News

Read On! Read In Any Format

June 17, 2019

Many years ago, back when I was a Teen Services Librarian, I told my teens signing up for Summer Reading that I didn’t care what they read during the summer. I only cared that they read something. My standard line was something like, “you can read traditional books, ebooks, audiobooks, comic books, magazines, newspapers, wordy websites, cereal boxes, or billboards. Just read.”

My views are the same now that I’m a Library Director and a parent. As you and your family work through our Summer Reading time records and/or activity sheets, feel free to read in any format you want. We truly don’t care.

This summer, my kids have to read for 30 minutes before they can watch TV or play on anything with a screen. When they grumbled about reading being boring, I told them something similar to the line I used with my teens. My son’s eyes immediately lit up. “Really, Mom? We can listen to audiobooks? Isn’t that cheating?” Nope. Not even close.

While they’re busy playing with Legos and listening to “The Magic Treehouse” books or studying the pictures in the “My Little Pony” or “Batman” comics, they’re sharpening their reading skills and getting all the benefits of reading a traditional chapter book. Plus, they’re learning that reading is fun!

In fact, allowing my kids to choose what they read and in what format has prompted my son to say four words that I was afraid he would never utter. This weekend, we were getting ready to watch a movie when he asked, “can I read instead?”

Don’t miss this week’s Summer Reading Events:

Monday at 6:30 PM: Intro to Computers for ages 18+

Tuesday at 10 AM and 2 PM: Mad Science’s Destination Moon for ages 5 – 11

Wednesday at 10:30 AM: Storytime for ages 0 – 4

Wednesday at Noon: Free lunch for kids and teens

Thursday at 6:30 PM: Silent Library Games for ages 12 – 18