School is out and summer has officially begun! You may be looking forward to having the kids at home, or pondering the idea of keeping them occupied. Here at Kidsreads.com we think one of the best way to spend the summer is with a good book. We're celebrating the long lazy days of summer with enough great books, cool contests and hot features to keep you're kids occupied until September.

By now all of you are out on summer vacation, a perfect time for reading and relaxing. Many of you may have summer reading lists to conquer. As I wrote last month, these lists often can be tedious and dreary. We are working to create the Teenreads.com Ultimate Summer Reading List and need your help on this. Please write and let us know what books you would like to see make the cut on school summer reading lists. Our plan is to create a list of titles that we know you REALLY want to read and share this with librarians and teachers.

Last month when I was at Book Expo in Washington, D.C. I heard a speech given by Laurie Halse Anderson, the YA author of SPEAK, PROM and CATALYST. She said this about the classics that typically dominate high school summer reading lists: "Classics were written for middle-aged people a century ago." She went on to talk about how books like this do not foster a lifelong love of reading. I am in agreement with her.

We have the last week of school coming up. I cannot wait for Thursday. I think I am more excited than my boys about this. I look forward to no conversations about homework, lunch, lunch money and things to be signed in backpacks. I am trying not to think about their summer reading lists for the moment!