Since 1990, the Summer Reading Club program has encouraged children across the province to keep reading during the summer months, while discovering that reading can be fun.
Today, more than 173,000 children participate each year.
I still remember visiting the library as a child to pick up my Summer Reading Club booklet.
I was excited to collect stickers for all the reading I was doing, and I’m sure my parents appreciated anything that kept me busy during summer break.
Now, I get to bring my own children to sign up, and watching them experience that same excitement has been incredibly rewarding.
My daughter is heading into Grade 3, and her reading skills have grown tremendously since September.
Like many caregivers, I know it can be challenging to maintain those skills during the summer, when routines change and classroom learning pauses. That’s why the Summer Reading Club is so valuable — it helps children continue building literacy skills while making reading an enjoyable part of summer.
The program is designed to make reading enjoyable and accessible for every child.
Participants receive a colourful reading record to track their daily reading. Kids who read each day can colour in their record and earn stickers as they complete each week.
There are also contests, prizes, and special activities throughout the summer.
After seven weeks of reading, participants earn a medal to celebrate all their hard work and dedication.
Everything counts as reading. Listening to audiobooks, enjoying bedtime stories, graphic novels, or reading independently all help build literacy skills.
We want children to discover the joy of reading, and the best book is always the one a child is excited to pick up.
This year’s theme is “Under the Sea,” and at Maple Ridge Public Library we’re creating a special community art display in the library atrium.
Every child who signs up can write their name on a sparkly fish that will become part of a growing school of fish displayed upstairs. By the end of the summer, we hope to fill the atrium with a colourful underwater scene created by our readers.
We’re also excited to kick off the season with a Summer Reading Club launch party.
Join us on Wednesday, June 25, at 2 p.m., to sign up in person, learn more about the program, and celebrate the start of summer reading. We’ll have crafts, treats, and opportunities to win prizes.
The library will host many free performances and activities throughoiut the summer to help keep the fun rolling. Grab our new summer program guide or check out our website for a complete list of everything we’re offering, from Puppets in the Park to special guest performances from ventriloquist Kellie Haines, West Coast Exotics, and Ocean Wise.
Visit your local library this summer and take part in all the fun!
For more information about these and other free programs happening at your library, check out the “events” section on our website at www.fvrl.bc.ca.
– Sarah Jost is a community librarian at the Maple Ridge Public Library
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