Summertime And the Reading Is Easy
Four new summer reading programs focus on fun
By Meg McCaffrey -- School Library Journal, 1/1/2004
But reaching kids over the summer is a tough job, and public librarians can't do it alone. Although each of the four programs we reviewed is unique, they all embody an "it takes a village" approach to fostering children's lifelong love of reading. In other words, they encourage educators, parents, and the community at large to lend a helping hand. Successful programs also have the ability to overcome obstacles creatively, to turn lemons into lemonade—and that's something to look forward to on a balmy July or August day.
How Reading Became Cool. It was only natural that Helen Hiltz and Lynn Kauffman hooked up to create the Takoma Teen Summer Book Slam at the Takoma Park Branch Library in Washington, DC. Hiltz, a young adult librarian, had high hopes that her branch would become a vital destination for inner-city young adults. But when she started her job in 2002, there were hardly any young adult books in the library's collection and very few teens visiting the library.
Kauffman, a new media specialist at nearby Calvin Coolidge Senior High School, faced her own challenges: a staggering 95 percent of the high school's 850 students had scored below grade level on standardized reading tests. To make matters worse, the school library's young adult collection was in worse shape than the public library's.
Unfazed, the two librarians decided to launch a book club at the school. Surely, they reasoned, there must be a core of enthusiastic readers among the student body.
The first meeting in January 2003 was a bust—only three kids showed up. "There's a perception here among many students that reading isn't cool," explains Kauffman. "Some kids think reading and anything to do with school is for geeks."
Perseverance and word of mouth paid off, and eventually the club swelled to about 30 kids. It helped, of course, that Branch Librarian Betsy Madero and Principal Richard Jackson were supportive, letting Hiltz and Kauffman devote work hours to their fledgling program. The club was just gaining steam when the end of the school year approached. "We didn't want to lose momentum over the summer break," says Kauffman. And that's when the Coolidge Senior High School Book Club morphed into the Takoma Teen Summer Book Slam.
Where did the money come from? The Friends of Takoma Park Library, the National Home Library Foundation, and the public library system contributed $850 to the eight-week program. Hiltz and Kauffman devised a summer reading list of titles that weren't likely to turn up on any of the kid's reading lists—books such as Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, Big Mouth & Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates, Downriver by Will Hobbs, or Carrie by Stephen King—and used interlibrary loan to round up enough copies of the reading selections. Then on Tuesday nights, the participants would gather to discuss what they had read. At least, that's how the two librarians imagined it.
The kids, though, had something else in mind.
Instead of reading a mere book a week, almost every student zipped through all four selections each week. Soon, the sessions had expanded to include anywhere from six to 12 new recruits, including kids from other schools. The teens' apathetic attitudes toward reading began to dissipate. When Dominee Norris joined the summer club, her friends couldn't fathom why the 16-year-old high school junior would want to waste her time reading books. "They would tell me, 'That defeats the purpose of being out of school,'" she recalls. But after Norris persuaded one of her pals to read Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, a club selection, her friend was suddenly singing a different tune. "She wanted to read the rest of the books Ms. Helen picked out for the club, because she liked it so much," says Norris.
For more information about the program, write to Readersarecool@coolidgeshs.edu.
Inspired Monkey Business. As we all know, a few hundred bucks won't go far, but don't tell that to the librarians of San Diego and neighboring Imperial County. Marina Claudio Perez, San Diego Public Library's young adult services coordinator, and her colleagues have turned $350 into a summer reading stampede that's attracted more than 6,000 teens, as well as the support of the San Diego Public Zoo.
"This is a story of a simple thing that didn't cost a lot but yet inspired a lot of us," says Perez.
For about 10 years, the Serra Regional Cooperative Library System (the 13 public library systems in San Diego and Imperial counties) had commissioned original artwork for a poster for its summer reading program. Although the posters were expensive—the artist's fee alone was $5,000 to $8,000—the resulting publicity was worth it. But by November 2002, California's economy was slumping, library budget cuts were deepening, and corporate sponsorship of the project had evaporated. Suddenly the library system had to devise a thrifty way to promote its program. And that's when members of the young adult services committee came up with the idea of creating a poster contest. "We thought, 'The ideas and artwork should come from the teenagers," explains Perez.
Students in grades 6–12 were encouraged to submit drawings of "Wild Animals and Reading," a theme suggested by local teens. A $350 grant from the library system's advisory board helped purchase prizes and covered the cost of direct mailings to area schools. Approximately 350 kids inundated the library with entries. The winner? High school student Tom Nuth's drawing of a gorilla engrossed in a book about humans, with a tag line that read: "Don't bother me, I'm reading." "It had that punch and the wording was so typically teen," says Perez.
The literature-loving gorilla was reproduced on T-shirts—accompanied, of course, by the phrase "Teen Summer Program." And the T-shirts, which each cost $3.65 to produce, turned out to be modest moneymakers, selling for $5. Even better, they were great walking billboards, since kids loved wearing them to school.
The librarians were on a roll. Next, they approached the nearby San Diego Zoo. Zoo officials and its education department jumped at the prospect of participating in the program. The zoo paid for printing all 6,500 of the student summer reading logs and offered kids who regularly participated in the program free admission, a $19.50 value, as well as discounted rates for family members.
"We had great word of mouth," says Perez. "Once news of free zoo tickets was in the air, it became a family affair for some teens and an opportunity to hang out with friends for others." Before long, local radio stations were broadcasting public service announcements about the program, newspapers were running stories, zoo employees (dressed as animals) were visiting libraries, and zookeepers were recommending their favorite titles. Not surprisingly, books about animals began leaping off library shelves, and some libraries doubled their summer-reading club attendance.
What's in store for next summer? At the moment, local librarians are keeping their eyes on the ball—they're hoping to partner with the San Diego Padres.
A Community of Readers. Cecelia Thompson, the principal's secretary at St. Pius X Catholic High School in Atlanta, GA, doesn't typically leave for work with a fish, a wizard's hat, and a book of riddles tucked inside her bag. But that's precisely what she did one morning—after adding a ring, a teacup, and a troll to the mix. The props were part of Thompson's presentation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, the book she chose to discuss as part of the school's popular summer reading program.
Aspire!, which costs next to nothing to run, has generated an avalanche of school spirit and has gotten kids genuinely excited about reading. Here's how it works: before Christmas break, staff members are asked if they'd like to select a book to share with students. It's not necessary for administrators, support personnel, teachers, librarians, and guidance counselors to be experts on the book—it just has to be a personal favorite. Then at the end of the school year, St. Pius's 1,000 students are required to sign up to read one of the suggested books over the summer. When school resumes in the fall, students and their respective book moderators get together for an hour to chat about what they've read.
"What was fun is that you had people in the classroom with the kids" who are not usually there, says Robin Tanis, the school's library media specialist and a co-organizer of the program. "Kids loved that."
And so did administrators like Guidance Counselor Jennifer Capp (who chose Local Girls by Alice Hoffman) and Principal Stephen Spellman (whose most recent pick was historian Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers, a reflection on World War II). Spellman's chat was so well received that afterward a group of students pooled their money and presented him with a videotape collection of the HBO miniseries based on the best-seller.
"Some of the staff members did the best job," says Tanis, who picked The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. Spellman relished being back in the classroom. "I wondered why I ever got out of teaching," he says.
Ironically, Aspire! was launched in 2002, after parents complained about the school's required summer reading list—students simply weren't enjoying the required reading. "We weren't fostering a love of learning; [we were] just fulfilling a mandate," says Spellman.
Then new to his position, Spellman wanted to do something about it, so he sought out school librarians. "We wanted to have a community of learners, a community of readers," he says. With Tanis and her cohorts' help, St. Pius came up with a more casual alternative to many schools' traditional summer reading programs, one that de-emphasizes the curriculum and, instead, encourages a lifelong love of reading. "We wanted [books] that they wouldn't read in English class," explains Tanis. "We wanted students to read for enjoyment and to keep school out of it. No tests. No papers."
This year, by Thanksgiving break, St. Pius's halls were already buzzing about what books might make the cut for next summer's program. Aspire! "has caused a year-round discussion of the books," Spellman says. And as Capp notes, "Anything that gets kids excited about reading is positive."
For more information, visit spx.org/library/library.html and click on "Summer Reading."
Following Big Brother's Example. What's on the horizon for Florida families this summer? Hitting the beach, visiting Disney World, and doing a fair amount of summer reading.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush has clearly borrowed a page from his big brother's education plan, No Child Left Behind, and placed reading on the sunshine state's summer agenda. To help boost Florida's struggling readers up to or beyond grade level, the state has a number of literacy projects in the works, including Just Read, Families!, an online summer reading program that was created by the state Department of Education and the Department of State Library's Division and launched in May 2003. "It's about making reading an everyday event in children's lives," says Carol Fiore, youth services consultant for the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services.
The site has a two-fold purpose. In addition to enhancing students' reading performance, it serves as an online tool for parents to nurture their children's love of reading. The online venture also represents librarians' best efforts to use technology to reach those who can't visit their local libraries, says Fiore. "Today's kids are transportation-challenged," she notes. "We are going beyond a library's walls to reach them."
Just Read, Families! is divided into five sections and includes tips for reading aloud to kids, links to child-friendly Web sites that develop reading skills, and age-appropriate activities that promote reading. For example, families with middle school students are urged to read and discuss newspaper articles, as well as play word games like Boggle. The site also offers book recommendations, such as The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle for young children and Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney for middle schoolers. Plus, there are links to the Florida Library Youth Program, a summer reading program that encourages children and families to discover the joy of reading by taking part in planned activities at their local public libraries.
As of the first week of December 2003, the site had been a popular destination, with a total of 40,000 hits, says Joe Davis, a program specialist. And many of those visitors have given it their thumbs-up. "We've received fantastic e-mails," says Heather Roebke, director of special projects. "Parents remarked that it was user-friendly."
Just Read, Families! is part of the state's program, Just Read, Florida!, a year-round program aimed at helping children to read at or above grade level by 2012. "Everything we do is working toward that goal," says Roebke.
For more information, visit www.justreadfamilies.org.
| Author Information |
| Meg McCaffrey is a contributing editor to SLJ. |
