Library kicks off Summer Reading Program

By Reader Staff

When kids stop reading during summer vacation, the summer slide happens. No, this isn’t a toy found at the playground. The summer slide is the loss of academic skills and knowledge that takes place over the course of summer vacation. When children take a three-month vacation from reading, it may take up to three months after the start of the school year for them to regain the reading skills they had at the end of the previous school year.

That’s why the library organizes a huge summer reading program every year. Preschoolers through teens can participate for prizes and special events. This year’s theme, “Build A Better World,” encourages kids to create and build with tactile workshops and themed programs. Although it is a national initiative, the theme is perfectly timed for the Sandpoint Library since we will be starting a big building project of our own this summer!

All summer long, kids of all ages can record their time spent reading to cash in on prizes, from t-shirts and water bottles to books and SWAC swimming passes. Special prize drawings will be held at each of the summer reading events as well. Both branches of the East Bonner County Library District are participating. Kids and teens can get an age-appropriate reading log, the full schedule of summer events and all the details they need at the library or online at www.eBonnerLibrary.org. Youth reading logs are due by Monday, Aug. 21, and teen logs are due by Aug. 15 so that they can be tabulated to enter participants into the grand prize drawings to be announced at the Summer Reading Finale parties in Sandpoint and Clark Fork.

The Build A Better World theme is established by the Collaborative Summer Library Program as part of their annual nationwide campaign. This year’s Summer Reading Champion is Newbery Medalist, poet, educator, and New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander.

“Serving as Summer Reading Champion gives me the opportunity to reach more teachers, more librarians and more parents, and share what I feel is one of the secrets to the success of the future: the mind of an adult begins with the imagination of a child,” Alexander said. “Books open up doors of possibility and potential and purpose—and allow children to imagine a better world for themselves and for us.”

There are no minimums on the number of books required to participate in Summer Reading, but research shows that reading as few as six books over the summer can keep kids off the summer slide. Some kids love to read and other kids just haven’t learned to love reading yet. The Library’s Summer Reading challenge is perfect either way. For more information, visit our website or call Morgan or Suzanne, Teen and Children’s Services Librarians for the East Bonner County Library District at (208) 263-6930.

Visit www.eBonnerLibrary.org for details about “Your Library Transformation,” the Sandpoint Library’s remodel and expansion project.