By the Numbers: Summer Reading Programs
99%
Percentage of public libraries that offer a summer reading program for kids, teens, or adults, according to the Public Library Association’s 2022 Public Library Services for Strong Communities Report.
61%
Percentage of school-age kids who enjoy summer reading, according to the 2024 Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report.
20%
Percentage of school-year gains in reading that students in grades 3–5 lose over the summer months, according to a 2020 study from Northwest Evaluation Association, an academic assessment organization.
15–30
Range of minutes that experts recommend kids spend reading daily over the summer to prevent learning loss.
40,000
Number of tote bags Los Angeles Public Library ordered to distribute to youth and adults who registered for its 2024 summer reading challenge. Local artist Noor Sofi designed the bag.
10
Number of hours that teen volunteers read with “little buddies” over the course of four weeks in Skokie (Ill.) Public Library’s Booking with a Buddy summer reading program. Participants in grades 1–3 read and do group activities with their “big buddies.”
800
Number of meals Montgomery County (Md.) Public Libraries (MCPL) provided to a local food distribution center as part of its 2023 summer reading program. As kids met reading goals, MCPL’s Friends group donated to local nonprofits. Read more in “A Greener Way to Read” (AL June 2024, p. 18).
15,000
Number of books distributed to kids in 2024 as part of the kickoff celebrations for New York City’s library systems’ Summer at the Library campaign. Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library, New York Public Library, and Queens (N.Y.) Public Library gave away the books—donated by the New York Life Foundation, a philanthropic group—at their branches.
15.8 million
Minutes of reading time logged by 16,248 participants in Hawaii State Public Library System’s 2024 Summer Reading Challenge. The randomly selected grand prize winner received four round-trip tickets to any destination on Alaska Airlines.
2,850
Number of collection items in Scott County (Iowa) Library System’s (SCLS) Bookmobile. Since 2023, as part of SCLS’s summer reading challenge, patrons can enter to win a private bookmobile party for themselves and 10 family members or friends with games, snacks, and access to bookmobile materials.
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