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Summer Reading Program
2023 All Together Now!
Every bit a child reads makes a difference in their reading skills for the summer and keeps them prepared for returning to school.
Reading for teens and adults keeps the mind sharp and creative!
Summer Library Program facts
- Summer reading loss is a key factor contributing to the achievement gap between struggling and successful students.
- Lower-achieving students are less likely to read out of school.
- Those comfortable reading are more likely to choose recreational reading as a summer activity.
- Having access to books, and having books in the home, is essential to building strong readers.
- Public libraries can break these cycles and get materials into the homes of children who do not have their own books.
- Children who don’t read over the summer lose 3 months of reading comprehension.
- The loss is accumulative – by the end of 6th grade these kids are 2 school years behind their peers.
- Middle school is too late; even with the best remedial classes, these students will remain behind their peers.
- Reading as few as 4 books keeps kids at their current reading levels.
- Young children with richer home literacy environments succeed when they begin school.
- Freedom to select reading materials of their choice results in strengthening reading skills.
Created by Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System, 10/06
Research available at:
www.readingrockets.org
www.summerlearning.org
This summer, we worked All Together Now to explore adventures in reading! We hoped everyone had as much fun as we did!
- 751 patrons of all ages took on our reading challenge. A NEW RECORD OF PARTICIPANTS!
- Participants included 486 kids and 265 adults!
- 33.5% of kids finished their 40-day reading challenge and 40.8% of adults finished their 6 book challenge! OUR BEST COMPLETION RATE!
- Kids read a total of 10,057 minutes and adults read 2,560 days! That is equal to 34.6 years!
- The Melissa Public Library provided 56 programs to over 5,000 participants this summer!
- This year, the library changed to days rather than minutes, to allow for more inclusivity among readers. Reading evolves imagination and we want kids to have time to play and act on that imagination during summer too.
- 705 patrons of all ages took on our reading challenges! A NEW RECORD OF PARTICIPANTS!
- Participants included 607 kids and 98 adults!
- 25.7% of kids finished their 800-minute reading challenge and 22.5% of adults finished their 6 book challenge!
- Kids read a total of 376,946 minutes! That is equal to 6,282 hours or 261 solid days! It's also almost 60,000 more minutes than last year! A NEW RECORD!
- Ages 0-4 Minutes of Top Prize Readers : 2,985 minutes to 3,630 minutes
- Ages 5-9 Minutes of Top Prize Readers : 6,440 minutes to 7,820 minutes
- Ages 10-13 Minutes of Top Prize Readers : 11,070 minutes to 19,152 minutes
- Ages 14-17 Minutes of Top Prize Reader : 7,510 minutes to 16,460 minutes
- Adults read a total of 333 books!
- Number of Books of Top Prize Readers : 24 books to 49 books
- The Melissa Public Library provided 47 programs over the summer!
- 560 patrons of all ages took on our reading challenges!
- Participants included 447 kids and 113 adults!
- 31.5% of kids finished their 800-minute reading challenge and 17.7% of adults finished their 8 book challenge!
- Kids read a total of 317,484 minutes!
- Adults read a total of 272 books!
- The Melissa Public Library provided 45 in-library programs and 38 virtual programs on our Facebook page!
2020 Summer Reading Program - Fairy Tales!
- 165 patrons of all ages came together and read 128,322 minutes!
- Participants included 33 adults, 7 young adults (15-18 years old), 42 teens (11-14 years old), 67 children (5-10 years old), and 18 infants (0-4 years old with the help of some adults).
- Total of 145 books read
- Though we had to do some things differently and virtually this year, the Melissa Public Library appreciates everyone's participation!
2019 Summer Reading Program
- 423 children signed up to participate; 96 reached their goal of 800 minutes!
- 202,593 minutes (3,376.55 hours) were read in total.
- The highest readers read between 5,340 minutes and 13,120 minutes.