invite codes for easy access
4. Assign the books – Use the “assign” feature to give each student a copy
5. Lock it down – Set safety controls for image search, commenting, publishing, and translation. Watch a video tutorial.

Summer Reading Journals

Independent reading journals give students a structured space to reflect on what they’re reading, track their thinking, and build habits that outlast the summer. Book Creator’s journals are fully editable, so teachers and librarians can tailor them to specific grade levels, reading programs, or student needs.

Sora Reading Journal

Built in collaboration with Sora, this journal pairs directly with the summer reading program for students participating through their school or district Sora account. Students can use it to log books, respond to prompts, and capture what’s sticking with them across the summer. It’s a natural fit for schools already using Sora and looking for a reflective layer that goes beyond a simple reading log.

Access the Sora Reading Journal here:

Epic Reading Journals

For districts with Epic access, Book Creator’s Epic reading journals are designed to complement the platform’s digital library. Students can move seamlessly between reading on Epic and reflecting in Kami, keeping their thinking in one organized place. These journals work well in summer learning programs, optional reading challenges, and any initiative where students have Epic available at home.

Access the Epic Reading Journals here and here.

General Summer Reading Journal

Not tied to a specific reading platform? The general summer reading journal works for any book, any reader. Students can use it alongside physical books, digital libraries, or any combination. Teachers and librarians can edit every page to add program-specific resources, reading lists, or grade-level prompts before sharing it with students.

Access the General Summer Reading Journal here:

Summer Monthly Journals: June, July, and August

For students who need more structure than a general journal but more flexibility than a program-specific one, the summer monthly journals offer a middle path. Each journal covers a single month and is built around daily summer learning, giving students small, manageable activities that keep skills active without feeling like school.

Available for:

These journals work particularly well when paired with a reading challenge or family summer learning goal. They’re also a strong option for summer school programs looking to extend learning beyond core instruction time.

Author Study Books by Beth Campbell

Summer is an underutilized window for author studies. Without the pressure of curriculum pacing, teachers and librarians can let students sit with a single author’s body of work, notice patterns in voice and structure, and develop the kind of close reading instincts that transfer across subjects.

Book Creator’s author study books, developed by school librarian Beth Campbell, are built to support exactly that kind of deep engagement. Each book centers on a featured author and gives students the scaffolding to move beyond plot summary into real literary thinking.

Currently available author studies include:

• Susan Hood — known for her lyrical, research-grounded picture books and biographies
• Bob Shea — creator of playful, character-driven books that blend humor with genuine emotional depth
• Adam Rex — author and illustrator whose work ranges from absurdist picture books to middle grade fiction

Each author study can be assigned to individual students or used as a whole-group resource during a summer program. Because they’re built in Kami, students can annotate, respond to prompts, and add their own thinking directly in the document.

Find more Author Studies in our Literacy library.

Hickory Hollow Series Companions

The Hickory Hollow series from Sora is a great fit for grades 3-6 summer reading, and Kami’s companion resources are built to go alongside it. These books from the Kami library give students structured support as they read through the series, with activities and prompts tied to each title.

Whether students are working through the series independently or as part of a guided summer program, the Hickory Hollow companions help them engage more deeply with the text and build the comprehension stamina they’ll need heading into the next school year.

Find the Hickory Hollows books in our Literacy library.

Summer Reading Logs from the Kami Library

Sometimes the most useful tool is the simplest one. Kami’s summer reading logs give students a clean, dedicated space to track what they’re reading, when they read it, and how many pages or minutes they logged. For teachers and librarians running reading challenges or summer programs with goals and milestones, these logs make accountability easy without adding friction.

Assign each student a reading log with your LMS. You can also embed the reading log into a Book Creator book in your summer library, keeping everything in one place.

Access the Summer Reading Logs.

Get Ready for Summer Now

All of the resources above are available through the Kami and Book Creator libraries and can be assigned to students directly through your Kami or Book Creator accounts.

Teachers and librarians can edit any template before sharing, making it straightforward to customize for your specific students, grade level, or summer program structure.

The research on summer reading loss is discouraging. The fix, though, isn’t complicated. Students need access to books, a reason to read them, and a way to make their thinking visible. These resources give you all three.