Making a Splash With Summer Reading

Many public librarians nationwide help school media specialists and teachers compile their summer reading lists. “I want to be involved [in creating booklists] so that what is on the list is available in our library,” says Julie Rines, coordinator of children’s services for the Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, MA. Since each of Quincy’s school lists contains 300 to 500 titles, checking to see if her library has all the titles is no easy task, but Rines feels it’s worth the effort.

When it comes to summer reading programs, public librarians and schools in Santa Monica, CA, work hand in hand. During the school year, the Santa Monica/Malibu school district’s sole elementary librarian, Suzanne Peterson, attends the public library’s collection development meetings and promotes new titles with teachers. These titles are then included on students’ summer reading lists. A committee of teachers, middle school librarians, and Santa Monica Public Library’s young adult librarians create booklists for students entering grades 6-8. The library also creates its own annotated versions of the lists to help kids and parents identify the books they’re most interested in. During the summer, each student is required to read two books from the lists.

In many states, the emphasis on reading, fueled by President Bush’s recent “No Child Left Behind” education policy, has led to the creation of private and state-sponsored reading programs that are promoted in schools. For the past three years, for example, Ohio has had two competing summer reading programs – a statewide program in public libraries run by the State Library of Ohio and “The Governor’s Summer Reading Challenge” launched by Ohio Governor Bob Taft as part of his OhioReads program.

Traci Moritz, a youth services coordinator for the Putnam County (OH) District Library, says that having two programs has been a headache for the public librarians. “Some [of the 13 schools I serve] let me come with an open-door policy throughout the year, and others pretend I don’t exist,” she says.

This year, the two programs will merge, thanks to the efforts of Ohio State Library Children’s Services Consultant Cheri Wilks. “We hope the [public] librarians will have an easier time getting into schools to promote the program now that they’re combined,” Moritz says. This spring, all of Ohio’s principals will receive a letter encouraging them to let public librarians into their schools to promote the summer reading club. Wilks says that the State Library and the public library will keep statistics to see how well the new program is doing.

Vicky Smith, the children’s librarian at the McArthur Library in Biddeford, ME, says that promoting her summer reading program takes her out of the library for two weeks. “But to my mind it’s the most valuable two weeks of the year,” she says. “My personal visits to the classrooms and my enthusiasm do more to energize the kids than a million flyers. It makes me a walking target in the supermarket. [Kids say,] ‘You came to my school! Remember me?’ – and it raises the library’s level of recognition tremendously.” Smith says if your fellow staff members complain about your absence, let them know just how essential personal contact is with kids in schools.

Children’s librarians have traditionally traveled from classroom to classroom while visiting schools in the spring, booktalking, reading picture books aloud, and promoting the upcoming summer reading program. Since individual classroom visits can add up to three or four hours all told, many librarians try to meet with as many as many as 150 kids at one time in the school auditorium. “We do a ‘song and dance’ routine, with songs, stories, riddles, crazy hats, weird clothes, whatever we think will make it memorable and exciting,” says Susanna Holstein, the children’s librarian at the Elk Valley branch of the Kanawha County (WV) Public Library, who performs in tandem with a library assistant. “We bring bookmarks and copies of our summer schedule of events. It’s important to get them into the kids’ hands, and perhaps they actually get them home.”

Julie Sorensen recommends reserving a five- to seven-minute slot in an awards assembly, which schools hold near the end of the academic year, to talk about your summer reading program. Why? Because many parents come to watch their children receive awards. “Because it’s an assembly, I bring in a big visual prop, like a big puppet, or I do an audience participation story,” says Sorensen. Other programs or meetings, such as PTA or PTO meetings that parents attend in the late spring are also good venues to promote summer reading. “Personal contact is a killer – it takes up so much time,” says Olson. “But it’s the best way to get the message out.”

To connect with more school parents, Penny Markey of West Covina Library borrowed an idea from the advertising world. She designed brightly colored stickers that proclaimed in both English and Spanish: “Vacation reading equals better grades. Take your child to the county library for summer reading.”

Cynthia Olson at nearby Torrance Public Library decided to try the stickers idea herself. In the spring of 2001, she and some of her colleagues went to the local elementary schools seeking permission to place the stickers on report card envelopes. Their efforts paid off big-time, as the number of children who registered for summer reading skyrocketed from 1,800 to 2,300. “Many parents who said they hadn’t been in before brought their children into the library, sticker in hand,” Olson explains.

In many areas, particularly those with low-income or at-risk students, summer school programs are important. In Walla Walla, WA, one largely Hispanic summer school program regularly visits the public library by bus, while another summer school program walks to the library. “We addressed the teachers [at the schools] and many bought into the summer program, kept the logs of daily reading time, and handed out the prizes which we delivered to them,” says Mary Ann Gilpatrick, a children’s librarian at the Walla Walla Public Library. Getting the summer school students into the summer reading program has paid off. “There has been a huge upsurge in Hispanic family use of the library,” she adds.

In other towns, school libraries are opened to the community one or two days a week, particularly in areas where the public library is far away. Julie Rines says this summer she plans to deliver flyers for each of the library’s upcoming programs to a local school library that stays open during the summer a few days a week.

Many librarians follow Torrance Public Library’s lead and send letters to the principals of local schools letting them know which of their students participated in summer reading. “Most of the parents tell me that the kids are recognized either verbally over the loudspeaker or through a newsletter sent home,” says Kay Bowes of the Concord Pike Library in Wilmington, DE. “If I didn’t send those letters [to the schools], I think some of the parents would be after my head!”

There can never be too many opportunities to show children the value of reading. Bonnie Webster, an outreach librarian at the Taylor County (KY) Public Library, takes her summer reading program to the local summer schools, and at the end of the semester all participating students receive a free paperback book.

“The principal told me that I had made the children very happy by giving out free books,” says Webster, who is well aware that kids in summer school are often the ones who have had the most trouble reading. “I think there is a great need to reach these children who have been turned off to reading in school. If somebody doesn’t reach them, they may never like to read.”