Unearth a Story, “underscores the joy of discovery that reading brings and that every person and every community have stories waiting to be found and shared – through books, programs, and local knowledge," according to the CSLP website.”
“It's all about dinosaurs, all about just things you dig up, digging into a good book [and] uncovering new things to learn,” said Amanda Harrel, youth services manager at the Republic Branch Library.
Harrel’s background is in early childhood development. She started work in preschool classrooms, which she said helped her to “discover the power of stories and books to like bring people together,” leading her to seek work at the Republic Library.
“We are big fans of dinosaurs, specifically at the Republic branch and so we're really excited to celebrate Dinos all summer. They're just like, they're just like an everlasting kid [interest], so we're excited to plug into those interests.”
Harrel said the Summer Reading Program helps prevent “summer slide,” a term used to describe children failing to keep up with their academic abilities during the summertime because they aren’t currently in school.
“So, the library steps in to encourage reading for fun and encourage intergenerational connections through reading as well,” she said. “We try to give them lots of programs and things to do that are free and safe and fun just so everyone can have a good summer.”
“I think building lifelong learners is one of the primary goals of the library and so I think this is an important step in that,” she added.
The Summer Reading Program offers programming for all ages, including a challenge for children from birth to age 5, kids 6 to 11, teens 12 to 18 as well as for adults ages 18+.
Harrel explained that the program for the 0-5 age group is centered around activities and focuses on building early literacy skills such as rhyming, singing and counting.
School aged participants (6-18), will read 10 hours over the course of the summer and complete eight activities.
“The activities are listed on the back [but] families can adapt them to best fit their circumstances. They can repeat ones that they like. It's just to give new ideas and kind of fill those unstructured days in the summer,” said Harrel.
When children complete the Summer Reading Program, they will receive a fine waiver card as well as a “Summer Passport,” which contains offers from area businesses who have donated. This year, the passport sponsors are Tropical Smoothie Cafe, The Urban Cup, Bricks & Minifigs, Sips & Scoops, Pineapple Whip, Little Ceasar’s, Chick-fil-a and Andy B’s.
“And then of course, the iconic [prize] that the librarians are most excited about is the book. They get to pick a brand-new book that they don't have to return to us,” she said.
In addition to these opportunities, local branches will offer a variety of events both on and off library grounds.
To participate, families can either sign up on the Springfield-Greene County Library website, or they can visit an in-person location and pick up a board.
The deadline to participate in the program is August 8.
Other area libraries systems will also be hosting similar summer reading programs. Information for these programs can be found at their respective websites.