Kyle Casser helps foster a love of literacy through the Monroe Township Library’s teen summer reading challenge.
The program also encourages summer reading for young children and adults.
Casser – a teen librarian- acknowledges that getting youth involved in summer reading can sometimes be difficult, as the structured environment of the library might remind them of school. That can especially be true for children who are not avid readers.
Casser encourages participation by offering teen volunteers opportunities to earn points.
“A lot of our teens, in particular, are looking for community service hours for things like National Honor Society or college applications and things like that,” she explained. “They get points for anything that they participate in that the library offers.
“And then at the end of the summer,” Casser added, “we have a prize store, so all the points that they have accumulated can be redeemed for prizes that we have available.”
Some of those include back-to-school supplies, gift cards and bookmarks, so young people are motivated to see how many points they can acquire over the summer.
Schools often assign required reading during the season, and joining the teen summer reading challenge allows students to earn points while completing those assignments.
“The goal is to keep them involved with learning, whether it’s reading extra books or participating in some of our programs,” Casser noted. “Many of our summer programs are educational, in addition to activities such as arts and crafts, movie nights and other fun events.”
Casser wants the library’s summer reading programs to draw kids into enjoyable and educational activities they might otherwise not experience throughout the school year.
“The main thing is, we just want people to feel like it’s a community space where they can come in and enjoy different topics, hobbies and interests that they get to explore, and that it’s not just book-related,” she stated.
This year’s library theme is “Unearth a Story,” and a teen movie night recently featured “Jurassic Park.” The Monroe library also hosts events such as cupcake-decorating and writing workshops and paint nights.
Volunteer opportunities also are available to those interested in the Back-to-School Supply Donation Drive.
