The summer school holidays are a time for kids to enjoy a break away from school and indulge in a less structured, relaxed lifestyle with family and friends.
While this is vitally important to their overall development and mental wellbeing, research has shown that kids can actually lose some of the literacy skills they gained during the year and start the next year at a disadvantage. It is called the Summer Slide and we see it all around the world. The answer to slowing this ‘slide’ is simple, and it does not involve more school work over summer!
Kids just need to keep reading, and be read to.
Summer is the perfect time for children and young people to indulge in books and stories and read for pleasure.
This is where we come in!
The BIG Summer Read has been developed by Public Libraries Victoria and will be supported by libraries across the State, in a joint effort to raise awareness of the benefits of reading over summer and to ensure Victorian children have access to resources proven to slow the slide.
Together we are aiming to engage 10,000 children in the program.
Registrations open Monday 6 November
Click to register.
Kids are encouraged to keep reading over the summer holidays with an incentivised program that uses Beanstack, a mobile app that rewards you for reading.
To complete the challenge, all participants need to do is read and log 10 books! Its as simple as Join, Borrow, Read & Win!
Participants may also choose to collect activity badges! While we encourage them to do this, they are not a requirement for completion – just a lot of fun!
The program will open for pre-registration on 6 November 2023, and books can be logged from Friday 1 December 2023.
Pre-registration is where kids can create their account on Beanstack and sign up to the program.
The Big Summer Read finishes on Wednesday 31 January 2024. Click Register Now to join the fun!
All children between the ages of 0-18 are welcome to participate.
Independent and non-independent readers can log any book they read – you can read to yourself, out loud, listen to an audio book or watch someone read to you!
Children under the age of 13 will need their parent’s permission to register with Beanstack.
Alternatively, parents can use the Family Account feature to track all their children’s reading from a single login.
This year prizes are book packs, donated by James Bennett.
There will be statewide winners from four age group categories:
There is a paper reading log for filling in for fun (available at your library), however, participants will NOT be eligible for the state-wide draw unless they register via Beanstack.
Beanstack’s servers are US-based, and to safeguard users’ privacy we are asking for the bare minimum of personal information: email, name (an alias is acceptable), age and library service (e.g. Geelong Regional Libraries). Read Beanstack’s privacy policy to learn more about how they handle user’s personal information and what they use/don’t use it for.
