Summer reading programs offered through public libraries – including in Maple Valley, Covington and Black Diamond – are in full swing now and have been for many years.

According to the American Library Association, these programs began in the 1890s as a way to entice schoolchildren to read and use the library over summer vacation. Since then, many studies have shown that these programs help children retain skills learned during the school year.

The King County Library System’s “Catch the Reading Bug” started off with a bang this June with over 1,000 kids enrolled at the Maple Valley Library alone. The program encourages kids to read 1,000 minutes during the months that school is out. By marking 20-minute intervals of reading in a reading log, they can collect prizes at the 500 and 1,000-minute mark. Students who collect their “finisher prize” by Aug. 31 will be entered into a drawing for a laptop computer. Even preschool kids are eligible to participate and earn a prize with a summer reading game.

Why are these programs so popular? Research has shown that students who don’t do any educational activities such as reading over summer break experience learning losses. Many terms have been coined to describe this loss – “summer slide,” “summer setback” and “summer learning loss,” to name a few. But whatever one calls it, these losses are most profound in the area of reading and hit vulnerable kids the hardest – those in lower socioeconomic groups and those kids who are already struggling with reading.

Sharon Chastain, the Maple Valley Library children’s librarian, says it could happen to anyone.

“Any student who stops reading entirely over the summer will lose ground and be behind in the fall,” she said. “And it’s true of other skills, as well. Reading keeps your brain active, and the skills that help you read also help with things like math and chemistry. ”

A thousand minutes can seem daunting to a struggling reader, but it’s not as hard as it sounds.

“The library has set their sights on 20 minutes a day for 20 days within a month, which leaves about 10 non-reading days to mix in there,” Chastain said. “Twenty minutes a day is the ideal, but if kids can only fit in 10 minutes every other day, that works, too.

The idea is that they are somewhat consistent in their reading so they don’t go a month without opening a book. If they go that long, then the slide is in full slip. If a child can open a book and read a chapter, that’s great. Consistency is the key.”

Other technology such as audio books can be helpful, as well.

“Audio books are a powerful tool, especially for kids having difficulty reading,” Chastain said. “It’s very relaxing. It takes the work out of reading and allows them to enjoy stories at their age level and see what it is they are working toward.

“If your child isn’t a strong reader, you should use audio books as a supplement to reading, preferably with the book in hand so that they can follow along as they listen.”

Chastain also explained why starting early is important. For the child too young to read, reading to them consistently helps put them on the right road to literacy, she noted.

“With the little ones, books are a tactile experience. Even if they are just chewing on the book, they are experiencing it,” Chastain said. “When you sit and read with your child, it’s not so much the story that they experience, but its hearing your voice and cuddling with you. It connects three things: You, your child and books. Then later they are familiar and comfortable with books.”

The idea of summer reading programs is to let kids read for the fun of it. Maybe that’s why they work so well. Incentives, such as prizes, help. But Chastain says that kids are still reading, even with other distractions such as computers and TV.

“In summer, when kids are let loose to read whatever they want, there is a loud sucking sound as the shelves in the children’s section empty,” she said. “And they stay empty until fall. I go to the elementary schools in the Tahoma School District at the end of the school year to talk about the summer reading program and do ‘book commercials.’ Those books that I talked about are always the first to be checked out. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Tiffany Doerr Guerzon lives in Maple Valley. She can be reached at homespun@reporternewspapers.com