Library Notes
July 29, 2011
Erika Kosin

One World, Many Stories Summer Reading Program

As the Rowan Public Library’s Summer Reading Program winds down, it is nice to look back and reflect on the great time we had. With this year’s theme, One World, Many Stories, we encouraged both children and teens to travel the world from home through books. While our library is fortunate to have tremendous support from both the Friends of the Rowan Public Library and the County, allowing us to fund all of the wonderful programs we offer, the emphasis is on the children reading throughout the summer. We know that many children view reading as a chore they have to complete for school, but at the library, we say reading is for fun, that is why we do not require children to read a certain list of books, instead we tell them to read what they want during the summer. Also, by allowing the children to choose the books they want to read, whether fiction, non-fiction or a picture book, they learn that the library has books that cater to each individual taste.

Those who work with children know that the simple act of reading keeps their brains engaged during the summer months and will help them stay ahead at school. In fact, studies have shown that those students who read over the summer months return to school better prepared and those who have not read tend to slip back one to two years on their reading ability. With the knowledge of how important it is for children to read over the summer, the library does it’s best to encourage children to read and so far we have seen many children doing just that. This is done by helping children keep track of the hours spent reading and rewarding them for turning in those hours in 5 hour increments, thus creating an incentive to keep reading in a fun atmosphere.

Encouragement to read does not end at the elementary school level at Rowan Public Library, we also offer summer reading programs for the students in Middle School and High School, but their program follows a different format. While this summer’s programs are ending, the teens wrapped up their final program on July 28th with a cookout at the South Branch, and the children’s programming also ended the last week in July, we do encourage everyone to keep reading until school starts at the end of August. Summer Reading 2011 may be winding down, but the staff at Rowan Public Library are already looking towards next summer’s installment and hope to see everyone back and some new participants in June of 2012.

Children ages 1 through fifth grade can turn in their hours through August 12th and our prize basket raffle winners will be announced on August 15th.