The Swampscott Public Library’s summer reading program is underway, inviting children, teens and adults to explore new books and enjoy engaging activities.
The program features three distinct levels tailored for children, teens and adults. The children’s summer reading theme is “color our world,” while the adults and teens are looking to “level up at your library.”
“Libraries across the nation usually do some sort of summer reading program,” said Director Jonathan Nichols. “It’s usually themed. There’s the collaborative summer reading program or iRead. They each come out with their own yearly theme. This year we’re actually doing both of them.”
For the children’s section of the program, students from kindergarten through fifth grade are encouraged to complete a summer reading map between June 23 and August 14.
“Summer slide is real,” Lisa Julien-Hayes, the children’s librarian said. “Children need to process language and not from television or video games. They actually have to read it. And as they continue to develop and grow, they need to be slowly advancing their levels.”
The color palette allows the children to track how many books they read, with five books being the equivalent to one color. After completing a color, children are able to stop by the library for a small prize.
Julien-Hayes noted that children can also track progress by page count, so if a student reads a longer book above their level it can count for more than one.
“We have some very avid readers or kids who are reading way above their level,” Julien-Hayes said. “Say they’re reading Percy Jackson. That’s probably three books at their level. I want them to get credit so they’re actually able to do page (tracking). Percy Jackson might be 3.5 books.”
Toddlers have their own themed coloring palette with simple activities. If they complete all ten, they can win a prize. Activities include visiting the library, reading a story outside and painting on the sidewalk with water.
“Little kids learn through play,” Julien-Hayes said.
All children’s reading program finishers will have the opportunity to win Topsfield Fair passes. All finishers are also entered into any of the three raffles for an artist pack, an I love reading pack, or a graphic novel/manga pack.
The first 125 winners will win a “color our world” book tote and a color changing pencil.
The teens have different guilds or paths they’re able to sign up for and play to “earn loot.” A lot of the terms go along with dungeons and dragons themes, the teens play through “side quests.”
“It’s a fun way to keep kids involved during the summer and keep them coming to the library during the summer,” said Sarah Giardina, the young adult librarian. “Especially now with their options to just be on the phones and screens all the time. My goal is for reading to not just be work. I think it’s important to have the analytical side in schools, but I want it to be fun, which is why we don’t really try to tell them necessarily what specifically to read.”
As teens finish challenges, a librarian will stamp their guild book and give them various rewards and tickets that can enter them to win a variety of prizes such as a cozy reader basket, anime basket and an experiences basket.
Adults also have a “level up” theme, with different bookworm challenges. Participants are encouraged to find books that match prompts like “a book published in the last year,” “listen to an audiobook outside,” “read a book by someone with your same name,” and “read a book then watch the movie version.”
There are also level up challenges like participating in a pilates program, checking out a CD from the library, taking photos and sharing them, as well as joining a craft program.
Certain activities are worth more raffle tickets than others, and completing them all earns adults a bonus of ten extra tickets.
The adult prizes include gift cards to Dunkin Donuts, Cooper Dog Books, Whole Foods, and hte Peabody Essex Museum.
Participants can sign up either online or in person at the library.
