By Lorelei L. Hauptmann
Much concern in professional
literature is given to the need to maintain the reading and comprehension
skills of students over the summer months when school is out of session.
Given this concern, I would concentrate efforts on creating a summer
reading program for young adults that would not only keep them reading
and coming into the library over the summer, it would help them maintain
these reading skills under the pretense of "fun". It would
also be a familiar theme based on an adventure book read in the middle
school, Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne and would be
called "Around the World in Eighty Pages".
The program I envision
would be one of independent reading which would combine reading materials
of choice, responsibility for recordkeeping, and rewards. An additional
set of rewards would be available for anyone willing to go a step
further than basic participation, which will be explained farther
along in this report.
The proposed program
would allow the YA public librarian and the school librarian to work
together. The overall responsibility for the program would fall to
the public librarian as the program would run over the summer months.
However, the introduction of the program could be initiated by the
school librarian through English classes in the middle school and
high school, and the elementary librarian for those leaving grade
5 . The program would be open to students entering grade 6 and above.
The activity would be
a reading program that would span any 7 weeks of the summer. Sign-up
could be available in the school or with the YA's first visit to the
public library. The students could pick those weeks most convenient
for them. The 7 weeks would correlate with the 7 continents of the
world. A "passport" would be issued to each reader upon
sign-up. Participants would need to read 80 pages of the material
of their choice each of the 7 weeks. Upon completion of the reading,
they would log on their "passport" the title of the material
read, and number of pages read for that week (which must be 80 or
more), and the continent they are landing on. Using small paper "
flags", the reader can track their progress around the world,
by placing a flag on each of the continents, until all 7 continents
have been reached. Small incentives would be offered for each accomplishment.
At the completion of the 7 weeks, assuming all reading requirements
have been met, each YA would receive a reward a bit more substantial
(for instance, a pair of movie passes, or a paperback gift certificate
at a bookstore).
There would be one additional
step available to any reader so inclined. In the choices of materials
to read, I would be sure to have a shelf dedicated to new or current
YA literature. Any reader could write a review of the book chosen
(following a set of guidelines), to be bound into a book of peer reviews
which would remain in the library for other YA's to use, or could
be returned to one of the schools for use in the school library. Participating
in this additional step would gain the reader an additional reward,
perhaps a t-shirt with the summer program logo on it.
I would look for funding
of rewards for this program from local merchants. Advertising for
the program would be initiated through the school librarian and could
additionally be noted in the local events section of the newspaper.
To evaluate the success
of the program I would look at how many "world travelers"
completed the trip, in relation to how many started out. By introducing
the program in the schools, you may have many more sign-up than will
actually follow through with weekly visits to the library. It is those
with the motivation to follow through that will be the measure of
success.
An additional suggestion
would be an end of the summer movie night showing the movie version
of Around the World in Eighty Days. Completed passports would be the
"ticket" in.
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