Summer Reading 2023: All Together Now

It’s our favorite time of the year: Summer Reading!

We’ve been working hard to prepare a fun summer full of events and activities centered around the theme: All Together Now. Join us to learn more about your community, engage in collaborative projects, and, of course, WIN PRIZES! We offer reading programs for ALL ages - birth to senior! Just for signing up, everyone gets a goody bag with age-appropriate gifts and ideas for summer - plus everyone gets to take home a free book! Playing is simple: stop by to register and then simply track the minutes you spend reading each day. Piece of cake! And we have some great prizes to give away this year!

Adult Grand Prize (19+): 1 Kindle Fire, 1 $50 gift card to the Muny, 2 Build-a-Book Nooks, and various others. For weekly prizes, log your minutes every Sunday to be included in a prize drawing for a $25 gift card.
Teen Grand Prize (12-18): 1 Kindle Fire and 1 $100 Visa gift card
Youth Grand Prize (6-11): 4 bikes and helmets (graciously donated by the VFW, Ladies Auxiliary, and UCT) 
Pre-Reader Grand Prize (0-5): 2 Tonies and accessories and 1 Discovery Playhouse family membership

Reading for pleasure isn’t just a fun way to earn prizes this summer. There’s also proven health benefits! 

Reading Can:
*Strengthen your brain and reduce mental decline in old age by about 32%
*Build vocabulary. Job searching? 69% of employers look for communication skills in applicants.
* Reduce stress and lower blood pressure. Reading 30 minutes daily can do this and more!
*Support self-improvement. 

Not into physical books? No problem! Audiobooks are a fantastic way to increase your reading time. Graphic novels and comics are another fun option when trying to introduce more reading habits. The stories are often complex and full of robust characters and the images add to the context and understanding of the story. Short stories, poetry, and plays can also help add more reading to your day in small doses. 

For our young ones, literacy skills are the foundation of all learning! Reading helps develop an imagination, form language skills, and develop social-emotional learning.  Summer reading is especially important to help our school age children avoid the dreaded Summer Slide (also known as summer reading regression). 

Here’s some ways to beat the Summer Slide at home:

1. Establish a routine. Read with your child at least 20 minutes a day (at the same time every day).  
2. Be a reading partner. Ask questions about the story while you’re reading, read aloud and track words with your finger, be patient and encouraging. 
3. Encourage involvement. Let your child have a role in selecting what books you read.  For pre-readers, encourage them to make their own choices about picture books.  For independent readers, allow them the independence to choose reading materials based on their interests.  SIgn them up for a library card!
4. Make a special reading spot.  Choose a calm, comfortable place free from distractions (like toys and electronics). 
5. Make it a game. Encourage your child to read to an audience of stuffed animals, pets, or siblings. 
6. Model expectations.  Children mimic the behavior they observe.  Encourage literacy skills by showing off your own!

And here’s how the library can help:

1. Come to storytimes! Preschoolers (ages 3-5) on Tuesdays at 11 am. Infants (ages birth-1) on Wednesdays at 11 am.  Toddlers (ages 2-3) Thursdays at 11 am. 
2. Participate in our Summer Reading Program.  For more information and to register for programs, come visit us at the Youth Services desk or check out capelibrary.org 
3. Register for summer tutoring. United Way’s Read to Succeed tutoring will be offered for ANY child entering grades 1-4.  For more information, contact: robin.koetting@unitedwayofsemo.org
4. Sign up for a library card! There is no minimum age to have a library card! A parent or legal guardian has to sign for any child under 18.

Summer reading is about more than just books though. It's about being part of a community and bringing people into our library to discover new things.This year’s summer reading club, programs, and special events are supported by an IMLS grant administered by the Missouri State Library, as well as through generous donations from the Cape Girardeau Public Library Friends Foundation.

Registration is required for many of the programs and special events. For more information on programming visit the CGPL website and check out our calendar! Here are the  highlights: