"at your library" in the north island eagle: summer reading club is back

Summer Reading Club is back! Register your child today.

Can you believe it’s June already? The days are long, the kids are restless, and summer is in the air. Whether you’re cleaning out the camper, booking a cottage down island, or just wondering how you’re going to keep your children busy all summer, the library can be part of your plans. Books, movies, music, magazines – and free programs open to all – will help you fill hours and banish boredom. Even better, you’ll be helping your children succeed in school next year – when you sign them up for Summer Reading Club, and encourage them to read every day.

Summer Reading Club is happening all over Canada, and VIRL goes all out to promote this amazing program in all of our 39 branches. The reason is simple: kids who read during the summer do better in school in September. Think of reading as exercise for the brain. We want our children’s brains to stay in shape!

Summer Reading Club is all about making reading fun, and motivating kids to read. Kids track their reading, then visit the library to show they’ve been reading every day. Each week that they read every day, they are entered in a draw for prizes. Each week, one lucky child (at each branch) can choose a book to keep. Children who complete a reading record for the entire Summer Reading Club program win a medal. Kids also receive fun freebies, like bookmarks, stickers, and a Tales the Whale “book muncher”.

We’ll have special programs at all our libraries, too, including lots of “STEAM” programs – Minecraft, virtual reality, creative building kits, and more. (STEAM it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math, and it encourages us to learn by hands-on problem solving. More about STEAM in a future At Your Library column!)

For older kids, VIRL presents Teen Summer Challenge. This year, teens can join Sherlock Moose and Fox Watson as they track down solutions to mysterious tasks. A series of silly and fun activities challenge teens to collect points while learning new skills.

For every five points they earn, teens get one entry in the prize draw. Prizes include books, Chapters gift cards, and Skullcandy earbuds. Teens can team up with friends to do the challenges together. Youth ages 12-18 can pick up a Teen Summer Challenge booklet at their local branch, or find the tasks at the VIRL website.

But if your teen would rather stick with Summer Reading Club, that’s fine with us. Teens reading? Yes, please!

Summer Reading Club and Teen Summer Challenge run from July 2 to August 20. You can register at your favourite branch, or online at virl.bc.ca/kids/summer-reading-club.

It’s free, it’s easy, it’s fun – and it’s important brain exercise! I hope you’ll put Summer Reading Club Registration on the top of your summer to-do list.