- March 29, 2024
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When we think about summer activities, many minds turn to classic summer camps, time at the beach, reclining at the pool and maybe even trips to cooler environs like the mountains. Here at the Winter Park Public Library, our minds turn to helping residents make reading a part of their summer plans in ways that are fun, engaging and beneficial.
The WPPL has been providing summer reading programs since the 1950s, but the WPPL’s 2016 Summer Reading Challenge, which kicks off the weekend of June 10 – 12, is not your grandma’s library program. Rooted in a wealth of research that clearly demonstrates the positive impacts of summer reading initiatives on both children and adults, this year’s theme “Movers and Makers” fosters reading opportunities for people of all ages through activities and programs that promote health and wellness as well as stimulate creativity.
When discussing the impact of summer reading learning loss on children and teens, former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called the regression in skills during the extended school break “devastating.” Many researchers estimate that students lose a full month of learning progress over the summer, and decades of data demonstrate that early development of summer reading habits can lay the foundation for future success. The WPPL stands in that gap every year, providing both opportunity and incentives for young people to read.
While it may look like the Summer Reading Challenge is all fun and games, our librarians incorporate sound educational principles into every program. This June’s hip-hop dance class for tweens might not seem educational at first glance, but it teaches lessons on the role of dance in culture and builds on evidence that physical activities in which participants use both hemispheres of the brain help improve reading fluency. A performance by “The Jiggleman” delights preschoolers and elementary-age kids, but it’s also an interactive demonstration of scientific principles using objects the children encounter every day. Much like those popular sneaky recipes with veggies blended into the sauce, library programs mix learning in with the fun, even if the participants don’t know it.
The New York State Library conducted a study showing that some of the most important factors for successful reading programs are access to books, time devoted to reading and opportunities to succeed. This evidence supports what we have practiced for decades: giving our community’s children the chance to select their own reading materials and incentivizing reading. It may seem silly to offer a child something as simple as a rubber ducky in exchange for a week of reading. But we have countless stories from parents who assured us that even their most reluctant of readers will sit down with a book daily to earn a prize. Older kids who participate in the Reading Challenge for Tweens and Teens earn chances to win a tablet and gift cards to local businesses and restaurants.
Obviously we are focused on the developmental and education benefits for our young people, but adults are also a key target audience for the Summer Reading Challenge. Research conducted in 2009 at the University of Sussex showed that reading was the most effective way to overcome stress, beating out listening to music or taking a walk. With stress being a known contributor to physical and mental illness, it’s a service to our community to encourage adults to make time for pleasure reading. And in this case, it’s the reading of physical books, not e-books, that has the most stress-reduction impact.
There is also mounting evidence, such as a recent article in the journal Neurology that people who engage in mentally stimulating activities, such as reading, experience slower memory decline. One National Academy of Sciences study showed that adults who engage in hobbies that involve the brain, like reading or puzzles, are less likely to have Alzheimer’s disease. With benefits this clear, it’s a no-brainer to include grown-ups for in the Summer Reading Challenge.
This year, our adults will be able to choose from a wide variety of classes that include a pizza taste-off, a home-brewing lesson and a throw-back game session where we’ll break out Clue, Monopoly and, if we’re feeling crazy, Twister.
The 2016 adult summer reading activities will start off with a bang as we partner with the Writer’s Block Bookstore to host New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer, author of the children’s book “I Am Amelia Earhart” and a series of political thriller novels, for a signing Friday, June 10, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the library.
The Summer Reading Challenge for children, tweens and teens begins at our free, annual kickoff party, Saturday, June 11, from 10 a.m. to noon. The event will feature free books for kids, face painting, a trackless train, and plenty of other fun.
Information about all the WPPL Summer Reading Challenge programs and activities can be found on the library website at wppl.org.