Those "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid" books are not "The Good Earth", they are not going to win Pulitzer Prizes, but they are a lot better for kids in the summer than staying glued to YouTube videos. And for most kids, that is going to be the choice. Rather than sending home a reading list (poor schools) or stacks of books (rich schools) in the hopes of combating the the literacy loss experienced during the summer break, a new study finds that letting kids choose the books is better.

The study, conducted in kindergarten, first-, and second-grade classrooms in the Rochester City School District, showed that students who were allowed to choose their own summer reading saw lower levels of literacy loss over the summer months. Erin T. Kelly, M.D., the study's lead researcher, will present her findings at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting on April 25.

"The most popular book was an adaptation of Disney's Frozen," said Erin T. Kelly, M.D., a fourth-year resident in the medicine-pediatrics program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, who presented the work at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting. "Is that going to be the best literature in the world? No. But if it's something that the children will actually read, then it's going to lead to positive outcomes."

Kelly conducted her initial study in 2013 when she arranged a book fair for 18 second-graders, who were allowed to select 13 books to bring home with them for the summer. When that class showed improvement over a control group that had their books selected for them, she expanded the project to several classes in 2014, measuring for differences based on what portion of books the students were allowed to select themselves.

More than 75 percent of students who were allowed to select at least some of their books maintained or improved their reading levels, compared to a one-month literacy loss seen in previous studies. No significant difference was seen in students who picked all of their own books, compared with a group that selected only some.

The findings could prove especially valuable for low-income districts, said Kelly. In the Rochester City School District, only 21 percent of students are proficient on New York State's English/language arts exam, and the high school graduation rate is only 43 percent.  Previous studies have shown that the summer slide accounts for roughly 80 percent of the reading achievement gap between more and less economically advantaged children.