By Sheila Henline, Librarian and Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive.

Educators continually express the importance of reading during the breaks so our young boys and girls do not forget their skills, preventing the dreaded summer slide. School libraries often send home lists of books for students to read during the breaks to prepare them for the upcoming school year.Public libraries have accepted this mission as well, offering readers of all ages the opportunity to read during the summer and, in some instances, earn prizes/awards for participating.

ALA_Screensavers 161As you may have heard, OverDrive is eager to create reading happiness all year long and with that in mind we are pleased to announce the return of OverDrive Summer Read program for schools! We’ll be offering titles as free simultaneous use to any student at a participating school. Marketing materials will be available to support OverDrive Summer Read to help schools get the word out to educators, parents and students as well.

Here are some tips for developing more engaging titles/collections for your young readers any time of the year:

  1. Offer the audiobook companion to the eBook. Audiobooks offer an alternative to ‘reading’ a book due to different learning styles or language barriers. Audiobooks are rising in popularity amongst all age groups. Families taking a road trip can listen to a book together. It can make the miles fly by.
  2. Graphic Novels are another way to engage readers. Manga and Comic Books offer a unique alternative to summer reading lists (including classic literature titles).
  3. For those learning to read (be they young readers or English language learners) offer the OverDrive Read-Along format. This is an engaging and fun way to learn challenging words and proper phrasing of sentences.

SchoolClosed_504x504OverDrive can be your summer break partner by assisting with the following:

  1. Creating curated list: Curated lists can help highlight various subjects and formats in your collection.
  2. By contacting your OverDrive account specialist, they can assist you with developing a collection specifically designed for you. Schools can also receive assistance with developing a summer reading curriculum by establishing classroom sets of titles and/or a collection of engaging popular fiction.
  3. Marketing your digital library that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can travel anywhere. OverDrive is ready to support your summer reading program. Contact us today.