Why Summer Is the Perfect Time for Struggling Readers to Build Confidence

Why Summer Is the Perfect Time for Struggling Readers to Build Confidence

For many struggling readers, the hardest part of reading isn't sounding out unfamiliar words or answering comprehension questions.

It's believing they can do it.

Research suggests that students can lose 20–30% of their school-year reading gains over the summer without regular reading practice, making continued reading important for maintaining literacy skills. Students who already struggle with reading are often affected the most.

If you'd like to learn more about summer learning loss, check out our blog, The Summer Slide Starts in Spring: What Schools Should Be Doing Right Now.

But while summer can contribute to learning loss, it also creates something many struggling readers don't experience enough during the school year: the opportunity to build confidence.

Without the pressure of grades, classroom performance, or keeping pace with classmates, children have the opportunity to experience reading in a very different way.

They can read at their own pace, explore books that genuinely interest them, and rediscover that reading doesn't always have to feel difficult.

That shift in confidence can become the first step toward overcoming reading challenges.

Why Confidence Is the First Step in Overcoming Reading Challenges

When people think about reading challenges, they often focus on skills.

Can the child sound out unfamiliar words?

Can they read at grade level?

Can they answer comprehension questions correctly?

Those skills matter.

But confidence matters, too.

Unlike many other school subjects, reading is something children do across nearly every class. When reading feels difficult, that frustration doesn't stay in one lesson. It can follow them throughout the entire school day.

Over time, some children stop seeing reading as a skill they're learning and start seeing it as something they're simply "not good at."

For many struggling readers, the experience looks something like this:

• They hesitate before opening a new book because they're worried it will be too difficult.
• Every unfamiliar word chips away at their confidence.
• They begin comparing themselves to classmates who seem to read effortlessly.
• Eventually, avoiding reading feels easier than risking another frustrating experience.

That is why overcoming reading challenges for kids requires more than extra worksheets or additional phonics practice. It also means helping children rebuild the belief that they are capable readers.

Research from Baylor University suggests that struggling readers can make meaningful progress in just a few weeks when they receive the right support. In one Baylor action research project, students showed significant improvement after four weeks.

Confidence came first. Skill growth followed.

That order matters.

When children begin believing they can succeed, they become more willing to keep trying. And that willingness creates more opportunities to practice, improve, and grow.

Why Summer Can Change the Story

The school year is filled with deadlines, expectations, and comparisons.

Summer offers something different.

Without the pressure of grades or classroom performance, children have the opportunity to experience reading in a completely new way.

They can:

• read at their own pace
• spend extra time on challenging pages without worrying about keeping up
• reread favorite books without being told to move on
• explore topics that genuinely interest them
• celebrate finishing a book instead of worrying about what level it is

For many struggling readers, this is the first time all year that reading can feel like something they get to do instead of something they have to do.

That shift is incredibly powerful.

Instead of focusing on whether they're reading fast enough or well enough, children can simply focus on enjoying the experience.

And when enjoyment replaces pressure, confidence has room to grow.

What Reading Confidence Actually Looks Like

Confidence doesn't usually arrive all at once.

It grows through small successes that build on each other over time.

For a struggling reader, confidence might look like:

• finishing a short book independently
• laughing at a funny chapter and wanting to keep reading
• recognizing a word that used to feel difficult
• asking for the next book in a favorite series
• telling a family member about an interesting fact they just learned
• saying, "Can we read one more chapter?"

Individually, these moments may seem small.

Together, they begin changing the way children think about themselves.

Instead of thinking, "I'm not a good reader," they begin thinking, "Maybe I can do this."

That shift in mindset often becomes the foundation for lasting reading growth.

How Families Can Support Reading Confidence

The good news is that building confidence doesn't require turning summer into another school semester.

In fact, many of the most meaningful confidence-building moments happen naturally.

Parents and caregivers can help by creating an environment where reading feels encouraging instead of stressful. That might mean celebrating effort instead of perfection, talking about books instead of quizzing children on them, or making books easy to access throughout the house.

It also means recognizing that progress doesn't always happen in big, obvious ways.

Sometimes progress is a child choosing to pick up a book without being asked.

Sometimes it's finishing a chapter they might have given up on a few months earlier.

Sometimes it's simply hearing them say, "I liked that book."

Those moments matter because confidence grows through repeated positive experiences.

If you're looking for practical ways to create those experiences at home, check out our blog, How to Help Kids Overcome Reading Challenges Without Turning Summer Into School, where we share simple, research-backed ideas for making reading a natural part of summer.

Helping Confidence Grow Beyond Summer

Summer reading isn't just about preventing learning loss.

It's also an opportunity to help children build the confidence that makes future reading growth possible.

Helping with overcoming reading challenges for kids means creating opportunities for children to experience success, enjoy reading, and discover that books don't have to feel intimidating. When confidence grows, children become more willing to keep reading, practicing, and challenging themselves.

Programs like Book Blast help extend that opportunity by putting exciting, age-appropriate books into students' hands before summer begins. When children have books of their own at home, they're more likely to continue reading beyond the classroom and build confidence through positive reading experiences.

Confidence doesn't grow from getting every word right.

It grows from finishing a book that once felt too difficult.

It grows from laughing at a story.

It grows from asking for "just one more chapter."

And sometimes, it grows simply because a child discovers that reading can be enjoyable.

That's what makes summer so powerful. It isn't just a chance to maintain reading skills. It's a chance to help children believe they can become readers.

Help students get excited about reading!

Book Blast makes it easy to put new, age-appropriate books into every student's hands - helping build home libraries and supporting long-term reading success.

Book a Meeting With Us and Explore How to Bring Book Blast to Your School