You don’t need to hear it from us; summer is here. And while just about everyone (including us!) couldn’t be happier, parents, teachers, and librarians know how important it is for kids to keep their minds active and engaged through summer break. We agree, so we’re pulling our weight in the push for summer page-turning.
As much as they love it, the weeks spent between the end of one academic year and the beginning of the next put students at risk of the “summer slide” – a decline in reading and language skills that manifests after a couple of months out of the classroom. But the summer slide can be avoided so long as children and adolescents read every day. Libraries are keenly aware of the important role they play in all this, with examples of their efforts found across the country. Libraries of all sizes, like the New York Public Library or our own Farmington Community Library, host programs to make reading a constant through the summer.
We've been inspired.
After seeing everything our partner libraries do, we’re ready to throw our hats in the ring. Starting this week, we’ll be promoting summer reading the Mango way on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Great literature can be found throughout the world, so over the next couple of months, we’ll be sharing our favorite reads from cultures around the globe. We’ve started with Rapunzel, a classic fairy tale of German origin that is great for young readers and English learners of all ages. We’re encouraging reading for all ages, so the works we’ve chosen range from the aforementioned fairy tales to some heavier stuff better left to adolescents (we’re looking at you, Dostoyevsky).
