The word "summer" brings to mind images of a relaxed, unstructured season--a time markedly different from other seasons of the year. In the United States, we have a particularly entrenched notion that summer is different--a notion reflected in popular assumptions about summer as a "break" and reinforced by carefree depictions of summer that abound in popular culture. This commentary examines summer learning. We look at how children and youth spend their summers, the programmatic landscape of summer, the research behind the usefulness of summer learning opportunities and some policy opportunities and challenges. (Contains 2 figures and 36 endnotes.)