Life can change a lot from year to year when you’re still growing up, but across the country, and here in Riverside and Brookfield, summer reading remains a constant.
At the Linda Sokol Francis Brookfield Library, the 2025 summer reading challenge started June 2 and will last through Aug. 9. Kids in elementary school and younger are tasked with reading for 6 hours in 30-minute increments, earning a raffle ticket for each one, up to a total 12. Teenagers and adults can earn up to five entries, one for each book they read.
“It’s an easier [goal] for children to hit,” said Ayleen Huerta, a youth librarian in Brookfield, of the different challenge structure for kids. “They already do minute-reading in school.”
Each age group will have its own raffle drawing for multiple prizes, including a Bluey LEGO set or mini karaoke machine for kids, a movie gift basket or Galloping Ghost gift card for teens and a Brookfield Zoo gift basket with tickets or an Enjoy Brookfield gift card for adults. And there’s a new kind of prize this year, too.
“We usually do the raffle prize, but, this year, we’re doing check-in prizes to try and encourage kids,” said Jennifer Smith, the library’s youth services manager. “Six hours is sometimes a little intimidating, so I want to make sure that, no matter what, kids are just attempting and doing their best. Every week, we have a different prize they can come in and get. It’s small. This week, it’s bubbles.”
Smith said to keep an eye out for mystery pets toys next week, too.
“I think that one will be popular,” she said. “[Kids] don’t have to give us their paper or anything. They really don’t even have to be signed up; they just have to come tell us that they’ve been working on their reading.”
Smith suggested kids try reading “They Call Me ‘No Sam’” by Drew Daywalt, a middle-grade novel about a pug named Sam who believes his name is “No Sam” due to the chaos he causes and the responses from his family.
Huerta recommended “Otto the Book Bear” by Katie Cleminson, a cute story about a bear who’s a character in a storybook and comes to life to wander his library.
At the Riverside Public Library, summer reading started June 5 and ends Aug. 2. The program, which is open to all ages, asks participants to keep a log of each day they read by filling in drawings of literal wooden logs.
“We plan a program that is both fun for kids and a goal that is attainable. We don’t want to have something that’s so difficult that it’s discouraging,” said Nora Durbin, the child and youth services manager in Riverside. “We tell them, talk with your adult at home to figure out what constitutes a day’s worth [of reading], and push them to a minimum of 20 minutes a day, but it could be much more if they’re super readers.”
The library also provides a list of 20 alternate activities, up to 10 of which can be used in place of a day of reading once completed. The list includes things like visiting a museum, a farmers market or a program at the library, going for a bike ride or swim, or learning a new skill like birdwatching or genealogy.
“We recognize, too, that [for] some kids, reading can be a struggle, right? So, we also pepper in activities that they can complete,” Durbin said. “There’s a balance. You want to make it fun and interesting.”
She said the activity list changes year to year, with some of the items this year intended to highlight the library’s amenities, like its museum passes, as well as Riverside’s iconic nature.
“It’s a selling point, too. I always say, if you look at this list, there’s things you may already be doing. How many of you are going for a bike ride?” she said. “Then, there are things that might push you out of your comfort zone that you can choose if you want to do, like going screen-free for a day.”
Durbin recommended kids check out “Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct” by Mo Willems, whose title is self-explanatory. Other librarians in Riverside suggested the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and “Artemis Fowl” series for fans of realistic fiction and fantasy, respectively.
Librarians in both towns said summer reading is important for kids so they can hit the ground running after summer comes to an end.
“Not only does it make going back to school easier in the fall, it helps those reading skills grow. A lot of the schools do see a slump after the summer in reading scores,” Durbin said. “Our schools test them almost immediately with their [Measure of Academic Progress] tests right when they come back, and if you haven’t been reading over the summer, those are going to take a big hit.”
“Summer reading is a longstanding effort on the part of libraries to fill the gap between the school years,” Smith said. “Even though it’s only two months, kids lose a lot during that time.”
