LAKE COUNTY — The summer reading program in Lake County comes to an end just as kids are heading back to school. It is a change of seasons, but Lake County librarian Kathy Jansen says local kids” reading habits are as strong as ever. Even though summer reading is officially over, it marked a success that has been a mainstay in the county for decades.
The theme this year, “Get a clue @ your library” was statewide, and although the numbers of participants have yet to be tallied, locally 274 kids signed up, with 134 completing the program.
“It”s a really wonderful program. The kids always have a lot of fun ? I think if you start reading as a child, if your parents start reading to you as a baby and continue to do so throughout your childhood, you enjoy books and do hone in on those skills. Kids who read or are read to are more prepared in school and pick up reading very naturally,” said Jansen.
The program has two groups of participants ranging from preschool-age kids who listen as their parents read to them to older kids in elementary school through junior high who read independently. To complete the program, each child must read ? or be read to ? 25 books, or 1,000 pages for those who are reading thicker volumes.
With statistics showing kids start to read less and less as they reach adolescence, and a poll by the Associated Press released Tuesday, Aug. 21 saying that one in four adults, or 25 percent, have not read a book at all in the past year, Jansen says that early childhood literacy can help reverse a growing anti-reading trend.
“If you”re exposed to it, reading becomes a natural part of your life. The program we have here is really great for that, we usually have fairly good participation in all the age groups from preschool up to the eighth grade. Other than the preschoolers, our strongest sign-ups were with kids going into fourth through sixth grade,” said Jansen.
Each of the four libraries in the county encourages parents and schools to bring children to the library throughout the year. “Families for Literacy and volunteers do a preschool story time two times per month in Lakeport and Redbud, but there is no staff to do special programs like we used to,” said Jansen.
“A lot of schools don”t have the transportation to visit libraries, but we encourage them to visit. September is library card sign-up month, so we”re encouraging parents to bring their kids in to get their own library card. They can check out books and other materials. We have a really good children”s section with a variety of subjects, and a variety of fiction. Our catalog is connected with Mendocino which opens up more books to people,” Jansen said.
One parent lauded the summer reading program, saying it provides initiative and fun for his two children. Rick Jones, a resident of Lakeport since 1973 is an instructor at Mendocino College. He says his kids have been involved in the program since each was about three years old.
“I like the reading program because it gives them incentive to read. They like the ceremony and the prizes, and the library does a great job. They love it.” His daughter Asia, 11, has been participating for at least seven years, Ethan, 9, about six years. When Jones asked his son how many pages it was that he read a couple summers ago when he went “way overboard” Ethan replied with the exact page count: “3,162 pages.”
“We go in to check out books regularly. We wish they were open seven days a week. I think we should be funding our libraries to make our kids smarter rather than making our bombs smarter,” said Jones.
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