Summer reading programs inspire young page-turners.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

At the Siuslaw Public Library this summer, children can cash in "Frequent Reader Miles" for free T-shirts, books and other goodies.

Kids in the Springfield Public Library's Summer Reading Club can earn a free book or a pass to Camp Putt Adventure Golf Park if they meet their reading goals.

A summer's-end party at Amazon Pool awaits members of the Eugene Public Library's Summer Reading Club, and if enough kids post book recommendations on the bulletin board, the library will adopt a raptor.

Nearly every Oregon library, big and small, has some kind of reading incentive program planned for the summer months, plus special events and activities galore.

The goals are simple: to draw children and their families into the library, to promote the love of reading and to help keep children's reading skills sharp over the summer months.

Teachers say they often lose weeks of time getting children back up to speed after summer, and abundant research has found that the more children read or are read to, the better they do in school.

Last summer, more than 98,000 children in Oregon took part in summer reading programs, said Springfield Public Library youth librarian Debra Bogart, chairwoman of the children's services division of the Oregon Library Association.

With sponsorship help from Oregon Public Broadcasting and the Ford Family Foundation, the association has offered encouragement and help to every library in the state that wants a summer reading program. The theme is Discover New Trails at Your Library.

At the Springfield library, about 2,400 children participated in last summer's program, with about 1,100 picking up reading incentive logs, said Judy Harold, youth services manager.

"We've always had a lot going on and it really draws people in," she said.

Springfield will kick off its summer program Tuesday, and special events are planned most weeks through Aug. 5.

The library will continue to offer its regular story times for preschoolers, infants and toddlers at 10 a.m. every Wednesday.

Pam Jones, who brought her 5-year-old son, Jeremiah, to a recent story time, said both he and his older brother, 10-year-old Josh, joined the Summer Reading Club last year and paid frequent visits to the library. While the television or the basketball hoop might be a greater temptation for some kids, not so for Josh, she said.

"He thoroughly enjoys it," said Jones, who sometimes brings neighborhood kids along, too.

Mary Ginnane, youth services manager at the Eugene Public Library, said as a youngster she loved her library's summer book club, even though she remembers having to write "a big, long paragraph" about each book she read.

"It was pretty schooly, and I think today libraries are really trying hard to link reading with fun," she said.

CAPTION(S):

Debra Bogart, youth librarian at the Springfield Public Library, says more than 98,000 kids in Oregon attended summer reading clubs in 2003.