Submitted by Jill González
Director of Programs
This year, Austin Independent School District (AISD) will hold summer library programs at 22 campuses. 13 of these schools are active in BookSpring’s Reading is Fundamental (RIF) program. BookSpring recently held a Book-Give-Away for librarians at these campuses, giving out over 3,000 books for summer reading!
Research shows that if a child reads between 5-6 books over the summer, they can maintain or improve their reading ability. Stephen Krashen’s research says that free voluntary reading is the best predictor of reading success. BookSpring and AISD are motivated to provide children with opportunities for summer reading for these very reasons.
Programs offered in the libraries will vary from school to school. Some schools will provide breakfast and lunch. Most libraries will provide programming with a theme and will offer storytime, crafts and book clubs. Some will even have evening hours so that parents can participate.
The main focus of these programs is to allow kids time to browse for books and then read them. Reading for fun will be the most important part of the programs. Volunteers from BookSpring will be serving as guest readers and storytellers at many of the summer programs. If you are interested in being a summer reader, please call Amanda Shaver at 512-472-1791 x 101.
