By: Christina Samek, Outreach Specialist

Back-to-school season is upon us and in full swing here at OverDrive. The Back-to-School Sale is going on now in Marketplace. We’ve updated the Resource Center with materials to help you welcome students and keep Sora in mind all year long. We’re always looking ahead to ensure you have everything you need to be successful in another year of reading, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t look back on summer and celebrate OverDrive Summer Read’s record year!

The 2019 program was 10 weeks, running June 6-Aug. 15, and our longest ever. We also offered more titles than ever before— 30 free and simultaneous use juvenile and young adult ebooks (and select audiobook and Read-Along options). We hoped for a great year, but we’re blown away by the results. Summer Read 2019 saw a 300% increase in circulations from 2018’s program. We saw activity spikes through June, July and August, indicating students were continuously engaging with Summer Read titles. Speaking of titles, of the 30 wonderfully unique options to choose from, our top three titles were:

 

    1. The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
    2. The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett
    3. The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

And, surprisingly, all three were audiobooks, proving this format is here to stay and gaining traction with young readers. Lastly, we saw increased engagements with content outside of the program, indicating students were reading for the sake of reading. Your investment into digital content is worth it, all year long, even when school is closed.

Summer Read 2019’s success is due in large part to Sora, our new student reading app. And, of course, to you, for getting the word out about the program.

We can’t wait for 2020!