Library encouraging youth to keep reading during summer break

School may be out for the summer, but the local library is still trying to keep books in students’ hands with its seasonal reading program.

Beginning June 1, the Irene Ingle Public Library’s summertime program encourages kids from ninth grade on down to continue to read for fun and study by assigning point values to individual volumes. During the months of June and July, participants have a chance to take computerized tests on what they’ve read, with passing grades earning points toward a seasonal total, which in turn translates into tickets.

Distributed weekly, kids can enter their tickets into drawings for a variety of prizes invitingly placed around the library’s youth section shelves. These are donated by organizations like Friends of the Library and Stikine Sportsmen Association,

and by local businesses, and vary between cash, reading tablets, bikes and even a unicycle.

“We still have well over 100 prizes for the kids to win,” explained head librarian Margaret Villarma. “We’ve had some wonderful donations. The community has been very supportive.”

A grant in the amount of $2,500 from First Bank also helped pay for prizes, and will support an end-of-summer pool and pizza party open to participants in the program. Held at the public pool, that event is scheduled for August 5, and kids who

have earned at least 10 points will be receiving a door prize along with the event. What that will be this year remains a

surprise, but in past years has included outdoor equipment or a movie pass and popcorn pack.

Wrangell Public Schools’ information technology coordinator, Matt Gore, last month helped set up computer stations in the library with Accelerated Reading program software. Local students already use the program during the regular year, so are familiar with how the program works.

“There’re a lot of books that are AR books,” Villarma

noted. These are assigned point values based on difficulty level, which students earn once they demonstrate they have read the books using the tests. These are not only found in the youth section of the library, but include books in the adult nonfiction and fiction sections as well.

The point of the reading program is to keep students up on their reading skills, avoiding some of the “summer backslide” of the long break. While also getting to enjoy some new stories and adventures, they also get to continue to build comprehension and start out the new school year better prepared.

To be enrolled in the program, children need to sign up by June 30. Doing so costs nothing, and Villarma explained the process takes only a moment. Last year 118 kids took part, reading nearly 3,500 books over the two-month period.