Naperville Public Library’s Summer Reading Program is already in full swing.
The kid, teen and adult programs began on June 1, but sign up is open through August.
Those who have participated in the past might notice some changes this year.
“We did a re-think last year and really thought about why we were doing the program and how we could improve it,” said Stephanie Rivera, children’s services supervisor at Naperville Public Library.
For starters, that meant welcoming anyone who wanted to join. No library card is needed this year.
The program was also lengthened a few extra weeks. It will go until August 31 to accommodate for the different start and end dates of the school districts.
The Kids Summer Reading Program is for children from age three through fifth grade, and 1,694 kids have registered so far.
This year kids are tracking reading on a daily basis, and the log is filled out like a calendar.
“A lot of research shows that in order for kids to retain what they’ve learned over the school year and avoid the summer slide, they really need to make reading a habit and read every day,” Rivera said.
The theme this year is “Every Hero Has a Story.” According to Rivera, the theme was chosen because superheroes have a wide appeal across all age groups.
Along with the kids, the teen and adult summer reading programs have made some adjustments this year too. In addition to reading books, participants must complete activities throughout the summer. The activities may include downloading free music using the library’s music service Freegal or following the library on Facebook and Twitter.
“We talked about why we do summer reading, and we want them to come to the library and maintain coming to the library during the school year,” said Alison Colman, teen services librarian at Naperville Public Library. “We wanted to add something new to the program, so that teens will explore all that the library has to offer.”
The teen program had 1,207 registrants sign up so far and the adult program had 932 registrants.
Aside from the regular summer reading program, Colman recently started an online book club for teens and adults. The book club is called “Yay for YA!: An Online Book Club” on Goodreads.com.
A new book will be selected each month, questions will be presented based on the reading and book club members can discuss it online. Colman says there are 27 members, and she hopes to see it grow.
“We don’t even get a lot of adults to come to book clubs, so I thought maybe doing an online book club where they can participate at their will would make it easier for teens to participate if they want,” Colman said.
Other programs at the library this summer include a Superhero Writing and Drawing Contest for teens, The Rubber Ducky Club for infants through 35-month-olds, which helps parents get into the habit of reading with their child, and Read2gether, which matches young readers with a teen volunteer to practice reading aloud.
