WASHINGTON — As Usha Vance prepares to welcome her fourth baby into the world, she is doling out prizes to children for her summer reading challenge — a challenge aimed at addressing the startlingly low literacy rates throughout the United States.
“Reading is its own reward, but I’m excited to announce that kids who participate in my Summer Reading Challenge will also receive fun prizes this summer,” said the second lady, who is due any day now with a baby boy (she and Vice President Vance already have three children: Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel).
“Congratulations to everyone who has already completed the Challenge,” she added, “enjoy picking out something special on the new prize website! And if you haven’t started, there’s still plenty of time to make this the best summer of reading yet!”
A number of companies offered their items as prizes for children who are participating in the challenge — Crayola, for example, shared “Crayola Experience Tickets” with boxes of 10-count broad-line markers. Wendy’s is offering a “Frosty coupon,” Walmart is offering a $10 Walmart Gift Card, and Dairy Queen is offering a $10 Dairy Queen Gift Card.
Scouting America is offering a patch and “Mini Scout Life Magazines,” and Scholastic is donating 24 book titles. NASA is sharing Freedom 250 patches and stickers. The National Children’s Museum in DC is giving away tickets to the museum.
Once the participants in the second lady’s reading challenge submit their reading logs and reflections, they’ll receive a certificate of completion from her, a letter congratulating them on their success, and be able to choose from the variety of prizes. They’ll also be entered into a raffle for a chance to visit the White House.
(Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
This is the second year that Usha Vance has held the reading challenge. Over 20,000 children participated in 2025 across all 50 states and multiple territories, reading over 240,000 books. This year, a spokeswoman for the second lady told The Daily Wire that Usha Vance’s summer reading challenge has already received three times as many submissions as it did last year.
The initiative comes as the nation grapples with literacy issues across the board. According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 40% of fourth graders are reading below the basic level for their grade, while only 31% were reading above the proficient level. NAEP also found that 33% of eighth graders were reading below the basic level for their grade and only 30% were reading above the proficiency level.
Experts attribute the decline in these scores partially to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the trend has continued into recent years — for example, the percentage of fourth graders who read below a basic level increased from 34% in 2019 to 40% in 2024.
The second lady’s team shared that she’s a strong advocate of taking advantage of the summer months to help children avoid learning and reading stagnation, and to get ahead during months when school isn’t taking place. She recognizes the literacy issues throughout the United States, particularly with children, and is concerned about these children succeeding in higher grades or even in roles when they are finished with school.
Usha Vance told The Daily Wire last year that she is concerned about the effects that technology has on children, stressing that reading offers a valuable alternative to youngsters who might lean too much on phones or screens.
“For my children, and I think for all children, my goal is that we do things that try to counteract that,” Vance explained to The Daily Wire last year. “Whether that’s spending time outside, whether that is engaging in the kinds of activities where you just can’t be distracted, you really have to commit to build strength or skill or whatever it might be.”
“Or reading,” she added. “Reading, I think, is maybe the most important of all these because when you can read and focus on something for hundreds of pages, then you can really do anything at that point.”
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