Learning Network: Start planning for our Summer Reading Contest!

April 25, 2025

Dear Reader,

Summer is almost here, and if you’re looking for something to keep teenagers reading, writing and thinking during the languid days from June to August, we heartily recommend that they participate in our 16th Annual Summer Reading Contest.

All students have to do to take part is tell us what they’re reading, watching or listening to in The New York Times and why. Students can enter by submitting a short written response — or they can make a video up to 90 seconds long.

To help students make their short responses sing, we provide a detailed step-by-step guide, illustrated by the written and video work of previous teen winners. And, if students don’t have a subscription, that’s not a problem. We’ll be providing dozens of free links to teen-friendly articles, essays, videos, podcasts and graphics every week from June 6 to Aug. 15 while the contest is running.

We don’t care if your students pick something on sneakers, starlight, Syria or Saturday Night Live; TikTok, the tropics, Trump or Timothée Chalamet. We just want to hear what they think. We hope they join us!

Sincerely,
The Learning Network

RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

An illustration of a melting orange Popsicle, in the shape of a book on a stick, in front of a yellow background

Ben Hickey

Contests

Our 16th Annual Summer Reading Contest

Students are invited to tell us what they’re reading in The Times and why, this year in writing OR via a 90-second video. Contest dates: June 6 to Aug. 15, 2025.

By The Learning Network

Images from Times articles students have chosen over the years for our Summer Reading Contest. See the bottom of this post for photo credits.

Making Rich Reading Responses: Participating in Our Summer Contest

Four key elements that can make a short response sing, illustrated by the written and video work of previous teen winners.

By Katherine Schulten

Four graphs showing L.G.B.T.Q. identification by age, ideology, locale and education.

What’s Going On in This Graph? | April 30, 2025

What do you notice about the percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual? What do you wonder?

By The Learning Network

A group of hikers makes its way down a snowy trail.

Brian Fraser

current events conversation

What Teenagers Are Saying About Connecting to Nature

Hiking, skiing, surfing and more: Students told us about all the ways they like to spend time outside and the benefits they get from it.

By The Learning Network

A large crowd, with a group of nuns at the front, in St. Peter’s Square.

Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times

Student News Quiz

Student News Quiz: Music Festival, Extraterrestrial Life, Google

Have you been paying attention to current events recently? See how many of these 10 questions you can get right.

Compiled by Jeremy Engle

Film and Podcast Club

Watch: ‘What Having a Brother With Down Syndrome Has Taught Me About Everyone Else’

What does the video teach us about the meaning of ‘normal’?

By The Learning Network

Laura Morton for The New York Times

What’s Going On in This Picture? | April 28, 2025

Look closely at this image, stripped of its caption, and join the moderated conversation about what you and other students see.

By The Learning Network

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