Q: We just got the end-of-school-year advice to make sure our kids read over the summer. In years past, teachers sent home suggested books by grade level, but not this time. My two boys (ages 9 and 10) would play Minecraft all summer if we let them. Is it really important to make them read?

A: Use the word "entice," not "make." Summer reading shouldn't be a forced march. And yes, it's important that they read.

Like any skill, kids get better at reading the more they practice. Summer reading keeps kids' skills sharp. Research by the National Summer Learning Association shows that students who don't read when school is out lose ground, putting them behind when they return to class.

Summer reading should be pure pleasure, says Carl Harvey, library media specialist at North Elementary School in Noblesville, Indiana.

"Kids are more likely to want to read when they select their own books and magazines, and the format -- paper or digital," he says. "They are also more likely to read when parents enjoy some stories with them."

Here are some of the best ways to find reading materials for the lazy days of summer:

-- Check in with your school librarian. "They know current titles kids love," says Harvey. Some school libraries will lend books and digital devices over the summer.

-- Visit your public library often. "Libraries have special summer programming and events to attract young readers," Harvey adds. "Many display their new books and new authors. Check out a stack, enjoy what appeals and return the rest. Read and repeat throughout the summer."

-- Get hooked on an author or a series. If your boys like a book by one author, chances are that they'll like others. "Boys appreciate humor, fantasy and irreverence," says Jon Scieszka, author of several kids' books, including "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!" (Puffin, 1996) and "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" (Viking Juvenile, 1992). His website, www.guysread.com, lists titles of "books that guys have told us they like."

-- Connect with their passion. If they love Minecraft and video games, then mine that interest, urges Harvey: "Your librarian can recommend titles of books that appeal to gamers and extend their interests." You won't be the first mother to check out "Minecraft: Essential Handbook" (Scholastic Inc., 2013).

-- Load digital devices with e-books. While you're sitting in traffic, your 10-year-old can be flying through the first volume of "Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi" (Dark Horse Comics, 2012) on your Kindle.

-- Stock up at garage sales. "You'll find great, inexpensive kids' books at tag sales," says Dallas reading expert Dr. Delores Seamster. Read, enjoy and pass on.

-- Subscribe to magazines. Kids look forward to getting magazines in the mail. "Our 10-year-old is a Minecrafter who devours Popular Science," says Chris Abraham, a New York parent. "His younger brother, a Yankee fan, loves Sports Illustrated for Kids. They open the magazines the minute they arrive."

-- Find suggestions at greatschools.org, which lists favorite books by grade levels K-5, and commonsensemedia.org, which reviews children's titles by age.

-- Make reading for pleasure a year-round goal. "Keep up the fun reading once school starts," says Harvey. "Your boys will learn that reading about what they love is a great way to wind down after a day of school."

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: At a workshop on Common Core State Standards at our son's high school, I was surprised that collaboration was mentioned. Aren't the standards about reading, writing and math?

A: They are, but they also include key skills required to succeed in today's world. Recently, at a career day at a local school, I heard the chief technology officer of a global company tell students, "Our teams work across many time zones in three states and five nations. When we hire, we assess whether you can communicate and collaborate with others."

One goal of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is to ensure "college and career readiness," so you'll find these skills included. An English Language Arts anchor standard, for example, states that students should be able to "prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively."

Collaborative communication drives creativity, invention, productivity and problem solving, says Ardith Davis Cole, teacher and national literacy consultant.

"Students need these skills for success in college, work and civic life," she says. "Our Founding Fathers understood collaboration -- they argued and refined their ideas, persuaded others, communicated and compromised to create the Constitution."

The Common Core initiative was launched by state governors to improve the college and career readiness of U.S. students. Business and civic leaders across the political spectrum joined chief state school officers, parents, teachers, researchers and subject-area specialists to create voluntary learning standards and assessments.

Why common standards? One, there are wide disparities in student outcomes across states. Third-graders in one state might be several months ahead of fourth-graders in another. CCSS offers some assurance that, if a family moves, the kids can be enrolled in a school that is teaching the same thing at the same grade as the school they left.

Two, CCSS can help measure student, school and district performance across the states on a credible, common metric. For example, "reading on second-grade level" would mean the same level of proficiency in every state and district.

Three, U.S. students are falling behind the rest of the world, putting them at a disadvantage upon entering college and finding jobs in an increasingly global workforce.

"When students graduate, they will be expected to work across great distances and collaborate with colleagues via complex technologies. A globally connected workplace will be the norm for them, not the exception," says Ben Curran, a Michigan instructional coach and co-author of "Learning in the 21st Century: How to Connect, Collaborate, and Create" (GHF Press, 2013).

Curran teaches such collaborative skills as brainstorming, decision-making and determining accountability. He demonstrates how to use such digital collaboration tools as Google Drive, Wikis and Edmodo, a secure social network that allows students to work with classes across town or across the ocean.

For tips on how to promote collaboration skills, see California literacy specialist Rebecca Alber's post, "Common Core in Action: Why Collaboration and Communication Matter," at edutopia.org.

For more on CCSS, go to www.achieve.org. To read the Common Core State Standards, go to www.corestandards.org/the-standards.

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: My daughter and friends can't seem to read anything longer than a tweet. Unless books are assigned, they never read. They skim texts so fast that they miss the meaning, resulting in LOL situations! I read that the Internet is changing teens' brains, making them more distractible. Is there anything to this?

A: Don't believe everything you read, especially if it's about the Internet!

Researchers are digging into your good question. Many educators -- whether in kindergartens or in ivory towers -- share your concern. Tufts University cognitive neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf worries that the superficial way we read most of the time "is affecting us when we have to read with more in-depth processing."

Wolf, author of "Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain" (Harper Perennial, 2008), reports that many of her colleagues say that today's students find it difficult to work their way through literature classics.

But University of Virginia psychology professor Daniel Willingham isn't so sure that's news. Commenting on the "slow-reading movement," he reminds readers at realcleareducation.com that he and his college classmates had trouble grasping Faulkner and Joyce in the '80s. Everything he has read on this topic is "short on data and long on individuals' impressions."

He writes: "The truth is, probably, that the brain is simply not adaptable enough for such a radical change."

Reading researcher Michael Milone says, "There is no data to support the underlying contention that there is a cognitive change in the processing abilities of people who do a lot of Internet or other screen reading. One can read long-form text on any screen."

What educators and parents are observing he says, "is a change in behavior in some people, especially young readers. Whether or not this causes a change in cognition remains to be seen."

Your worry that young people don't want to read is an old and appropriate observation, says Milone. "It's been a recurring theme since Aristotle's time. The older generation typically looks down upon the younger generation, especially when technology changes. Aristotle was not nuts about the latest technology (writing), and many people during the Renaissance objected to mass-produced books because they would be wasted on common people."

For all we know, says Milone, "there may be an evolutionary advantage to skimming, rather than deep reading. Only time will tell. There may be no good reason why most people should spend time reading novels or informational text that does not have direct bearing on their day-to-day existence."

For most people, 140 characters might be all they need to communicate and learn, says Milone.

"There will always be outliers who prefer the Greek Homer to Homer Simpson, and they'll be the people who clone mammoths, find dark matter and translate Etruscan," he says. "I'm OK with that. I have no idea how coming generations will read deeply to evaluate big ideas or use the lessons of history.

"Given the way that technology is doing so many things that humans previously had to do themselves, it might not be a problem."

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)