We’ve made it through Labor Day, school has started, and Missouri River Regional Library has wrapped up Summer Reading! The MRRL Summer Reading program encourages community members of all ages to read through a variety of challenges and earn prizes. Summer Reading kicks off in May, and wraps up in August each year.  The State Library of Iowa reports that “children who don’t read over the summer tend to lose literacy skills while children who do read during the summer actually improve their reading ability.”

But Summer Reading is not just about reading books at home alone. MRRL offers a variety of programming all summer long that ties into the theme. The 2018 theme “Libraries Rock” led to many music-based programs, from an air guitar rock show to rock painting to Music at the Library.

While each age group is tracked differently, it was obvious that the community embraced the summer reading challenge once again this year.  1,159 children (0-5th grade) signed up for Summer Reading. Adult participants read a total of 1,912 books. Teens (6th-12th grade) read a total of 13,210 hours (the highest number of hours read in the history of the program at MRRL).

Summer Reading prizes are also made possible from generous organizations and businesses in the community. Thank you to Buffalo Wild Wings, Freddy's, McDonald's, MFA Oil, Panera Bread, Scholastic, Sonic, and YoYums for providing prizes for our readers!