Confucius said it best.

Staircase Bookshelf designed by Levitate Archictects – Image from Geekologie.com

Think for a moment of all you’ve gained from flipping the (physical or virtual) pages of a book. The characters you’ve met, the places you’ve visited, the issues you’ve explored, the things you’ve imagined. The depths in which you can get lost or become transformed by a story, how a great story stays with you, leaves you wanting more, or leads you to discover what’s next.

While reading is generally not considered a seasonal pastime, it certainly gets some summer lovin’.

With our focus on learning combined with our love of reading, we were happy to be asked to join The New York Times Learning Network’s conversation about summer reading, along with some Hive NYC members–Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library–as well as our friends at Figment, The National Writing Project, YALSA and others. Anyone can participate by adding #summerreading to your tweets TODAY. And please encourage your youth to do the same. Whether you’re sharing a book recommendation or a vivid reading memory, we hope you’ll take part in the conversation.

Here are a few summer reading nuggets from Hive NYC:

• Chris Lawrence loves to read sweeping, multi-book fantasy epics for fun, and finds the wikipedia plot summaries invaluable.  Some of his other recommendations:

• For educators: Young Geographers in the Classroom by Lucy Sprague Mitchell
• For artists: Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
• For techies: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

• Leah Gilliam is devoted to her NYPL app to find out about recent arrivals, read reviews, save books on her virtual “bookshelf,” and even pay overdue fines. She’s currently reading Zone One by Colson Whitehead and said it “Takes zombies to a new level.”

• A book on my summer reading list that I am equally looking forward to and petrified of (only in denial of the inevitable: becoming the parent of a pre-teen) is Queen Bees & Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. I’m also on the lookout for an aqua ThumbThing.

ThumbThing

• Tali Horowitz from Common Sense Media looks forward to her daily commute because she loves reading on the subway. She’s currently reading the Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai and says, “It’s long, has multiple simultaneous stories and most importantly provides insight into various people’s lives and perspectives that I wouldn’t otherwise have.”

• Courtney Stein from WNYC Radio Rookies shared her favorite reading spot: the meadow next to the Nethermead in Prospect Park.  Her suggestions for youth media producers and aspiring media makers:

• Drop That Knowledge: Youth Radio Stories by Elisabeth Soep and Vivian Chavez
• Transom.org features great how-to information and unique stories by up-and-coming producers

• Hillary Kolos from DreamYard recommends The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media by Brooke Gladstone and illustrated by Josh Neufeld, a comic book about the history and future of media.

• The YMCA of Greater New York provides “books of the week” lists for all summer camp programs. Their suggestions for teens focus on NYC culture and diversity:

• The Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse
• Heat by Mike Lupica
• When Your Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
• Ask Me No Questions by Marina Tamar Budhos
• The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens by Brook Hauser
• Game by Walter Dean Myers
• Bodega Dreams: A Novel by Ernesto Quinonez
• Putting Make-Up On A Fat Boy by Bil Wright

NYPL Stuff for the Teen Age

• All three major library systems in NYC (also all Hive NYC members) compiled this great summer reading resource/community for all ages, where you can create avatars, post book reviews, earn virtual badges and see what others are reading.  They also joined forces to create this master recommended books list organized by age group.

• Other big library news: all NYC public school students in grades K-12 are receiving new library cards in school.  It’s the biggest library card distribution in history! In the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Brooklyn, libraries are also clearing all previous fines and fees from student accounts so children when you participate in the Read Down Your Fines program.

What does “summer reading” conjure up for you?