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.
Click to register now.
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.
When reading milestones are reached, kids earn ‘badges’ for their Beanstack profile and increase their chances of winning a prize! Participants need to log a minimum of 10 books and collect five activity badges to complete the challenge.
All badges will be released at the start of the program and can be completed at any time.
The program will open for pre-registration on 7 November 2022, and starts on Wednesday 1 December 2022.
Pre-registration is where kids can create their account on Beanstack and sign up to the program.
It ends on Friday 31 January 2023. 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 (as in audio books count as does someone reading to them).
Children under the age of 13 will need their parent’s permission in order to register with Beanstack.
Alternatively, parents can use the Family Account feature to track all their children’s reading from a single login.
0-8 years: $250 Readings gift voucher 9-12 years: $250 Readings gift voucher 13-18 years: $500 Readings gift voucher
There is a peper reading log for filling in for fun, 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.
Library members participating in the Big Summer Read must be under the age of 18, reside in Victoria and must be able to collect their prize from a Geelong Regional Libraries’ branch. Prizes will not be awarded to anyone who does not meet the eligibility criteria.
