READING is a life skill no matter what language you speak, where you were born or the era in which you exist.
And summer holidays are the perfect time to read, draw and write for pleasure rather than keep up with the curriculum.
Brimbank senior librarian Ann Forman Todd says the city’s Summer Reading Club aims to encourage young people to keep reading outside school times and use the resources available at community libraries over summer. “Research has shown that the six-week summer break can cause reading skills to slide backwards,” she says. “We want to offer young people incentives to maintain and improve reading.”
The reading club is Brimbank’s most popular library program, with 1467 children signing up last year.
Ms Forman Todd says this year’s theme, Untangled Tales, with its focus on legends, myths and folktales from all corners of the globe, gives great scope and plenty of written material for readers to work on.
People aged 5-16 are eligible to take part in the national summer holiday event, with local, state and national prizes on offer. “As soon as they sign up, kids are given an activity book and a log book to fill in the number of books they read,” Ms Forman Todd said. “As soon as they’ve read 10 books, they can enter again, and there are other milestone rewards for progress.”
There is also three weeks of craft activities, starting January 7, with 3D paper cut-outs and a fantasy mask among projects for creative minds.
The summer program will finish on February 2 when storyteller Anne Stewart will weave tales from performance threads at Sydenham and St Albans libraries.
Registrations are now open. Milestone incentives include stickers, temporary tattoos, pencils and wrist bands. For every 10 books read, an entry goes in the draw for the major prize.
Brimbank’s major prize is a selection of titles by Graeme Base, while five lucky entrants will win a copy of Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Participants in the national draw could win an iPad or state-based prizes, which include an iPod, book packs and Disney magazines.
Register at Brimbank libraries or online at summerreadingclub.org.au
