Over 48,000 schools plan to avoid “summer slide” and unfinished learning by participating in digital reading program, Sora Sweet Reads

 

 

CLEVELAND – May 5, 2021 – With schools still contending with remote and hybrid learning, teachers are reaching for tools to keep their students reading, especially during the summer. In response – and to address unfinished learning due to the pandemic –  OverDrive Education is expanding their Sora Sweet Reads summer reading program, taking place May 5–August 20. In its eighth year, this free program is designed to help educators and students beat the “summer slide” with popular digital reading materials through the award-winning Sora student reading app. Currently, over 48,000 schools are participating.

Sora Sweet Reads provides free access to a variety of popular digital books during the next 100+ days to encourage student reading during the rest of the school year and summer break. From May 5–August 20, students from participating schools worldwide can enjoy free, 24/7 access to 38 juvenile and young adult ebooks (and select audiobooks) from their school through Sora.

To check whether your school is offering Sora Sweet Reads, visit https://soraapp.com. If not, schools can sign up here with a no-cost book bundle including Sora Sweet Reads titles (up to June 17).

“Having all of our students on distance learning last year really impacted their ability to get books to read, especially our economically disadvantaged students,” said Holly Ford, Media Specialist at Brevard County School District (FL). “We appreciated the early start of Sora Sweet Reads program to help provide more options for our students and teachers for lessons and independent reading. We are excited to encourage more of our teachers and students to take advantage of the program this year.”

Since its creation in 2014, Sora Sweet Reads has proven a highly successful program in encouraging students to read. During the 2020 program, nearly 25,000 schools worldwide participated, a 90% increase from 2019’s program. Checkouts increased over 500% compared to 2019 and over 250,000 students participated by reading at least one of the program’s simultaneous-use titles.

Most importantly, Sora has provided ongoing access to additional reading materials from the school’s digital collection. From April 2020 – when schools were closed – through the end of July 2020, an additional 500,000 students read a total of 5 million titles from their school’s collection beyond the Sora Sweet Reads program.

This year, students from all 50 states and eight Canadian provinces can enjoy 38 popular juvenile and young adult ebooks (including select well-known audiobook and Read-Along options) while schools in other countries have up to 29 of these titles available. The ebooks and audiobooks in the Sora Sweet Reads program are provided by 13 publishers and divided into elementary, middle and high school sections. Ebook titles include Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Mulan’s Secret Plan and A Finn & Poe Adventure. Audiobook titles include Secrets of the Silver Lion, These Violent Delights and Ikenga. The full list is available here.

Students of schools that use Sora can download the app 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 Sora Sweet Reads program, visit https://resources.overdrive.com/sora-sweet-reads/.

Educators can learn more about how Sora ensures every one of your students has access to the right books at: https://discoversora.com.

 

 

About OverDrive Education – a division of OverDrive

OverDrive Education offers the industry’s largest catalog of ebooks, audiobooks and streaming video for over 48,000 K-12 schools worldwide. The company’s student reading app, Sora, helps schools embrace the future of reading, providing 24/7 access to books and powerful learning tools and insights to 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

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

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