Children and teens can have fun and earn rewards while sharpening their reading skills with free summer reading programs at Fort Vancouver Regional Library District libraries and bookmobiles. Programs run June 1 through Aug. 31. Registration ends Aug. 15. All activities, events and rewards are free.
The program’s STEM themes — “Fizz Boom Read” for children and “Spark a Reaction” for teens — support skill building in science, technology, engineering and math.
For the first time, all registration and reading logs will be completed online at www.fvrl.org. Participants can register online in FVRL libraries or remotely on the website via personal computers, tablets or smartphones. The online features save paper while providing access to reading logs, resources and activities, and add a computer literacy dimension in keeping with the STEM theme.
Parents can create a family account by adding siblings’ accounts to the first one registered. Paper logs are also available.
After reading books of their choice, participants log into their accounts and record their reading time as they progress through 10 levels, with rewards along the way: a book to keep at Level 5 and a book bag at level 10. Each level completed also earns participants an entry in the districtwide end-of-summer raffle for one of 175 $20 Barnes & Noble gift cards.
Summer reading information is available at any FVRL library, bookmobile, at www.fvrl.org or by calling 360-906-5106, 888-546-2707 toll-free from area code 509, or 800-921-6211 toll-free from Yale Valley.
FVRL summer reading is supported by NW Natural, Umpqua Bank, The Blind Onion, Albina Fuel, Kiggins Theatre, Jantzen Beach Modern Dentistry, Friends of Fort Vancouver Regional Library District libraries and Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation.
In 2013, 15,119 children up to age 11 participated in the program and spent more than 5,248,300 minutes reading and in related activities. The 2013 teen program attracted 2,597 participants who read for 38,720 hours.
