It’s the time of year at the library when we look to the summer for fun, reading, books and events. The library’s summer reading program, Team Read, officially starts June 1 and is open to all ages with special events, prizes and activities for children, teens and adults.

While the summer reading program seems to be all about making reading fun for our community, I must admit, we have an ulterior motive. Each summer, children in our community experience something called the “summer slide.” Students either maintain or lose (slide) reading skills throughout the summer. At the beginning of each school year, teachers must work to bring the sliders up to grade level, losing precious instruction time. Students who don’t read during the summer lag two years behind their book-reading peers over their school careers, and kids who participate in summer reading programs are 52 Lexile points ahead of their peers who do not.

At the public library, we are perfectly situated to help combat the summer slide. There are two major components that inspire kids to read during the summer: getting quality books into children’s hands and providing reading role models. Each child who joins our summer reading program earns a free book to keep forever, and we obviously have millions of books to check out and borrow. We act as reading role models by recommending great books, sharing our love of literature, and showing interest in children’s reading selections.

As community members, you, too, can help with the summer slide. Obviously if you have children in your home, support their summer reading by bringing them to the library (and grab free lunch for kids from mid-June through mid-August). Show interest in what they are reading, and show your excitement for books, magazines, newspapers or whatever format you enjoy. You can still be a reading role model if you aren’t living with children and teens: read in public where youngsters can see you, if you meet a child for the first time ask them what they are reading or about their favorite books, share the importance of reading during the summer with your friends and family. We can all do something to help teachers in the fall have classes full of strong readers, and students ready to learn.

— Josie Hanneman is a community librarian at the Redmond Public Library. josieh@dpls.lib.or.usfa