Free summer digital reading program in Sora app shows exponential growth in student participation

 

 

CLEVELAND – September 8, 2021 – OverDrive Education today announced its summer reading program, Sora Sweet Reads, set a new record with more than one million digital book checkouts. The program, which ran May 5-August 20, 2021 through the Sora student reading app, reached students in nearly 45,000 schools and districts worldwide.

Now in its eighth year, Sora Sweet Reads includes titles that encourage reading for pleasure, keeping students engaged and avoiding the “summer slide.” The program provides free, unlimited access to juvenile and young adult ebooks, audiobooks and Read-Alongs. In 2021, students in the United States and Canada had access to 38 titles, and students in other countries around the world had slightly fewer.

Key data from Sora Sweet Reads includes:

  • 92% increase in student usage over 2020.
  • Nearly 45,000 schools/districts participated, representing 59% growth over 2020.
  • Number of students that engaged with Sora Sweet Reads titles doubled from 2020.
  • Beyond the Sora Sweet Reads titles, students read over six million more ebooks and audiobooks from their school’s digital collections – 36% growth over 2020.

“This record-breaking summer for Sora Sweet Reads helped students maintain momentum as they head into the new school year,” said Angela Arnold, General Manager at OverDrive Education. “As more schools participate in Sweet Reads, more students are staying on track, whether they are engaging with the program titles or discovering new reading adventures with additional books. Digital books help students to cultivate a love of reading, which is always the goal – no matter the season.”

The ebooks and audiobooks in the Sora Sweet Reads program were donated by 13 publishers and grouped into elementary, middle and high school categories. The top five ebook titles borrowed from K-12 schools from May 5 through August 20, 2021:

  1. Drive Thruby Nickelodeon Publishing
  2. This Is Miles Morales by Marvel Press Book Group
  3. Mulan’s Secret Planby Disney Book Group
  4. This is Black Pantherby Marvel Press Book Group
  5. The Rise of Tiger Clawby Nickelodeon Publishing

The Sora reading app is available to K-12 students through their school or district. Students have access to digital books through their school – as well as from participating public libraries – on computers, tablets and smartphones with a valid student ID.

For more information on the Sora Sweet Reads program, visit https://resources.overdrive.com/sora-sweet-reads/.

Educators can learn more about Sora at https://discoversora.com.

 

About OverDrive Education and the Sora student reading app

OverDrive Education, a division of OverDrive, offers the industry’s largest catalog of ebooks and audiobooks for over 50,000 K-12 schools and millions of students worldwide. The company’s student reading app, Sora, provides every student with access to the right books. Supporting the need to read required curriculum titles, class sets and pleasure reading digital books, Sora’s powerful learning tools and insights help meet the needs of students and educators. Sora was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019. Founded in 1986, OverDrive – the leading digital reading platform for libraries – and OverDrive Education are based in Cleveland, Ohio USA. www.overdrive.com/schools

 

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

###