By Eric Walters
Teacher-librarians, library clerks and librarians spend the school year cultivating an enthusiasm for books and the love of reading in their students. While this takes place through so many different activities and functions, the selection of books plays an important part in reaching that goal. A dynamic library is the beating heart, pumping literacy through the school. Except when there’s no circulation.
Okay, not my best writing but it’s certainly true.
As the school year draws to an end, the ability of students to take out books comes to an end. Those books that were in student hands are now sitting on the shelves, on ‘vacation’, instead of inspiring, entertaining and educating. We’re all familiar with a summer ‘backslide’. Literacy levels fall. This is particularly true for those who are most disadvantaged – students who are less likely to have books in their homes or to take advantage of the public library.
This is the reality of the school year cycle, but does it have to be? Why not develop a summer reading/lending program? Allow your students to continue to ‘check out’ books. Develop a system where each student who wishes to participate can take home a select number of books for the summer. Wouldn’t you rather have the books in their hands than gathering dust on your shelves?
The biggest ‘fear’ in running this type of program is that books are not returned. Those who have successfully operated summer lending/reading programs report an incredibly high return rate. Some books will go astray – often by students who have unexpected, unplanned moves to another school during the summer – but the vast majority will be returned. And those books that don’t come back – at least they’re in the hands of students who need them.
I have been fortunate enough to see this type of program enthusiastically received by students and their parents, teachers, and administrators who realized that learning and literacy aren’t defined by the calendar.
co-editor Carol Koechlin.
Last week I sent out a tweet talking about this. The response was incredible! There were so many replies describing the success schools have had with this program and many others stating they wanted to try it in their schools. I made a few phone calls. I wanted to see if we could take this from tweets to reality. I’m hoping to get 15 or 20 or even 25 schools to run a summer lending/reading program. The writer, teacher, parent, and social worker in me knows what an impact a program like this can have on your students. Literacy rates rise. Lives are enhanced and changed.
So, here are some nudges if you decide to try a summer lending/reading program.
Little Nudge: If you email me, I’ll mail your school a signed poster for the library and some signed bookmarks for your students.
Bigger Nudge: I’ll gather information from those schools that participated and give feedback in the Fall to help enhance future efforts.
Biggest Nudge: Lost books might happen but we have you covered. The wonderful people at Orca Book Publishers are willing to allow you to replace missing books with books from their vast catalogue at an incredibly reduced rate – up to 75% off on selected titles and 50% on most of their stock. While these will not be the same books that went missing, your collection will remain robust and be injected with other quality, Canadian books from one of our country’s premier publishers. Orca Book Publishers believes in getting books into the hands of readers.
So, what do you do? Easy.
Email me, at ericwaltersauthor@gmail.com and tell me you’re ‘in’, give me your school address and I’ll mail out the poster and book marks. In the fall email me back, tell me what you did, how you organized the program, share successes and problems, and things you would do differently to improve it. Let me know how many students utilized the program, how many books went out and how many came back. I’ll use this information to give feedback to all of the schools that were involved. You’ll be connected with Orca Publishing to take advantage of their generous offer. They will allow you to replace missing books at minimal cost, but, I’m certain, they would even allow you to purchase other books to simply expand your collection.
Well, are you in?
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Eric Walters is the best-selling Canadian author of over 100 books for children and young people. He is a former elementary teacher, social worker, and proud recipient of the Order of Canada. Each year he presents to over 100,000 students across North America, talking about his passion for literature and literacy. Please visit Eric’s website for information about his books, his charitable foundation, and school visits.