DEPARTMENT: Library
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Ramiro S. Salazar
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Mayor's Summer Reading Club
SUMMARY:
The Mayor's Summer Reading Club continues to support the retention and enhancement of reading skills. Studies show that children who do not read over the summer lose reading skills. However, children who read as few as six books over the summer maintain their reading skills and reading ten books can help children and teens improve their reading abilities.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
On May 29, 2015, Mayor Ivy Taylor kicked off the 2015 Mayor's Summer Reading Club at the Central Library and it is the sixth year the Summer Reading Club has been sponsored by the Mayor's Office. In 2014, the Mayor's Summer Reading Club registered 32,321 children and teens.
ISSUE:
The Mayor's Summer Reading Club provides opportunities for children from birth to eighteen to participate in one of three categories:
Listener: Birth to seven
Reader: Five to thirteen
Teen: Thirteen to eighteen
Children and teens can participate in summer reading online via the Library's website (www.mysapl.org). This option allows children and teens to sign-up and log their reading online. To enhance its reach the Library partners with other agencies and organizations that serve children in the summer such as the Parks and Recreation Summer Program.
Understanding that not all children and teens have access to the Internet, paper registration and reading logs are also available at all Library locations.
Each child who completes the summer reading program receives a free book to keep and a Summer Reading Certificate signed by Mayor Ivy Taylor. Additionally, teen readers are eligible to participate in random drawings for prizes. The program ends in August and culminates with an end-of-summer celebration.
As part of the summer reading experience the Library also offers a wide variety of fr...
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