Pages Turn, with the Seasons
Walter Minkel -- School Library Journal, 10/1/2000
dlis.dos.state.fl.us/flyp2000
Year-round reading programs are a fine way to encourage kids to continue good reading habits even when they're bogged down with homework, and Web sites are an effective way to spread that message. The Florida Library Youth Program (FLYP) sets an example with its Web site. 
A non-pink panther: Flyp is also the name of the program's mascot, a Florida panther. He is on all the FLYP posters and promotional materials. Children's book illustrator (and Florida resident) Cheryl Nathan created this year's rendition. FLYP (the program, not the panther) started out as a summer reading program, says Carole Fiore (cfiore@mail.dos.state.fl.us), the State Library of Florida's youth services consultant, "but we eliminated the word 'summer' several years ago when we saw a lot of year-round schools popping up." FLYP is now promoted to schools as well as public libraries.
A good start: The FLYP site launched just this year. Although it's primarily a collection of brief booklists pointing children to good stuff in a local school or public library collection, it's attractive and well designed. There are also a few recommended Web sites and craft and activity projects drawn from books. The material on the site was part of the 2000 FLYP manual meant for librarians, but Fiore and the FLYP committee decided to make the same material accessible to kids via the site. (The manual itself is available online, as a collection of downloadable MS Word documents, at dlis.dos.state.fl.us/bld/FLYP2000).
Behind the scenes: The state library coordinated and held a series of workshops throughout the state for staff at public and school libraries and at military base libraries that serve families and child service agencies. The 2001 FLYP theme will be "Start @ the Library/Go Anywhere." Adds Fiore: "We came up with the slogan five months before ALA announced their '@ Your Library' campaign."
