School's Out! Time to Read

With Clarke County Schools ending their year Wednesday and Oconee County finishing up on Friday, local libraries are gearing up for their Summer Reading Programs. As a kid, I loved the library (as an adult I still love the library). I have great memories of going into the library and being able to choose any book I wanted to read. I would bring home a stack of books. Now I'm lucky if I can get through one book a week.

Summer reading programs are a great way to keep your kids interested in books and reading activities. Librarians have worked hard to put together a fun and entertaining line up of events for the whole family. Starting this week, you can sign up to participate by getting your reading log. Because it is never too early to get hooked on books, the Dream Big - Read program is for newborns through 11 years old. May events at the Athens Regional Library include a storytelling concert on May 24 and Music & Puppets on May 31.

For tweens and teens, there is Own the Night. If you can read 10 books by July 28, you'll get an invitation to the end of summer party. There are also several arts & crafts activities throughout the summer, including Paper Lanterns on May 23.

The Athens Library will also have a reading program for adults - Between the Covers June 4 through July 31. Register for the program and get details of upcoming events here.

If you live on the far west side of town like me, then you may wish to participate in Bogart Library's reading program. Sign ups start Friday, but the big kick-off event is Wednesday, May 23 at the Bogart Community Center. Todd Key's Flying Debris Show will provide wacky entertainment through juggling, comedy, and magic all to encourage kids to read this summer. The program starts at 10:30 am.

I wouldn't be a very good book reviewer if I didn't have some great summer reading recommendations. I  also enlisted the help of my niece who is 10 years old and is now a 5th grader and my almost 9 year old nephew who will be in the 4th grade to provide reading recommendation for the kids.

My nephew is enjoying graphic novels right now and recommends the Bones series by Jeff Smith. He also enjoyed the Fly Guy series by Tedd Arnold. Both my niece and nephew liked the Bad Kitty series by Nick Bruel.

My niece's favorite series is The Gateway Chronicles by K. B. Hoyle. The Six is available now, with The Oracle coming out this summer. I just finished listening to 13 Gifts which is part of the Birthday series by Wendy Mass. It was a fun book that I'm hoping to interest my niece in.

I've read some great young adult titles recently that high schoolers will like. If you are a fan of the Twilight series, then I think you should try the Falling Angel series by E. van Lowe. There aren't any vampires, but the paranormal romance is still there. For those more interested in science fiction, I recommend Beth Revis's Across the Universe series. Plain Jane by Scheldia Benefield deals with tough issues such as teenage depression and suicide, but is an excellent read.

For adults, my favorite reads lately include Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson, True Love Way by Nancy Scrofano, and Heather Huffman's Jailbird.

If you will be traveling this summer, you don't have to fall behind on your reading. You can checkout ebooks (epub format) and audio books (MP3 and WMA formats) from the Georgia Download Destination and have plenty of reading entertainment where ever you go this summer. 

To find the entire Summer Reading Program schedule for all area library branch, check the library's website.