Children blow bubbles at the Placer County Library’s Bubble Magic event over the summer. This year’s Summer Reading Challenge resulted in nearly 2.2 million minutes read. Courtesy of Placer County

AUBURN, CA (MPG) - It was a summer of adventure for the Placer County Library and our community of knights, mermaids, faeries, wizards and pirates have completed their mission of shattering a Summer Reading Challenge record.

Every summer, Placer County Library designs a program to encourage students to read through the summer to combat what teachers call the “summer slide.” This program aide’s students’ whose reading skills “slide” backward by the time school resumes in the fall because they haven’t been practicing.

At the completion of this year’s program, participants countywide read 2,188,366 minutes, more than doubling last year’s total of just over a million minutes.

 Check out more about The Summer Reading Program and other fun activities at nearby schools at this year’s summer fun at the Placer County Library here photo album.  Courtesy of Placer County

“The participation for Choose Your Own Adventure 2024 has been record-breaking in a variety of ways and our community really came together to double the one-million-minute goal,” said Director of Library Services Mary George. “Two million minutes is a lot of reading, equaling 200 weeks. To reach that goal and promote literacy in our community is amazing.” 

What do our library leaders attribute to the dramatic increase?

This year’s theme, Choose Your Own Adventure, offered a new opportunity by way of a library marketplace. Readers logged minutes on a digital platform and earned tokens to use at the marketplace on prizes of different values. 

Unlike recent summer challenges, this summer’s program incentivized participants to continue to read and complete activities past a final level. The Choose your Own Adventure theme, with more choices and variety for participants, along with social media marketing, also led to a 45% increase in sign-ups.

 Children enjoy some “Mad Science” at the Placer County Library’s Bubble Magic event through out the summer. There was a 45% increase in sign-ups this summer. Courtesy of Placer County

The results were inspiring for our library team.

“We had a parent tell us that their 8-year-old was struggling with reading but our Summer Reading Program really got them engaged and reduced that struggle,” George said. “Other parents told us how the challenge was the highlight of the summer for them and their children. Library staff devote so much professionalism and thought behind how to design a program that will draw families into the library and keep children reading and we are so proud to share the positive impacts this program has on the communities we serve.”

For more information on the Placer County Library, events and how to get a library card online at https://www.placer.ca.gov/8986/Library.  Visit the Placer County Library at 350 Nevada St. in Auburn.