Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the county where we examine issues important to Baltimore County, Maryland. My name is Bill Baker, and I'm your host for this episode. I'm joined by Baltimore County Public Library's Youth and family engagement manager, Connie Strip Matter earlier this month, the library kicked off this year's summer reading challenge with the theme adventure begins at your library. Connie, thanks for joining us. Thank
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
So, right off, what is the Summer Reading Challenge?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
The Summer Reading Challenge is an annual event that we host at the library. It takes place all summer long where we encourage children birth to 18 to read 10 hours throughout the summer. So we encourage 'em to read 10, 10 hours throughout the summer, and when they come in to sign up for it, they get a game board. They can track it on that game board or they can track it online using the Bean Stack app that you can download onto any device.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
How do kids get involved?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Uh, kids can get involved. You can come into any one of our 19 branches, or if our outreach truck truck comes to your community, you can sign up there as well. Uh, you sign up by going up to any staff person at the library and asking about the summer reading challenge. They'll get you started. Uh, when you do get started, you'll be given a book to start your challenge. So this is a free book that every child can get when they sign up for summer reading, and that those are available at all of our branches as well as the outreach truck. Once you have read 10 hours, you can come into a branch for a prize. The prizes are things like earbuds or a flying disc toy. You can also pick out a cute little mushroom plush, for example. So we have something that, uh, most kids would really enjoy choosing. Then you can also enter for a prize drawing for memberships to things like the aquarium, the zoo. Uh, it's a really fun, engaging program, uh, for the kids.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
So what are some of the benefits of the Summer Reading Challenge?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
We offer the summer Reading Challenge for a few really important reasons. One is to help reduce something called the summer slide. A lot of families have maybe heard of the summer slide. It's what can happen to a, a child in the summer while they do not have access to formal education. Basically, as a child progresses throughout the school year, they are, again, they're progressing in their reading levels, they're progressing in their math levels once the summer hits, and they're not in the classroom anymore. Those few months without access to education, without access necessarily to, uh, structure, uh, in their learning, they can dip down in their reading levels, in their math levels, in their social emotional levels. So there have actually been studies done to show, in fact, Johns Hopkins University did a study that showed that that children with access to reading during the summer showed better progress and kept on pace with their reading levels and their education levels.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
So when they came back in the fall, they weren't as behind. So we do summer reading to encourage families to make sure that their children don't experience as much of that summer slide. Another benefit for summer reading is increased engagement with families. We know that one of the most important things for a child's education is engaging with that education with their families. So during the summer, often there's more time spent between the child and the caregiver since they're not in school. So that's an opportune time for families to read together, to read to their children for the child to read to them. It's also an opportunity to dive into reading for pleasure. Often during the school year, children are assigned reading. Sometimes it's something the child enjoys reading. Sometimes it's not, and it's a tale as old as time that assigned reading is often harder for a child to enjoy and for a child to be motivated to do so. We encourage families to come in during the summer to sign up for summer reading because it can create a positive association with reading. That's not always the case when reading is assigned.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So building lifelong readers.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Absolutely. Building lifelong readers is, is one of the top reasons we do summer reading.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So getting back to the summer reading challenge. Do audio books count? Do graphic novels count? Like what counts towards the, the 10 hours?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Any form of reading counts toward the 10 hour hours. So that reading could come from an audiobook, it could come from a parent or another child reading to that child. It could come from reading a graphic novel comic book, whatever it is that the child is reading is acceptable. Uh, we have access to all those kinds of formats at the library. Again, whether it's an audiobook, a graphic novel, uh, an ebook, uh, you can download books on our apps on, uh, Libby, uh, so kids can read those 10 hours however they would like.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
What are some of the most popular genres right now with kids?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Popular genres with kids right now? I would say at the top these days continues to be Manga. Manga are a, uh, a Japanese and Korean style comic book or graphic novel. They're incredibly popular, largely because they are also often translated to anime television shows. So if your child is interested in any form of anime, more than likely they're going to be interested in manga. You know, one, one wildly popular manga that was created was made into a live action television show recently was one piece. There's, uh, an animated anime show of one piece, and then there's the Manga series and the live action series. And so those are the types of things that can fly off our shelves very quickly. I would say graphic novels in general are also really popular. It's a, it's a, an art form, a storytelling form that has really developed over the past several years, used often for memoirs and kids have really been loving reading these graphic novels that tell the author's story.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Rayna Telgemeier is one author who writes very popular and compelling memoir, graphic novels, and kids just relate to them. Uh, the visual literacy that comes with reading a graphic novel is incredibly important for social emotional development. And, uh, visual literacy is, is really just as important as text literacy. So we highly encourage reading of graphic novels, very popular genre. I think too, we see a lot of popular books that are adapted into television shows, and there are a couple that series, uh, or New seasons coming out this summer that have been really popular. The summer I turned pretty is one, so if you're looking for a book for your tween or teen, uh, the summer I turned Pretty is, uh, is the Tops right now, and so is, uh, a graphic novel called Heart Stopper. So there are a lot of these adaptations coming out, and that's a really great way to encourage your child to read if they're watching a show that they love. And there's a book, uh, that it's based on to, you know, point to that. Um,
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That brings me to my next question. My daughter is just starting to read on her own. She's gonna be finished with kindergarten soon. What are some ways that I could encourage her to continue reading?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yeah, encouraging, uh, new readers. Uh, there are so many different ways, and actually I would say a lot of these strategies can be helpful for readers of any age, but especially for our youngest readers. Our newest readers, I would say choosing a book that features familiar characters or a book that features a topic that the child's interested in. An example we like to give often is, um, young kids have a tendency to love dinosaurs and books about dinosaurs have very large words that even some adults struggle to pronounce, but if you love dinosaurs, no matter where you are in your reading level, kids will figure it out. They read those books and they, uh, they develop an understanding for those, those very large scientific words. So finding a book that has a topic of interest to the child, um, or, uh, features a, uh, familiar character So often, much like I was talking about before, where there's a book that's adapted into a TV show.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Often there are TV shows or movies that end up with a lot of books. So if your child is into any number of Disney movies, we have lots of early readers for them, and that can be a really good way to encourage them. I would also say, again, this is true for any a reader of any age. Uh, I would tell parents and caregivers n to not stop reading to their child. Just because they're starting to learn how to read themselves doesn't mean that reading to them is no longer valuable. So continue to read to your child. That is a really good way to encourage them and also read with them. So while they're reading a book, you could read side by side, make reading time, uh, for your family. So you sit down and read a book and encourage your child to read a book and setting that example is really valuable.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
What other programs does the library have planned for kids this summer?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
We have programs all throughout the summer. The theme of the summer, as you mentioned, is adventure begins at your library. So we have lots of guest presenters coming in to, uh, to match that theme. A lot of animal encounters, which is always really exciting. Uh, we have the state fair coming in to talk about what it means to, to enter into the state fair, whether you are bringing in an animal, uh, to show or any other number of ways to be involved. And they are bringing animals to the branches when they come visit. We also have summer meals at 12 of our branches. So those meals, uh, are for an hour in the middle of the day while supplies last. And you can find more information about the locations on our website. Um, we also have, uh, offerings of eye exams at many of our branches all throughout the summer. These are free appointments for a free eye exam and if the glasses are needed, free glasses. This is thanks to a nonprofit that we partner with called Vision to Learn. So whether you are looking for a service like eye exams or free Meals for children or fun programming, we have things scheduled all through August
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Is one of the things that I find very interesting that, um, I, I don't know if a lot of people know about this, but you can get more than just books at the library now.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, we have so much more than books now at the library. Uh, families can come check out an early learning kit, for example, and these are geared toward birth to five or six. Uh, they come with books. They also come with toys that accompany those books and some activities that you can do with those toys. As a family, you can check out board games. So if you're looking for something to do, uh, beyond just, uh, you know, reading, maybe it's a rainy day and you need something to do inside, you can check out a board game. And you know what? Board games have a lot of reading too. You could suggest that the child read the rules and explain the game to you, and that counts towards your reading time for the summer. You can check out long games. So if you, if it's not a rainy day and you wanna go outside and play games outside, uh, you can check long games out as well. Uh, I mean, there's just so many different things you can, you can find all those different collections on our website and you can request them to be sent to your branch. Uh, we have so much more than books.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, it's ama it's amazing how awesome the library is these days. Um, well thank you for joining us. I appreciate it. And thanks for listening to this episode of the County. This episode was produced with help from the Baltimore County Public Library Media Services. Tune in next time.