Author James Patterson will be donating copies of his book Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life to every sixth grade student in the New York City Public School system by the end of the 2013-2014 year.

New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina made the announcement Monday morning at an event inside Community Eastside School in Manhattan.

Patterson’s publisher, Little Brown and Company, issued a statement about the generous donation, explaining that the decision to give away free copies of the book was made to promote summer reading and“avoid the ‘summer slide’ when students lose ground in their learning progress during long breaks from class.”

The author also made a statement regarding the charitable gift. “I love New York City, and I’m so delighted to be sharing the gift of books and reading with the city’s sixth graders,” said Patterson. “These students have the potential to do great things, and supporting and nurturing that potential is our most important job as parents, and as citizens.”

This donation comes just weeks after a similar contribution of 28,000 books to sixth-graders enrolled in Chicago’s public schools.

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life tells the story of Rafe Khatchadorian, a young boy entering his first year of middle school who plans on violating every rule of his school’s overbearing Code of Conduct. With the help of his friend Leonardo, they assign a point system to each rule he breaks. But as the points increase, Rafe realizes the game is nothing more than a way to avoid the awkwardness of his emerging adolescence. The book has been well received by critics and is the first in a series of six Middle School novels.