Library district kicks off Summer Reading Program
registration begins may 27
The end of school is no excuse to stop reading. That is, Yuma County’s libraries aren’t going to let kids get away with that excuse.
Beginning Saturday children and teens can sign up to take part in another session of the Summer Reading Program offered by the Yuma County Library District.
The program challenges its child and teen participants to read for a prescribed number of minutes over the course of the seven-week session, with those meeting the goals eligible to receive prizes or be entered into drawings for prizes.
The program also brings a variety of guests to the district’s library branches to present talks and demonstrations that are designed for younger audiences and that tie in with the theme for this year’s session, “All Together Now.”
At least two of the guests are returning from previous years, among them Arizona Rick the Balloon Cowboy, who entertains kids in a comedic show in which he makes sculptures out of balloons. Also coming back is Wildman Phil, a wildlife educator who brings snakcs, lizards, spiders and other critters for a demonstration that is both entertaining and educational.
New to the program will be the Grupo de Danza Rio Colorado, performing a Mexican folkloric dance routine, and Henna by Pheobe, teaching teens about the history of the art of henna tattoos.
To find out dates, times and library locations of the presentations, see the calendar of events on the library district’s website, https://yumalibrary.org.
In keeping with the theme of this session, the program will involve participants with friends and family in other reading-related activities as well.
For many years the county’s library system has offered a reading program to kids of all ages during the weeks they are out of school, said Sarah Wisdom, the library district’s community relations manager.
“It’s a way for us to keep students engaged in the summer, to avoid that summer slide and maintain the reading skills they’ve learned.”
The program this summer concludes July 15, making it one week longer that the six-week duration in previous years.
While the program is geared to children and teens, the district encourages parents to take part in the program as well, to make reading a family affair, she said.
To sign up for program, which is free, participants can register using the Readsquared app, register on the library district website, or register in person at their nearest library branches.
They can use the Readsquared app to log the number of minutes they’ve read to be eligible for prize drawings, or they can use paper logs provided by the branches. Reading goals, which vary for each age group, are as follows:
• Children up to 4 years of age must be read to be any adult for at least 300 minutes over the course of the seven-week program.
• Children 5 to 8 must read 600 minutes over the seven weeks of the session.
• Kids 9 to 12 must read 900 minutes.
• Teens must read 1,080 minutes.
Last year, 832 people signed up for the reading program, with 197 completing the reading goals. Those numbers represent a drop from pre-pandemic levels. In the summer of 2019, the last before the emergence of COVID-19, 2,260 people signed up for the program, of whom 1,188 completed the required reading.
Because of the pandemic, the program was canceled in 2020 and offered online only in 2021. Last year was first since since 2019 that program activities took place in the library branches.
“We’re working to do some outreach and really build those numbers back up,” Wisdom said.