You'll see summer reading lists for kids of all ages across Patch starting this week. Here's the reason why:

Patch, AOL’s leading platform of local news, information and engagement sites, and ReadKiddoRead.com, the website founded by No. 1 best-selling author James Patterson, announced on Wednesday a partnership designed to encourage kids’ passion for reading and to support parents’ efforts to interest their kids in books—throughout the year, and especially during the summer months, when school is out.

Patch and James Patterson's ReadKiddoRead’s Summer Reading List—the first program in the partnership—launched this week on all 850-plus Patch sites. Aimed at parents, teachers, librarians, and, of course, kids, the sites feature a video message from Patterson that introduces Patch readers to the program, along with four age-specific reading lists chosen by Patterson as great summer reads. Kids and parents will be encouraged to share their own recommendations, their responses to the books, and their progress with the list on their hometown Patch site.

"We hope moms and dads will be inspired to take an even more active role in getting their kids into books and reading. That’s what ReadKiddoRead is all about. I’m proud to be working with Patch to get more children reading good books. I’m really excited to be getting a conversation going this summer with such a lively and active network of families across the country,” Patterson said.

James Patterson has been the No. 1-selling author in America for the past three years, with more than 16 million books sold in North America during 2011 alone. He is the first author to have new, No. 1 titles simultaneously on The New York Times' adult and children's best-seller lists.

He launched ReadKiddoRead.com.—which helps parents and educators connect their children with the books that will turn them into lifelong readers—in 2008, and since then, the site has won acclaim with the National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize.