Community Corner
Dig In! Summer Reading Club is Underway at the Grosse Pointe Public Libraries
Whether you're sticking around town or heading off on vacation, relax with a good book... and get rewarded for it.
The temperatures may be hot outside, but things are just heating up inside the Grosse Pointe Libraries.
Across the nation, hundreds of thousands of readers, both young and old, are participating in the 'Dig Into Summer' Reading Club.
And though the theme of the program might be the same, Grosse Pointe Library Assistant Director Kate DeMeester, says that each library has created its own goals and rewards that it sets for club members, which are tracked through an online system.
"We really encourage, over the summer, that it's about reading for fun," DeMeester said. "For us, it's more about celebrating the readers' achievement when they come in."
Children, ages 3-12, can participate in the kids' program, earning three toys for every three hours that they read. After fifteen hours of reading, readers have the opportunity to choose a free book.
"The practice that they're getting helps them maintain what they have learned over the school year," said DeMeester. "If they don't continue to read over the summer, they can have what we call a 'summer slide' where they lose reading proficiency, so we are trying to prevent that."
This year, for the first time ever, the libraries have introduced an early literacy summer reading program for those little ones under the age of three. Parents read to the infants, logging the number of books completed. After the 15th book is finished, a free one is awarded.
Teens, ages 13-19, as well as adults can also get in on the action by joining the club and writing reviews on the novels that they read. Complete details are listed on the library's website.
"They [the participants] can read magazines, newspapers, graphic novels, books or listen to audio books," said DeMeester. "The idea is to really keep them going, keep them excited and keep it fun."
If you haven't registered for the summer reading program, there's still time. Visit the summer reading club page to enroll today!
For more information on the Grosse Pointe Public Libraries, call your local branch or visit http://www.gp.lib.mi.us.
