Expand your summer reading and you expand your heart and soul

Don't get busy reading, get lazy reading!

Stuff your eyes with wonder.

That’s what Ray Bradbury urged us to do in his classic Fahrenheit 451.

Summer offers so many opportunities to find wonder. Just head to the nearest library or independent bookstore.

That tiny orange cardboard card with the metal chip was my passport to the world when I was a kid. A library card gives you superpowers. I loved the library of my youth, Reed Memorial Library in Ravenna. I read every Nancy Drew book on the shelf as soon as each one was released.

My grandkids love the library. They’ve outgrown the summer library challenges where they earned a bead for every reading book that gave them long colorful necklaces, but you never outgrow reading. The youngest, who is 12, still falls asleep in a pile of books.

Summer reading challenges aren’t just for kids. Here’s one for you:

Revisit a classic you loved. I’m talking about those books you hold to your heart when you’re done, not classics that feel like homework. I’ve always loved My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok; Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury, Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee and Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint- Exupéry. How can you not love a writer who used this excuse for turning in a chapter late: His guardian angel showed up and stayed to talk.

Read a classic you missed. Somehow, I missed reading Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. My daughter in law so loved it, she took a road trip to Prince Edward Island to explore the world of wonder Anne created. Now I read a chapter to myself every night to tuck myself in with quotes like, “Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

Read a banned book. I bought Art Spiegelman’s books Maus: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History, and Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began after they were banned. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his graphic novel that depicted a cat-and-mouse retelling of the Holocaust.

Read the history they never taught you. The 1619 Project helped me understand the racial apartheid I never learned about, the human trafficking of 12.5 million Africans who were kidnapped and brought in chains to build this country, humans listed as numbers, then legally raped and tortured and worked to death. Black people were enslaved here longer than they have been free. Let that sink in.

Read books by local authors. There are sooo many to choose from: Paula McLain, Loung Ung, Terry Pluto, Jacqueline Woodson, Rita Dove, Bob Ableman, Carlo Wolff, Les Roberts, Romona Robinson, Dav Pilkey, Connie Schultz, Mary Doria Russell, Derf, Thrity Umrigar, Mary Oliver, who was born in Maple Heights, and Lorain native Toni Morrison, who wrote classics like The Bluest Eye, Beloved and Song of Solomon.

Read a children’s book. Out loud. It’s so magical to hear the words. Read the author’s name and pause to savor all the time and talent it took to deliver this book into your hands. Connie Schultz’s has a lovely one, Lola and the Troll. I’m still a fan of classics like The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt, A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems.

Read poetry. Cleveland poet George Bilgere will send you a poem every day by a writer he’s crazy about and tell you why he picked it, which is often more eloquent than the poem. You can sign up for his free newsletter Poetry Town at georgebilgere.com

Read a book that gives you hope. Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou or anything by Rumi, Hafiz, Kahlil Gibran or Paulo Coelho.

Read random books anywhere interesting. In the bough of an apple tree. Next to a waterfall. On a porch swing. In a tent of covers with a flashlight. Fill your bed full of books and call it a reading boat. Create a reading nest on the couch with fluffy pillows, an audience of stuffed animals and a stack of books.

Don’t let summer slip away. I challenge you to slow it down by taking your own summer reading challenge.

It’s guaranteed to extend your summer, stuff you full of wonder and take you places you can’t afford to go and never want to leave.