General News
5 January, 2023
Local book reviews go viral as part of BIG Summer Read
The book reviews of local young children were recently on an international stage, with the Maryborough Regional Library sharing these thoughts on social media as part of the BIG Summer Read. The BIG Summer Read aims to slow the ‘summer slide’...
The book reviews of local young children were recently on an international stage, with the Maryborough Regional Library sharing these thoughts on social media as part of the BIG Summer Read.
The BIG Summer Read aims to slow the ‘summer slide’ many children experience over the summer holidays where they don’t read or read less.
Developed in 2021 by the Victorian Children’s and Youth Services Special Interest Group, the program presents a fun and dynamic campaign for children to participate in until the end of January.
Maryborough Regional Library team leader Bec Clark said the program is supported by Beanstack, which makes it easy to register the books children are reading online or through the app.
“Using Beanstack means children are able to earn digital badges as rewards for reaching their reading milestones,” she said.
“One of the activities readers can do to earn a badge is write a review of a book they’ve enjoyed.
“Recently we shared some of these reviews on our Instagram page and were pleased to have multiple authors and illustrators engage with us and share our content.
“It was really exciting for us and for the children as well, I bumped into one of the kids at the fireworks on Sunday and told him that his review was shared all over Instagram — he ran to tell his mum about it which is lovely.”
The program runs until the end of January with participants who read and log at least 10 different books going in the draw to win state-wide prizes as well as local prizes.
Ms Clark said almost 6000 children have registered for the program across the state, with some 40,000 books logged already.
“It was fantastic to have Stig Wemyss (actor, audiobook narrator) promote the program at MEC in November and hopefully that will have a positive impact on our participation rates this year,” she said.
“Reading is really important for young people in particular to develop social and emotional skills, so encouraging them to stay on top of it during school holidays is really positive.”
The program is running at all Victorian public libraries and is open to anyone aged up to 18 years, with independent and non-independent readers able to log any book they read or that is read to them.
To sign up to the BIG Summer Read, head to plv.beanstack.org/ or visit the Maryborough or Dunolly libraries.