Adventure Begins at Your Library Blog

01/30/2024

Adventure Begins at Your Library Blog

Action and adventure themes inspire kids to pick up a book to read. Does it look exciting? Will it be good all the way through? These are questions that roll through a child’s mind when determining to take a chance on a book.

Adventure is also the theme of the 2024 Collaborative Summer Reading Program, Adventure Begins at Your Library. It’s a great theme. There are so many books that reading them becomes a wonderful adventure for kids.

An adventure can take you away, like the picture book, You’re Finally Here. It’s funny, interactive, and will create an experience for the reader. Return of the Underwear Dragon is a dragon adventure. Why is the dragon attacking? Because he can’t read, he was not breaking the rules intentionally. Penworthy has many additional adventure picture books from Dungeons & Dragons to Strawberry Shortcake that are sure to inspire early readers.

Transitional readers have so many books to choose from, great series like The Adventure Friends, Dragon Masters, Dinosaur Club, Dragon Girls, Magic Tree House, and more. Make sure you check your shelves for current releases of these very popular series.

For older readers the new Phantom Stallions, The Forgotten Five, Sinister Summer, Mapmakers, and Unraveled are great additions in case you’ve missed them. They fit perfectly with favorites Bad Guys, Adventure Kingdom, Cat Kid Comic Club, Dog Man, and Big Nate.

Here are some tips for successful summer reading for parents:

1. Find good books.
2. Read at level, it’s more enjoyable and not a struggle. They will migrate to more difficult books on their own. Start the summer with some input from their teacher on your child’s reading level.
3. Read aloud, it goes both ways, you read to them, and let them read to you.
4. Talk about the books they read, ask questions, guess how the story may end or add a “what if.” This will help them with critical thinking skills and add to the fun.
5. Dive into a series, it will propel you through the summer with fun and adventure.
6. Don’t make reading a chore, 15-20 minutes a day is great. Try reading in the morning before the day really ramps up or before bed when winding down.
7. Show them reading is fun. When you choose a book at the library for your child grab one for yourself
8. Remember that a child who reads well succeeds. They will have to read their entire life, make sure they get a great early start.

In a study by Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, kids who participate in summer reading programs “are 52 Lexile points ahead of their peers who do not. Summer reading programs are also an antidote for learning loss. So instead of losing knowledge and skills during the summer months, kids who attend reading programs actually show gains.” (Fiore and Roman)

So, librarians as you work so diligently on creating a wonderful summer reading program for your kids, create an adventure endcap for their parents as well. Reading becomes important to kids when they see their parents read. Check out our collection of great reads that will pair with your Adventure Begins at Your Library Summer Reading theme: https://www.penworthy.com/titles/Collections/EveryBookisanAdventure/495

Sources:

Fiore, Carole, and Susan Roman. “Summer Reading Programs Boost Student Achievement, Study Says.” School Library Journal, www.slj.com/story/summer-reading-programs-boost-student-achievement-study-says#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20we%20found%20that,reading%20programs%20actually%20show%20gains. Accessed 16 Jan. 2024.