Summer Reading Program Wraps Up This Weekend

This weekend will cap off another successful season of the Summer Reading Program.

The Muskingum County Public Library System incorporated some new components into its program this year, and Assistant Director, Blair Tom, said more that 2,800 area children and teens participated.

"They’ve reported reading over 53,000 books and this final week, the next 10 days or so, are generally really heavy with reporting, so we expect that number to really grow, so that’s something we think is extremely positive," Tom said. "We have lots of children and teens returning to school in the fall who have read for fun during the summer and will be ready to learn when they go back to school."

The library designs the program to keep children engaged and excited about reading during the summer months, so they are essentially ready to move forward in the school year. Tom said the library is proud to play a substantial role in child learning and development.

"It’s just a very vital summer program, there are many exciting programs offered throughout the community, and we’re proud that this is one of them that really contributes to the life of the community," he said. "We are getting ready in conversation with area schools with the start of the school year coming up, and we know that the literacy piece is such a key point in success in school, and also in life."

This summer, children completed 1,500 projects at the library, in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Tom said these new activities added real value to the program.