Thousands of North American schools participating in OverDrive Summer Read program

 

 

CLEVELAND – June 7, 2019 – Recent research confirms that providing year-round access to books and engaging families in literacy activities helps students maintain and grow their reading skills. To achieve these goals, more than 18,000 schools in the US and Canada are participating in OverDrive Summer Read, an annual program designed to encourage students to keep reading during summer break and avoid the “summer slide.” From June 6–August 15, students of participating schools can enjoy free, 24/7 access to juvenile and young adult ebooks from their school through Sora, the new student reading app. To find participating schools, visit https://soraapp.com.

“The Summer Read program is a great opportunity for students to read anywhere, anytime, and to avoid the summer slump,” said Barbara Chappell-Brown, Library Media Teacher at ‎Sweetwater High School (California). “Research shows that students benefit from reading and OverDrive is helping to keep students reading all summer long. We are excited to participate in the Summer Read program!”

Students from all 50 states and eight Canadian provinces can “Chill Out And Read” 30 popular juvenile and young adult ebooks (including select well-known audiobook and Read-Along options), the largest OverDrive Summer Read collection ever. The digital book collection is divided into elementary, middle and high school sections. Ebook titles include The Bone Witch and Scientist, Scientist, Who Do You See? and audiobook titles include The Wild Robot and The Terrible Two with the full list available here. OverDrive’s Professional Book Nerds, the leading podcast on books, also discuss the Summer Read titles in their podcast.

Sweetwater High School English teacher Ellen Schreier adds, “I was hesitant to use technology because of the temptation to visit unrelated websites but I allow students to use their laptops during silent reading time and – guess what? They are reading! The students love the variety of book titles and the convenience of accessing on their phone or laptop so if they’re waiting in line or for their ride after school, they can read. They don’t always have a book, but they will have a phone!”

The ebooks and audiobooks in the Summer Read program are enabled by OverDrive Education’s industry-leading platform and are easily accessible via Sora through participating schools. Students of participating schools can download Sora for free from any app store or use in web browsers at https://soraapp.com. Students can then borrow the program’s digital books with unlimited access and read on all major eReading devices, computers, tablets and smartphones with a valid student ID.

For more information on the Summer Read program, visit https://resources.overdrive.com/summer-read/.

Educators can learn more about Sora through https://meet.soraapp.com/ and register for a Discover Sora free trial.

 

About OverDrive Education – a division of OverDrive

OverDrive Education is the leading global digital reading platform for K-12, offering the industry’s largest catalog of eBooks, audiobooks and streaming video. As a 100% digital company serving 43,000 libraries and schools worldwide, OverDrive combines technology with content to support learning and reading in the classroom, library and home on all major devices, including iOS®, Android™, Chromebook™, and Kindle® (US only). Founded in 1986, OverDrive and OverDrive Education are based in Cleveland, Ohio USA, and owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten.

 

Contact:
David Burleigh
Director of Brand Marketing & Communications
dburleigh@overdrive.com

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